Is Your Child A Star Wars Fan? Training Like A Jedi Could Help Them Embrace Exercise | HuffPost Life

Better yet, it's completely free.

PA/HuffPost UK

If you’re struggling to motivate your children to get active, have you thought of introducing a different type of workout? Mark Hamill, the actor who plays Luke Skywalker in ‘Star Wars’, is encouraging youngsters to get involved with a Jedi training programme as part of efforts to combat childhood obesity.

Hamill is supporting Public Health England’s (PHE) latest Change4Life initiative alongside Disney UK – Train Like a Jedi. The programme is led by British Taekwondo gold medallist Jade Jones and involves a video with “Jedi-inspired moves” to get children excited about exercise.

Speaking about the launch, Hamill said: “If you want to become a Jedi like Luke Skywalker or Rey, then you need to be fit, healthy and strong. This summer Change4Life can help you Train Like A Jedi. May the Force be with you.”

Matt Crossick/PA

British Taekwondo double Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones on set filming for the new Change4Life national Train Like A Jedi programme.

PHE said that children’s activity levels are “alarmingly low” – only 23% of boys and 20% of girls aged five to 15 get the required 60 minutes physical activity a day. It said that the new training programme has been designed to make physical activity fun and inspire children to move more.

Double Olympic gold medallist Jones, who is featured in the video along with Star Wars character BB-8, added: “Inspiring kids to get active is something I’m really passionate about, so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to help kids across the country with Change4Life and Star Wars.

“It was great fun to create the Jedi-inspired moves which can be done anytime and anywhere – both at school and home. I hope that through this new programme we can inspire a new generation to move more by showing kids that physical activity can be really fun.”

Matt Crossick/PA

Eustace de Sousa, national lead for children at PHE, said: “Children’s physical activity levels are alarmingly low and are having a major impact on their physical and mental health – both now and into adulthood.

“Getting into the habit of being regularly active will have lifelong benefits. Our Change4Life Train Like A Jedi programme is a great way for children, their friends and the whole family to get moving throughout the summer.”

Change4Life will provide schools with teaching resources linked to the training programme, which is supported by Sport England. The video is also available on the Change4Life website for kids to do at home.

Before You Go

Yes, You CAN Make A Family Walk Fun

Don't say 'who wants to go for a walk?'(01 of08)

Reframe a walk so it's enticing and exciting using words like explore, play, adventure.Who wants to climb a castle or who wants to find some treasure or skim stones? (credit:Alexander Nicholson via Getty Images)

Don't plod in a straight line - and back again.(02 of08)

Choose a wiggly walk and terrain made for adventuring. "It's all about keeping children's minds off putting one foot in front of another," says Clare Lewis. (credit:Stephen Lux via Getty Images)

Always have an appealing destination - and make pit-stops along the way.(03 of08)

It could be a café with their favourite hot chocolate or their 'secret' place like a climbing tree. Make regular stops to admire natural curiosities, make a den, whittle a stick or play in water or whatever you fancy. Encourage your kids to take photos. Clare Lewis's family always take 'scroggin'; a New Zealand name for a hikers' mix of nuts and seeds, dried fruit and chocolate to keep energy levels up. (credit:ArtMarie via Getty Images)

Join forces with another family or get the kids to bring their friends.(04 of08)

Children love the sociability of a walk and bringing friends increases their activity as they challenge each other to jump the highest or widest, splash in puddles, climb trees or find the best stick. (credit:Alistair Berg via Getty Images)

Walk together in a chatty clod, not a single line with you barking 'come on, keep up'(05 of08)

There may be times you have to walk in a line, but take turns with who's the leader. Also, let your children choose the route (within reason!). (credit:Bounce via Getty Images)

Play games as you go.(06 of08)

Hide-and-seek, capture the flag or ambushes - sending kids on ahead so they can jump out on you - are all favourites. Bring a ball or a Frisbee to play with too. (credit:JLPH via Getty Images)

Turn your walk into a treasure hunt. Or an obstacle course.(07 of08)

Children love places to clamber over like a rocky beach or challenges like climbing trees or jumping over streams. Challenge children to touch that tree and run back, hopscotch between the pavement cracks or run along the low wall. "You could go on a shape walk, finding stones, shells and leaves that are all the same shape," suggests Clare Lewis, co-author of Adventure Walks for Families in and Around London. (credit:Imgorthand via Getty Images)

End on a high.(08 of08)

Match a walk to your kids' ages. You don't want want to leave them exhausted. Talk up what fun you had, so next time you suggest an adventure walk they leap at the chance. (credit:ArtMarie via Getty Images)

Suggest a correction

|