The Current - Why don't Canadian kids get enough exercise?

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Research shows moving your body has major physical and mental health benefits. But despite WHO guidelines for kids to get 60 minutes of active play each day — only 39% of Canadian children are meeting that mark. What needs to change to get kids moving? From phys ed class, to offering standing desks in class, researchers make the case for a more active school environment.

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One, two, and three, to begin warming up to get ready to John. It's a crisp fall morning at an elementary school in Toronto, kids in shorts and sweaters, still sporting bedhead, gather on the field before class, and their meeting up for cross-country practice and exercise club. We have our junior students practicing and training for their cross-country meet, which is upcoming next month. And at the same time, on the other half of our field, we have our primary students, grades 1 to 3, engaging in a lot of active movement led by Mr. Hodgson, our drama and dance

teacher. Richard Prager is a physical education teacher. He volunteers his time twice a week to lead the primary students in a movement session before class. Each morning, just over 100 students roll out of bed extra early for this and get to school 45 minutes before the bell. I think it's really important for our youngest students to see the pathway and where athletics and sports can lead and how it can start with just having fun and engaging in creative movements can build those skills and lead them towards actual competition. So while they're playing and practicing here, they see a more structured

environment, they see our community coaches and our staff coaches working with the junior students right on the other side of the field. We see Mr. Hodgson leading them in some large, gross motor movements, stretches, calisthenics, and right now I think they're embodying different types of animals. As students leap like frogs and walk like bears, parent volunteers join in. I'm a father of a grade two student. He loves to be active, but the social element is a part of it He wants to be with his friends. And so I think it's a great way for him to start his day. He feels great after running around before school.

His behavior and his concentration is so much better when he gets enough exercise when he's active. And it helps him to be happy and focused. I'm a parent of a grade one kid. We definitely prioritize physical activity. We find the kids are less, they're just better, more well-behaved when they get out and move their bodies. So we really try to make sure.

that we do something every day. This is awesome to start their day with this. And I wonder if he does better in school just because he's gotten his body really moving before starting a busy school day. We can't get around screens. Kids are going to be asking for them at this age. So it is really nice to see that balance.

And then when they do get some screen time, you just feel a little bit better that you've taught them the balance of not fully restricting it, but that gotten out and done something and now we can enjoy some screen time too. With parents support, Richard Prager is hoping to keep the exercise club going throughout the school year.

This is an initiative that could see real health benefits for students. The World Health Organization says kids, age 5 through 17, should be getting 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every single day. But in this country, only 39% of children are meeting that standard. As part of our ongoing series on the state of public education in Canada, we're talking today about keeping kids active. In a moment, you will hear from the Scientific Director of Participation. This is the organization that's behind that research that came out with those alarming stats.

But first, phys ed teacher, Mr. Prager, is with me in studio. Good morning. Good morning. You have to call teacher, Mr. Yeah. Or Mrs. Now tell me a little bit about this. Why do you do this?

We heard you volunteering out in early in the morning before school starts. Why are you volunteering? I think we see the benefits every day in school as that parent was talking about. The students who participate, they come into the classroom more prepared to learn. I think I can support my colleagues in that way by preparing a huge group of our students to be more engaged and more comfortable in the classroom. I think that makes a huge benefit to everyone at our school. But also for those students who are participating, I think, like we heard in the clip,

the younger students, they play and they exercise and they move their bodies just on the other side of the field from the junior students. So they do see that what can begin as play, what can begin as, you know, pretending to be different animals, hopping around the field can really become those foundational movements for sports, for athleticism and for competition, if that's the path they choose. What do you see in the school? I mean, we heard one of those parents, and you've hinted at this, saying that maybe a child would be better equipped for sitting down in the classroom if they burn off some energy early

in the morning. Do you see that play out in the class? I think back to, I think two years ago we had a student who really did sometimes have a tough time sitting in the classroom and he was asking us, can we do this every day? And that really resonated with me because I was his homeroom teacher and I saw the benefits of expending that energy, burning that energy, but also coming together as a class community in a way that is oftentimes a way for some of these students. who do sometimes have some difficulty fitting into the classroom in a way that they can thrive in a way that they can be leaders. And I definitely do see the benefits. But you're volunteering your time. You have to get up early. I mean, I don't know whether the bedhead is there or not, but you have to get up early as well for this. Yeah. I think it's important to remember that although it's

close to the start of school, you know, many teachers would be on site, but instead of doing those administrative tasks, emails, lesson planning, marking, we're choosing to be outside before school starts, and it's because we have a passion for it. We really do. The other thing, just last point on why this matters is you said something really interesting in the clip that we heard, which is that this is about having fun as well. Sports can be a bunch of different things, but for kids, why is having fun key? I think having taught in the home room and now in phys ed as well, there are students who really do feel anxiety when they see phys ed on the daily schedule. And I think by starting students off at a younger age, engaging in more play-based movement,

I think we can start to build a foundation where every student sees themselves as someone who can be active. It doesn't need to be sports. It doesn't need to be competition. It can be if you want to go in that direction. But to feel the benefits and see the benefits of moving your body, I think is something that is very, very crucial at the youngest ages in our schools. I'm going to come back to that anxiety. The current Amanda Grant spoke. with some of your students last week.

