If you want your child to get active outdoors this summer, rather than sitting in front of a games console, the new initiative devised by ThinQ Fitness and the Department for Health’s ‘Change4Life’ may hold the answer.

As part of the Change4Life campaign to ‘eat well, move more and live longer’, ThinQ Fitness is providing a series of online family fitness videos called ’60 Active Minutes’ to support the Change4Life message. The videos are aimed at helping families get children ‘up and about’ and doing their ’60 Active minutes.’

ThinQ Fitness, the digital TV content company, and The Department of Health’s Change4Life movement have recently announced a partnership to combat child obesity with a series of online videos, encouraging families to get together and exercise to stay fit and healthy.

A staggering nine out of ten of today’s children are at risk of growing up with dangerous levels of body fat and corresponding health problems. Consequently, the Department of Health is recommending that children get at least 60 minutes of exercise per day to burn off calories and avoid excess fat storage.

The ThinQ Fitness videos aim to get families together for regular exercise and users can comment on how they are getting on by using the comments section at the bottom of their web page. There is also a section in the forum where children and families can get their Change4Life questions answered. Sessions included on the fitness videos are fat loss, step, yoga, pilates, pre/post natal, and gym, holistic or dance.

Paul Gullet, managing director of ThinQ Fitness, says; ‘We are delighted to partner with a campaign that is all about making small changes to help your children build healthy bodies.

'The site will be updated regularly with a series of videos you can easily use at home. The scale of the UK obesity problem demands a high level of innovation and ambition, but with this type of approach ThinQ Fitness is assisting in achieving the goal of creating a lifestyle revolution on a huge scale.’

There are eight healthy Change4Life behaviours that ThinQ Fitness want to help families adopt. They are:

1.  Sugar Swaps: Swapping food and drink with added sugar for options that are lower in sugar or sugar-free.

2.  5 A DAY: Making sure kids eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and veg every day. We're using the name that parents are already familiar with. (See our Fruit and Veg Cookery e-Workshop for Kids.)

3.  Meal Time: This is about making time for regular meals to help avoid unhealthy eating habits.

4.  Snack Check: Setting a limit on the number of snacks and treats kids have each day.

5.  Me Size Meals: Making sure kids eat the right sized portions for their age and size.

6.  Cut Back Fat: Taking simple steps to eat less fat by comparing food labels, swapping certain foods for others and changing the way food is cooked and prepared.

7. 60 Active Minutes: About making sure kids do at least 60 minutes of physical activity - like playing outside, walking or swimming - every day.

8.  Up and About: Limiting ‘sitting down’ activities, like watching TV or playing computer games, and encouraging kids to do something more active.

The fitness videos are available online at http://www.thinqfitness.com/. Further free videos will become available on the site over the coming weeks, and will address the complete Change4Life message around healthy eating and physical activity.