The Go Out and Play Challenge is exactly what we need right now

Saskatchewan in motion’s Challenge aims to keep us all active in a time where staying healthy is paramount

The days are getting shorter, the weather is getting colder, and as the pandemic continues, it’s getting more difficult to stay motivated to be active. Now more than ever, it’s important to stay active and healthy into the winter season. That’s where Saskatchewan in motion comes in with some motivation in the form of a little bit of healthy competition.

Saskatchewan in motion’s Go Out and Play (GOAP) Challenge will be giving communities a chance to win $10,000 toward investing in outdoor play facilities for kids and families. Communities can register for the GOAP Challenge and submit the project they’d like to invest in. Then it’s up to community members – track your minutes of physical activity to be counted towards your community. At the end of the challenge, the community with the most minutes of physical activity wins!

The best part? It’s not just up to the kids to participate! Your whole family’s physical activity counts towards minutes for your community. If you and your family need some encouragement to put down the game controller and put on your snowsuit for some physical activity, this might be just the thing you need.

Quick Facts

• Registration is open now! Psst – if you register before December 18, SK in motion will add 1,000 minutes to your total! Register your community at https://challenge.saskatchewaninmotion.ca/community-registration.
• The challenge runs from March 1 to 10, 2021.
• For ideas on how to get active, check out Push2Play.

What’s the challenge?

The Saskatchewan in motion Go Out and Play (GOAP) Challenge is designed to inspire children, youth and families to go outside and play! By engaging in physical activity throughout the challenge, you contribute to your community’s efforts to win a $10,000 prize to invest in creating or enhancing spaces for outdoor play.

Past winners have invested in a climbing wall for the outdoor pool, developed a new spray park, built a community mini golf course, among many other awesome projects. Your community can choose any project to invest in, as long as it addresses one of the following*:

• Increase physical activity in the community by creating programs, places or spaces for children and/or youth to be active outdoors
• develop active and safe routes for children and youth to walk to school and other destinations; projects may include education, awareness, programs and other initiatives to encourage and develop active transportation routes
• create initiatives that inspire children, youth or families to get outside and play.

(*As per the GOAP website.)

Once your community has signed up – it’s game on. In order to win the challenge, each community must rally their community members and friends, relatives and neighbours to participate in the challenge by getting active! You can create an account to keep track of your minutes of physical activity to contribute to your community’s efforts. Make sure you’re keeping track of the minutes for every member of your family – every minute counts.

Encouraging Active Play

According to Saskatchewan in motion, “Access to active play in nature and outdoors – with its risks – is essential for healthy child development.” There is no replacement for the fresh air, sunshine and adventure of playing outside, and the best thing we can do for kids is to create environments in our communities that support active outdoor play.

The goal is to increase kids’ opportunities to engage in self-directed play outdoors in all settings, whether it’s at home, during childcare, at school or out in the community. Experts have found that when kids are outside, they move more, sit less and play longer. Time spent outdoors can also increase their drive for curiosity, creativity and problem solving skills that will set them up for success later in life.

Learn more about Saskatchewan in motion here: http://www.saskatchewaninmotion.ca.