Remember the days when you could switch on the TV at breakfast time to join in with cavorting exercise gurus leading you through a mini-workout between your morning coffee and toast? Well, they’re back, only this time don’t expect to see Mr Motivator or the Green Goddess stirring adults into shape; the latest TV exercise routine is aimed at children who can just about walk.

Launched earlier this month, the first TV “toddlaerobic” routine will be broadcast every morning at 7.55 on Nick Jr, a preschool channel that attracts four million young viewers a month. Devised by Nicky Kay, the managing director of FitKid, a company that specialises in providing children’s exercise classes, the Mini Mover’s workout “is the first for this age group that targets specific muscles with each move”. Lasting two minutes, it incorporates steps such as “tickle the sky”, “storm in the snow” and “jump to the sun” into a routine called the Weather Dance. If the slot proves popular, new dances will be added (see panel, far right).

“What we hope is that the moves will become part of the viewers’ lives,” says Kay. “Activity at this age can boost their development by improving motor skills, balance and all-round fitness.”

Mini Movers is the latest in a long line of initiatives to get kids exercising. Classes such as baby yoga, Little Kickers (a football course) and Tumbletots target the under5s. Fitness industry statistics show that child membership of Britain’s gyms has risen by nearly 40 per cent in the past three years as well-meaning parents attempt to instil a workout ethic in their children. Junior gym chains such as Shokk and Zig Zag Strength are also soaring in popularity among 5 to 16-year-olds, with Shokk having a membership of more than 6,000 kids. In fact, according to the International Health, Rackets and Sportsclub Association, the under15s is now the second-fastest growing health club demographic after the over55s, with gym membership for 5 to 11-year-olds having soared to almost two million in five years.

With a quarter of children in the UK predicted to be obese by 2050, this should be good news. After all, there is a need for activity levels to increase from as young an age as possible. But is prescriptive exercise necessary for children so young?

“From the time children start school, the Government sets a target of an hour’s physical activity a day, which includes ordinary childhood running around, in order for them to stay healthy and promote growth,” says Professor Craig Williams, the co-director of the Children’s Health and Exercise Research Centre at the University of Exeter. “However, there are no recommendations for preschool activity levels because normal play and movement should suffice.”

Likewise, the American Academy of Paediatrics’ (AAP) committee on sports medicine and fitness suggests a daily maximum of 15 minutes “structured play” for the under5s; that is activities such as throwing a ball or swimming. And a study at the University of Maryland’s department of kinesiology suggests that crawling and walking around is the best way for babies and toddlers “to use their large muscle groups in activity” because they are still learning to support their own body weight. “Fitness is an adult concept,” says Dr Eric Small, a spokesman for the AAP. “Young bodies are not capable of the sustained activity required to improve cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility.”

While schemes such as Mini Movers do not fall foul of these guidelines – they offer short bursts of activity in a simple format – they do raise another controversial issue: whether TV should be the medium to deliver the fitness message. There is an established link between the hours spent watching TV and obesity in childhood as youngsters are not only inactive but are likely to eat more while they sit and watch. A study at the University of Otago in New Zealand suggested that it is possible to predict whether children will go on to become overweight adults by totting up how much television they watch.

The AAP says that children under 2 should watch no TV and those who are older should have no more than two hours of screen time a day (including video games and computers).

As the mother of a 2½-year-old, I am all too aware of the hypnotic effect that television can have on preschoolers. Switch it on and my son becomes transfixed by the babble of the Bobinogs or Iggle Piggle in In The Night Garden, to the point where he barely flexes a facial muscle let alone those in his arms or legs. Not once have I seen him jump up to join in with the Boogie Beebies, a movement slot on the CBeebies channel, yet he loves nothing more than jiving around to music when the TV set is off.

Many mothers with children of a similar age confirm that television induces this temporary paralysis of play in their offspring. Emma Mills, 33, of Buckinghamshire is the mother of two children, aged 2 and 4. “My children just sit like little statues when I put the TV on for them,” she says.

Which is worrying when you consider that overall British children watch an average three hours of television a day.

Kay argues that if children are sitting in front of a TV anyway, an exercise slot will mean there is a greater chance that they will participate and, therefore, expend more calories than usual. But Professor Williams is not convinced. “Environment is the main stimulus for the under5s,” he says. “They learn about life from what is going on around them. If watching television is what they get used to, there is a risk that will become a habit. They should be encouraged to play with their parents and other children.”

Professor Margaret Talbot, the chief executive of the Association for Physical Education, says prescribing an exercise regimen at too young an age, via the gym or TV, encourages children to view activity as a means to an end, that end being usually to improve the way they look. “Compared with children who are introduced to exercise through sport, they are less likely to enjoy it as they get older and more likely to become obsessed with their body image.”

So what should parents do? Professor Williams says: “Get down and play with very young children. Young humans have an innate desire to climb, run and jump. Encouraging them to do that is the best way to steer them towards lifelong fitness.”

— Mini Movers is on Nick Jr daily at 7.55am. Visit nickjr.co.uk/minimovers

Exercising mini movers
These moves are taken from the Nick Jr channel, www.nickjr.co.uk

The move
Rain coming down

How?
Moving and wiggling fingers

Why?
Wiggling fingers promotes motor skills

The move
Putting on wellies

How?
Balance on one leg, keeping supporting leg flexible at the knee

Why?
Balance and body control are good building blocks for fitness

The move
Stomp in the snow

How?
Move leg to one side, then the other, and wiggle down

Why?
Great for body weight management

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