Healthy eating and physical exercise are fundamental to proper growth and development in childhood. Enabling children and young people to develop patterns of healthy eating and exercise will also lay the foundations for healthier lifestyles in adulthood.

Recent research has shown that 80% of three year olds in the U.K are getting just 20 minutes medium to vigorous exercise a day instead of the minimum of one hour a day to keep them healthy.  As well as a lack of exercise, a significant number of children have diets that are lacking recommended levels of nutrition. Most commonly they are too low in zinc, calcium and vitamins and too high in sugars and salt.

Fit for a King is a participatory drama programme that explores what it means to have a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle and why this is important.

The programme asks these key questions: 

• What does a healthy diet look like?
• How can doing exercise affect our health?
• How does personal hygiene help us to stay healthy?

Through the fictional character of Prince Yannis, Fit for a King will explore some of the choices that Key Stage 1 children make concerning nutrition, exercise and hygiene. The children offer advice in the drama about the Prince’s lifestyle and see how particular choices affect his health.  They are introduced to the idea that a healthy diet contains food from different groups and that these foods are used in a variety of ways by the body. The programme also explores basic personal hygiene and how the body burns energy and needs to exercise to keep fit.