Bones 4 Life
Educating young people about the importance of bone health is a big mission for us. Building strong bones is vital for young people. They need to ‘bank’ strong bone before their late twenties. After that, bone strength starts to decline.
Lack of exercise and poor diets mean that children can store up problems that could lead to osteoporosis and fractures later in life. Our Bones 4 Life campaign aims to raise awareness of bone health among young people and provide everything they need to start building stronger bones. The campaign addresses consumer research which showed that almost half (49%) of young people do not know that there are steps they can take to keep their bones healthy.
We want to help children:
- Take regular weight-bearing exercise such as running, walking or dancing.
- Eat a healthy, balanced diet with the recommended amount of calcium.
- Get enough vitamin D.
The campaign is targeting children, their families and teachers to explain how and why they should build bones that will last a lifetime.
The Bones 4 Life campaign includes:
New website
The Bones 4 Life campaign includes the launch of our new educational website bones4life.org. The website has lesson plans, fact sheets and a resource library for teachers. There are also fun-packed games and colourful characters for children. This interactive portal gives health messages an exciting new twist as our bone-healthy heroes, Blaze, Sneakers and Munch, guide you through curriculum-tailored lesson plans, music, picture galleries, games and more.
Resource Pack
We have communicated to primary schools throughout the UK using direct mailing, to tell them all about the website and our free Resource Pack. Our Resource Pack helps teachers and PSHE coordinators to build a Healthy School. Themed lesson plans, activities and assembly ideas put bone health in the context of healthy living. Our free DVD, dance steps and groovy song will get children moving as they boogie for their bones.
Bone Factor Tour
To help promote our resources and raise awareness of the importance of bone health from a young age, we have created a national primary school dance competition. Our engaging Bone Factor Tour builds on the success of the 2008 Boogie For Your Bones dance initiative but adds nutritional messages too.
Primary schools from around the UK have taken photographs or videos of a dance performance or lesson and sent the recording to us. Their dance was judged by TV dance judge Craig Revel Horwood for a chance to win an engaging, educational day all about bone health. This includes a dance lesson from Craig and fun nutritional activities.