World Health Day | EYFS & KS1 Activity Ideas

**Note: This page is for educational inspiration and is not officially affiliated with World Health Day. For official information, themes, and resources, please visit the World Health Organization (WHO) website: www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day.

Understanding World Health Day in EYFS & KS1

Let's learn all about keeping our bodies and minds healthy and strong! 🍎🧠💪 World Health Day is a special day celebrated every year on April 7th. It's organised by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is a big group from the United Nations that helps with health all over the world. This day celebrates the birthday of the WHO (it started in 1948!) and helps everyone think about an important health topic that affects people everywhere. Each year, they choose a different health theme to talk about, like clean water, healthy food, or looking after our minds.

For early years settings, nurseries, preschools, childminders, and Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms, this day provides a fantastic and practical theme for exploring healthy living, the human body, food and nutrition, exercise, hygiene, mental well-being, and personal, social & emotional development (PSED). It's about introducing children to the importance of looking after themselves, understanding how their bodies work, and making good choices for their health. This day offers wonderful planning ideas and inspiration for engaging activities that truly resonate with young minds, making learning about health and well-being both essential and empowering!

Why Is Learning About Health Important for Young Children?

Integrating World Health Day and lessons about health and well-being into your practice with young children (aged 0-7) is incredibly important for building lifelong healthy habits, fostering body awareness, and promoting overall development.

• Establishes Healthy Habits: Teaches foundational practices like healthy eating, handwashing, and regular exercise.

• Promotes Body Awareness: Helps children understand how their bodies work and why certain actions keep them healthy.

• Encourages Self-Care: Empowers children to take an active role in looking after their own physical and mental health.

• Fosters Emotional Well-being: Introduces concepts of mental health, expressing emotions, and seeking support.

• Builds Understanding of Community Care: Highlights the role of health professionals ('People Who Help Us') and caring for others.

• Develops Critical Thinking: Encourages choices about what is good for their bodies and minds.

Engaging Health & Well-being Activities for World Health Day (0-7 Year Olds)

Let's jump, run, and eat our veggies for World Health Day with these planning ideas and activities perfect for EYFS and KS1 children. The focus is on learning about healthy bodies and happy minds! Many of these early years and year 1 activities can be supported by our dedicated 'Medicine', 'The Human Body', 'Exercise', 'Handwashing & Hygiene', 'Eye Health', 'Teeth & Oral Health', 'Food', and 'Mental Health' resources.

Here's some inspiration for celebrating World Health Day in your setting: (Please use your own discretion and knowledge of your children to ensure appropriateness of each activity and safety concerning any materials given and activity undertaken.)

• Understanding Our Bodies (The Human Body):

  • Introduce basic parts of the human body and their functions.

  • Focus on key organs like the heart and lungs with 'The Human Body - Heart Playdough Mats, Colour, Cut And Stick - Heart, Breathing Poster, Lungs Playdough Mats, and Colour, Cut And Stick - Lungs.

  • Explore other body systems with resources like 'The Human Body - Weeing Poster, Kidney Playdough Mats, Colour, Cut And Stick - Kidneys, Thinking And Controlling Poster, Brain Playdough Mats, Colour, Cut And Stick - Brain, Blood System Poster, Eating And Pooing Poster, Digestive System Playdough and many more!

  • Use 'The Human Body - Human Body Word Cards (Inside And Out)' and 'The Human Body - Silhouette Puzzles (Inside The Human Body)' for vocabulary and learning.

  • This links directly to our ‘The Human Body’ page.

• Healthy Eating & Food Choices:

  • Discuss different types of food and why some are healthier. Use 'Healthy Eating - Display Banner' and 'Healthy Plate - Balanced Diet Posters'.

  • Introduce the '5 a Day' concept with '5 A Day - Poster/Chart'.

  • Explore fruits and vegetables using 'Fruit & Vegetables - Posters, Banners, 2-Piece Puzzles, Size Ordering Cards' and Colouring sheets.

  • Engage with math and fine motor skills with 'Fruit & Vegetable Number Slice Puzzles (1-5 & 1-10)', 'Carrot Create & Count Playdough Mats', and 'Tomato Create & Count Playdough Mats'.

  • Track healthy eating with 'Fruit & Vegetable Diary' and 'My Healthy Eating Diary Booklet'.

  • Discuss sugary foods with 'Don't Eat Too Much Sugar!' Poster' and 'Don't Eat Too Much Sugar!' Colouring'.

  • Encourage children to 'Draw A Healthy Meal'.

  • Role-play healthy food shopping with 'Farm Shop Role-Play Pack'.

  • This links to our ‘Food’ page.

• Hygiene & Keeping Clean:

  • Talk about the importance of handwashing (linking to ‘Handwashing and Hygiene’).

