The American Heart Association, the National Football League, and Discovery Education continue their commitment to kids’ whole-body and mental health through physical activity and no-cost resources
On Wednesday, February 3 at 1 p.m. ET/ 12 p.m. CT/ 10 a.m. PT, NFL PLAY 60 Kids Day will host an action packed, synchronous broadcast from the Super Bowl LV host city, Tampa Bay. During this broadcast, the NFL team with the winning NFL PLAY 60 exercise of the 2020-2021 season will be announced. Throughout January, kids were asked to cast their vote for their favorite team created NFL PLAY 60 exercise. Educators and families can find the resource at heart.org/KidsDay and register for the live event here. In addition, access an array of standards-aligned resources designed for wherever learning takes place on Discovery Education’s flexible K-12 learning platform. Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms worldwide.
NFL PLAY 60 Kids Day offers interactive lessons and videos to jumpstart activity at home and in the classroom. Each school can completely customize their activation. Students and teachers can access on-demand exercises from NFL teams in the digital NFL PLAY 60 library to help them reach their recommended 60-minutes of daily physical activity. Schools can implement the majority of the NFL PLAY 60 activities at their own pace to allow scheduling flexibility during this untraditional school year. Advanced registration is required to access the NFL PLAY 60 Kids Day guide and attend the broadcast.
“During a season unlike any other, we’ve been proud to continue our work with the American Heart Association to help youth stay physically active and healthy through our NFL PLAY 60 initiative,” said Anna Isaacson, senior vice-president of social responsibility for the NFL. “We look forward to a week of NFL PLAY 60 themed activities as a way to engage with more youth and to help them live a heart-healthy lifestyle – while hosting events in a reimagined way to keep everyone as safe as possible.”
Earlier in the football season, the American Heart Association and the NFL debuted a digital NFL PLAY 60 library to assist schools and parents with closing the physical activity gap created by pandemic with fun, easy ways to move more during social distancing and contact limitations.
“By aligning fun with the fundamentals of good health, we are supporting kids’ overall wellness which is especially critical during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., MPH, FAAFP, the American Heart Association’s chief medical officer for prevention. “The collaboration of Kids Day and the NFL PLAY 60 work is a way to propel physical and mental health in children to drive life-long health benefits.”
Getting active for 60 minutes a day is critical as kids who are regularly active have a better chance of a healthy adulthood, but only 1 in 5 children and adolescents get enough activity to meet the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans[1]. Physical activity is critical to improve immediate and long-term health for kids and their families.
“Educators play an important role in connecting the dots for students between healthy lifestyle choices and success in the classroom,” said Lori McFarling, President of Corporate & Community Partnerships at Discovery Education. “We know there’s never been a more important time to connect communities to fitness and fun and are proud of our continued collaboration with the National Football League and the American Heart Association to inspire young people everywhere to get moving.”
In addition to the digital NFL PLAY 60 exercise library, the NFL and the American Heart Association provide a variety of tools to add movement throughout the day. Powered by GoNoodle and Discovery Education, video content, activities and family challenges can be accessed at heart.org/NFLPLAY60 or at aha-nflplay60.discoveryeducation.com.
Since 2006, the NFL and the American Heart Association have teamed up to inspire kids by providing fun and engaging ways to get physically active. In addition to the online resources found at heart.org/nflplay60, the free NFL PLAY 60 app helps kids get more movement throughout the day. The PLAY 60 app allows users to control personalized avatars onscreen with their own physical movement. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.
The American Consortium for Equity in Education, publisher of the "Equity & Access" journal, celebrates and connects the educators, associations, community partners and industry leaders who are working to solve problems and create a more equitable environment for historically underserved pre K-12 students throughout the United States.