Have a listen. Red team, are you ready? First is speedwalk. And then we can cross the line. We will jog. Three, two, one. What do you like about coming to cross-country in the morning?

Working out. What's your favorite part of the exercises you did? High knees. I like the better because I'm, before I woke up in the morning, I would sleep in the morning.

But I like running across the places. Sometimes I just dream in bed. I could run across the place and run across the ceiling. That would be really funny if you had sticky shoes

and you could run on the ceiling. Yeah, and sometimes I imagine I'm just running on a cloud. You have a look on your faces. You're listening to that. Yeah, I was there watching that interview and I just think it's amazing to see that student connecting her

incredible imagination and creativity to the movement. that we're providing. And I think that is really a testament to how effective it can be. Why is it on schools and teachers like you to do this? I mean, I said that most students are not getting the required amount of physical activity. And there's this whole back to basics in education. This is what we're going to focus on. And we're going to strip out the things that are extraneous and we're going to focus on the core. Why is it on schools and on people like yourself to get these kids moving? Yeah, that's a challenging question. I think the reality is

we spend more time with these kids than their families do. If you cut out the time spent sleeping, certainly from Monday to Friday, they're spending a lot of time with us. So we do have a responsibility, I think, in that way. But also we, you know, the schools, I know my schools I can speak to is staffed by incredibly passionate and engaged people and health and their well-being is also improved when they're out there participating with the kids. How do you address that anxiety that you talked about? There are kids that dread gym class. They do not want to get out. And they may not be coming early in the morning to run around with you.

How do you address that anxiety, knowing the benefits of what you're talking about? I think it really is possible to address it in an age-appropriate way. I think with some of the junior students I work with, that's grades four, five, and six. I can be quite transparent with them and recognize that even in my past, I was that student. What do you say? I recognize that, you know, they might not be feeling. uncomfortable when they enter that gym. But there is a reason that they're there and that they can come to me at any time. If there are barriers, then we can work together to break them down.

And all I'm asking from them is to, to when they step into that room to try their best and recognize that what is their best that day might look a little bit different, but that by showing up trying their best and viewing it, I think, as something that can benefit them and buying in a little bit, I think does give them that pathway to start breaking that down. Just the last question. I mean, we're talking as part of this series of conversations on the state of public education in this country. Are there changes that you would like to see in the curriculum to ensure that the kids

feel included, that this is part of how we think about what education is? This is about the big question that we're asking is, what's the point in some ways of education? What are we trying to do? So are there changes that you think we could make if this is important? The health and phys ed curriculum in Ontario actually does have some great information about this. I think the challenge isn't so much the content of the curriculum. It's how we can make time to deliver it because sometimes it does feel like it's fighting with like you said, the back to basics, the everything else. So I think it's about delivering that curriculum in creative ways like we're doing before school.

But just like you said, sometimes there are students who aren't able to come before school. So how do we use transition times between classes? How can we introduce these movement breaks and movement skills and just movement time into other curriculum areas, I think, is a good starting point. Your students are lucky to have you as a teacher. I'm glad to have you here. Thank you. Thank you very much. Richard Prager is a physical education teacher at Perth Avenue, Junior Public School in Toronto.

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Participation is an organization that tracks Canadian's activity issuing report cards on how we are doing when it comes to keeping fit. In 2024, kids scored a D plus for overall physical activity, not a particularly good score on the report card. Lee van der Lu is the scientific director at Participation in our Ottawa studio. Lee, good morning to you. Good morning. Thank you for having me.

Thanks for being here. So just 31% of girls, 57% of boys are meeting the mark. Why do you think that is? Why are kids not meeting that 60 day a minute mark? Especially given the fact that they have recess, They have phys ed. They have lunch breaks where they can run around. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I think one of the biggest things across the lifespan is the fact of physical activity has really been socially engineered out of our day-to-day lives. We're opting more for convenience, ease, especially within the school environment, despite the fact of having recess or, you know, gym class. The rest of the time, it's quite a sedentary environment. And so because kids are spending so much time in school and really, focused on ensuring that they're getting in that quality learning time, it does sometimes displace or oftentimes displace opportunities to get active. And as the teacher was mentioning before, the previous guest is that they have jam-packed curriculums and information that they're trying to get through, get through their daily programming. It's a lot. There's a lot

on their plate. And so trying to find ways to creatively fit in that movement can sometimes be a bit of a challenge depending on what currently needs to be delivered. And so we start to see those levels. I mean, the question is, one of the questions is what I asked Richard, which is, why is it on schools? Why is it school's responsibility to deliver that, do you think? Yeah, absolutely. So as Richard mentioned, like, kids are spending the majority of their waking hours in school or in child care. And so it really does make it that ideal environment on which we can target and intervene with the largest percentage of kids.

within Canada. It's also a great time when their behavior is a little bit more malleable, so it's easier to change, adapt, get them started on those habits earlier because when it comes to habits like physical activity or even sedentary behaviors, those track across the lifespan. We know that active kids are more likely to become active teens and then active adults, but the same is true for the opposite. If they don't get those opportunities or they don't have that positive experience, that's also more likely to carry throughout the lifespan. So we do want to find those times for the environment. But as Richard also said, it can be very challenging when that's competing against all those core academics.

