But with some help, simple ideas, some imagination and a bit of time, parents, carers and teachers can inspire children to keep their bodies moving and their mood swings on the up.
Don’t worry. This isn’t one of those articles that will demand you become a top-notch sports coach to add to all the other juggling duties of home-schooling.
We’ve just gathered a few suggestions from various sports and organisations in Wales that are simple ways of getting kids to expend some energy, sharpen up their physical skills, and stay as happy as possible.
And we’ve put them into one place, where they’re easy to find.
The #BeActiveWales campaign was launched last spring when the Covid-19 crisis forced the first lockdown and we’ve continued to update those resources aimed at keeping young people healthy.
These are activities that children can do indoors and outdoors to fit alongside their home schooling, or when they are back home if they are still attending school.
For simple ball skills for young children, why not try the games and exercises put together by Cricket Wales? They have fun activities for five to eight-year-olds through their “All-Stars” programme and activities for older children via their “Chance To Shine”.
Go to https://cricketwales.org.uk/keeping-active-in-lockdown
In partnership with Glamorgan, there are also Virtual Cricket Games challenges for kids to complete, with six skills to try.
You can find them at https://www.glamorgancricket.com/documents/kids/cricket-comp-13781.pdf.
There’s also a Welsh language version at https://cricketwales.org.uk/documents/cricket-comp-welsh-1053.pdf
Cricket Wales development manager Mark Frost says: “We’ve out together a series of games, activities and skills that children can do during lockdown.
“These things are great fun, but they’re all keeping children active within the cricket sphere of the basic skills of catching, throwing, batting and bowling.”
If your child fancies being the next Gareth Bale or Jess Fishlock, then there are plenty of football activities on offer.
One of them is the new partnership between the FAW Trust and Girlguiding Cymru, which aims to give girls the chance to learn about football and develop new skills.
You can download a free football challenge pack, with eight sections for young girls to complete and encourage football activity and know-how. For those who finish the challenges, there is a #GirlsCAN Football Challenge Pack Badge.
For more information and to download the pack, go to:
https://www.fawtrust.cymru/grassroots/girlguiding/
