An initiative that supports whānau play in the home and local environment has been introduced to a Healthy Active Learning School in the East of Christchurch with the help of Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa funding.

Healthy Active Learning is all about enhancing the wellbeing of our children through quality physical activity, play and physical education.

On Friday 19 November, St James Primary School, in conjunction with Sport Canterbury provided the whole school with ideas and equipment to play at home.

The children at St James are eager to build on their play at home and already enjoy getting outside for a bit of fun and exercise – when asked how they currently play at home, they were keen to share.

“Sometimes my brother and I go for a bike ride and go to the playground,” said Pearl

While her peer Rose added, “We usually ride on scooters around our house and around the block and up and down the driveway and sometimes we swim in the pool.”

The date of the session was significant as last week marked Play Week Aotearoa 2021 – a initiative driven by Sport New Zealand where young people were encouraged to say, ‘yes to play.’

As part of this special week there were many initiatives and opportunities for young people to have a fun week across the region.

Sport Canterbury’s, Let’s Play at Home is an extension of the SportStart Home concept which has been extended to all students at St James School with secured funding for this via the Tū Manawa fund.

Last year Mrs Bergin’s Room 4 class piloted this project based on the class’s Physical Education Unit around Games to Play. That is, games to adapt and play at home or in the local community which was linked to SportStart Home.

SportStart Home was created by the Sport Canterbury team in 2018, to inspire our tamariki to lead play and activity in the home environment.

The concept is similar to that of the reading folder that comes home each week. Like the reading folder (complete with reading books) the SportStart Home kit has some activities and a piece of equipment designed for tamariki to try out at home with variations that can include family or friends. 

Some students had been part of this project previously and were eager to share how they used the SportStart Home kit to play with their whānau.

“When I first got the gear, what I first tried out was throwing the tennis ball into the bucket that we had at home, and it made me feel very happy that I was able to get it in a few times. My brother then joined in with me, so we had lots of fun taking turns. We then used the same bucket to shoot the basketball into and we also did some chest passes to each other,” said nine-year-old Grace.

On Friday, frisbees were flying, tennis balls were being bounced across the court, and playground ball were being passed around as the tamariki had a go with their new equipment to take home as part of their SportStart Home Kit

The Room 4 students that were given tennis balls and bats had a go at trying a range of different activities using their new equipment with their families.

“The equipment made me feel fantastic, I was really good at hitting the tennis ball with the bat,” said one student.

“We played tennis against the wall, it was challenging because when I hit the ball to the brick wall, it came back fast and changed direction, so I threw the ball at the wall and began to play catch,” added another.

Following this session, children were encouraged to engage their whānau to have a go at the activities alongside their child with the freedom to get creative and inventive to adapt the games to make them as much fun as possible for all involved.

For more information around SportStart Home – Click here 

Article added: Thursday 16 December 2021