So is the answer to ask teachers, I mean, we just heard him, you volunteers his time before school starts to get kids moving. Is that what we need to think about? I think that's definitely one potential thing. If that's an option, you know, again, teachers are very overburdened. They're already championing so many different things. So if you do have those teachers that have the time, the interest, and are willing to volunteer their time, I think that's great. I think if there's kids that attend those earlier sessions, also bonus. But then there's going to be those few kids or even educators that don't have that option or that's just not possible.

And so then I think we need to kind of rethink creatively on how can we integrate more movement into the already existing daily programming. So even outside of gym class, are there ways that we can. offer more standing breaks, one, we're doing lessons. Can we offer opportunities where we can integrate more movement while we're going through the lesson plan? So if young kids are learning how to count from one to 100, instead of sitting at the desk doing it, can we, for example, go, you know, 1 to 100 or 1 to 10, we're marching in place, 11 to 20, we're doing jumping jacks. So you're not displacing those core academic parts of the curriculum that need to get across, but you're trying to find ways to integrate a little bit more movement. And we know from research is this is going to

create stronger, more resilient, and more successful students. It's interesting. You said something earlier about how in some ways we've engineered movement out of our lives and out of the classroom. What's behind that, do you think? Yeah, I think a number of different things. I think one, just with the whole typical revolution in terms of leveraging more technology, I think, you know, bringing more innovation into learning has been, you know, a blessing in so many ways in terms of helping to facilitate, create more accessible learning experiences and kind of trying to diversify it. But at the same time, we're also introducing more opportunities for screen use for sedentary time. You know, some of the parents that you had previously, the segments had mentioned,

you know, it's impossible to escape screens. They're so ubiquitous with our day-to-day lives. But I think the opposite is, is there's so much emphasis, even starting in elementary school, on those core subjects like reading, writing, math, and that physical activity has oftentimes been referred to as a nice to have, not a need to have. And, you know, I think the more that we can shift towards, like, no, this is a very, it's a vital part of healthy active living for healthy development, far beyond just the physical benefits. I think for most people, a single bout is going to have tremendous impacts on their overall brain health. So it's not only how kids and adults are thinking and learning, but it's also how they're dealing with moods, emotional regulation, anxiety, and stress, which we also know is at peak levels right now in Canada. Do we need to think about, I mean, I mentioned recess, and we've talked on this program before about the benefits of unstructured play. Do we need to think about how we let kids play? and that part of getting them moving is just letting them rip, right?

Just letting them roar around. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's quite a dense body of literature that suggests, one, kids are more active when they have opportunities to be outdoors versus indoors. So anytime they can be active, regardless of the weather, taking it outdoors is automatically going to increase the chances that they move more. Secondly, as you mentioned, having opportunities for unstructured child-directed play also provides an opportunity where kids are going to be moving more,

they're going to be exploring, they're going to be pushing their own boundaries and building their own confidence and resiliency with doing that as well as getting additional benefits, so the social parts of it, the additional leadership that you get on and off by just constructing your own games as a group with friends. Of course, there's a time in place for having some of that directed,

structured as well as, you know, adult-led activity, especially when you're learning some of those more fundamental movement skills. But we notice that the majority of that movement that is gathered on a day-to-day is coming for more of that incidental unstructured activity. We're almost out of time. Let me ask you just very briefly two quick questions. One is Richard talked about anxiety. We know that, as I said, just 31% of girls are meeting that mark.

what is it that could be done to make sure that being active reaches those girls that are not as active, perhaps, as young boys? Yeah, absolutely. We want to ensure that we're providing opportunities, spaces, environments, equipment, and even trained staff that are used and have the abilities to engage girls in activities. So it's not just about attracting them, but then it's once you have them, it's retaining them. We want to encourage them about the benefits they'll get with it to embrace the sweaty, the messy hair, and to think about all the benefits. And it's going to help them as they transition, especially from elementary school into high school when self-esteem, self-worth, and self-confidence naturally takes a dip during that particular time in life. So we really want to ensure that we're keeping them in the activity and we really want to build positive associations. And this is where, as Richard mentioned, the fun comes in. If they're not enjoying it, the likelihood of them repeating it is just not going to happen. So we want them to find an activity. However they want to move their body is the type of movement for them.

And so that's the thing that I was going to ask at the end. We just have a couple of seconds left. But does fun need to be at the center of this? Absolutely. And I think it's not just for children and youth. It's all across the lifespan. Make it fun. If it's enjoyable, you're more likely to continue with it.

And when it comes to a behavior like physical activity, we want people to come back to it. We want people to repeat it. And always keeping in mind, there's no such. thing is bad movement. Something's better than nothing and more is always better. No such thing as bad movement. Lee, thank you very much for this. Thanks so much for having me. Lee Vanderloos, Scientific Director at Participation. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening.

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