  • Focus on oral health with resources on our ‘Teeth & Oral Health’ page.

• Exercise & Being Active:

  • Encourage physical activity through games and movement (linking to ‘Exercise’ and ‘Sport and PE Games’).

  • Use 'Let's - Get Moving - Activity Prompt Poster' and 'Let's - Get Moving - Activity Prompt Cards' (from Mental Health resources but applicable).

• Mental Well-being & Emotions:

  • Discuss feelings and how to keep our minds healthy. Use 'Mental Health - 'Healthy Minds' Display Pack' and 'Mental Health - 'Healthy Minds' Poster'.

  • Explore emotional literacy with 'Emotions - 'Emotion Of The Day' - Display and Emoji Cards', 'Why Is Teddy Sad?' Activity Pack', 'Why Is Teddy Happy?' Activity Pack' and more!

  • Introduce mindfulness with 'Mindfulness - Activity Prompt Poster', 'Mindfulness - Activity Cards', 'Mindfulness - Mindfulness Walks Poster', and 'Mindfulness - Mindfulness Walk Cards'.

  • Encourage connection with 'Let's Connect - With Each Other - Activity Prompt Poster' and 'Let's Connect - With Each Other - Activity Prompt Cards'.

  • This links to our ‘Mental Health’ and ‘Emotions and Feelings’ pages.

• People Who Help Us (Medicine):

  • Role-play medical scenarios to familiarise children with doctors and nurses. Use 'Doctors Surgery Role-Play Pack', 'Dentist Dramatic Role-Play Pack', 'Dentist Dramatic Role-Play Pack' and 'Optometrist Dramatic Role-Play Pack'.

  • Use 'Poorly Teddy’ resources.

  • Explore medical words with 'Medical Word Mat' and 'Medical Word Cards'.

  • Engage critical thinking with 'What Happened To Teddy? - Critical Thinking'.

  • Help children express feelings about being ill with 'When I Got Hurt' Sheets', and 'When I Was Ill' Sheets'.

  • This links to our ‘Medicine: Doctors and Nurses’ page.

• General Health Activities:

  • Encourage kindness with 'Let's Show Kindness - Activity Prompt Poster' and 'Let's Show Kindness - Activity Prompt Cards' (from Mental Health resources).

  • Discuss sun safety (linking to ‘Sun Safety’) and eye health with 'Eye Health - Glasses - 2-Piece Puzzles', 'Eye Health - 'Keep Your Eyes Healthy!' Poster', 'Eye Health - Word Cards', and 'Eye Health - Word Mat'.

• Explore More: Please visit our ‘Medicine’, ‘The Human Body’, ‘Exercise’, ‘Handwashing & Hygiene’, ‘Eye Health’, ‘Teeth & Oral Health’, ‘Food’ (Fruit & Vegetables plus Balanced Diet), ‘Mental Health’, ‘Sun Safety’ or ‘Science’ pages to explore our extensive catalogue of Health resources. You may also like to explore additional pages covering relevant and/or connected themes such as ‘Out and About’, ‘Sport and PE Games’, and ‘Stay Healthy’.

These activities offer great inspiration for making World Health Day a memorable and impactful experience in your early years and Key Stage One setting, fostering health awareness, healthy habits, body literacy, and a holistic approach to well-being.

To explore ideas surrounding additional early years events, please visit our 'Special Dates Calendar' page.

Printable resources to support teaching & learning surrounding: ‘World Health Day’

Free ‘Health’ resources for EYFS & KS1:

The following is a small selection of our inspirational ‘Health’ resources for EYFS & KS1:

(Please visit our ‘Medicine’, ‘The Human Body’, ‘Exercise’, ‘Handwashing & Hygiene’, ‘Eye Health’, ‘Teeth & Oral Health’, ‘Food’ (Fruit & Vegetables plus Balanced Diet), ‘Mental Health’, ‘Sun Safety’ or ‘Science’ pages to explore our extensive catalogue of Health resources.)

Additional Pages you may like to explore which cover relevant &/or Connected themes

More Early Years Event Pages for April

Explore special dates (including awareness dates, festivals, celebrations & events) relevant to your EYFS & KS1 children

Browse our ‘Special Dates Calendar’ page using the link below. You’ll find calendars for every month of the year to aid your planning!

SEARCH ‘LITTLE OWLS Resources’ USING THE FOLLOWING MENU BUTTONS…

Disclaimer:
This page is for educational purposes only and is intended to support early years and primary practitioners with ideas and resources related to 'World Health Day'. We are not officially affiliated with or endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), which organises this event. We do not claim any rights to specific trademarks or official materials associated with this event. For official information, themes, and to learn more about global public health initiatives, please visit the World Health Organization (WHO) website: www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day.