Sheffield children urged to get creative about keeping active

“We need you!” said Rosie Frazer from STARS. “We’re looking for creative kids with a story to tell in words or pictures, and saying your work could end up being published in a new book this summer.”

STARS visit schools around the region to inspire children, staff and families to think about walking, scooting or cycling to school more often, and want children to help them by producing posters, comic strips, poems or stories to inspire more people to travel actively.

“Over recent weeks, maybe you’ve learned to ride a bike, developed some new scooter tricks, or just spent more time with the people you love on a daily walk?” said Rosie. “We’d like you to think about what has changed as a result. Are your family more active? Is the air where you live cleaner? Are the roads quieter?”

The STARS team will be sharing the #StaySafeGetActive poems, stories and pictures on social media, and aim to publish the book with selected entries in July.

The competition is supported by Dame Sarah Storey, Active Travel Commissioner for the Sheffield City Region, who will also be on the judging panel for the artworks.

Dame Sarah said: “It has always been important for families to be physically active, especially as only around one in six school age children get the recommended amount of 60 minutes of vigorous activity every day.

“During the lockdown in the COVID-19 health crisis, there has been a bigger emphasis on physical activity than ever before, with the government listing it as one of only four allowable reasons for leaving the house. For some children, this will be the first time they have taken regular activity with their family.

“For others, they will be spending more time creating ways to stay active than they have done in the past. These are habits we want to encourage for the long term and whilst everyone is walking more and using the car less, it's a good opportunity to create new healthy habits for the future.”

Schools and workplaces will eventually open again, said Rosie Frazer, and at that point everyone will be faced with the choice of returning to how we travelled before, or build on some of the positive changes children and families have experienced when taking their daily exercise this spring.

She said: “We hope that people will feel that walking, cycling and scooting to school together is a simple, easy and healthy way for us to continue spending time together as a family every single day.”

Entries should fit on one side of horizontal A4 paper (so they can fit in a book) and should be photographed or scanned then emailed to [email protected] by Friday 22nd May 2020. (Please include your name, age and school in the email.)

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