Sport and physical activity are essential for supporting young people’s physical health, building confidence, and helping them feel connected to their communities. However, many young people with disabilities still face significant societal barriers that limit their opportunities to participate. These barriers include a lack of accessible opportunities, limited visible role models, and challenges relating to equipment, facilities, and the accessibility of the activities themselves.

The ‘Play, move, belong: Active futures for young disabled people’ research recently released by Activity Alliance highlights these low levels of physical activity, with 43% of young disabled people moving for less than 30 minutes per day. The inequality gap becomes even more evident in school settings, where just one in four young disabled people report that they can always take part in PE or school sport, and many feel these activities are not “for them”.

Despite these low activity levels, this does not reflect a lack of interest. The research also shows that four in ten young disabled people would like to be more physically active, with school identified as the place they most want to be active, followed by home.

The UK Chief Medical Officer’s physical activity guidelines for children and young people with disabilities outlines that they should be doing 20 minutes of physical activity per day and strength and balance activities three times per week. With this in mind, the Youth Sport Trust have partnered with Sport for Confidence and the Inclusion 2028 Young Person Collective to co-design a resource that would support young people with SEND to be more active throughout the day.

Drawing on their expertise in occupational therapy and the physical activity sector, Sport for Confidence collaborated with the Inclusion 2028 Young Person Collective to co-design strength and balance activities. These exercises are intentionally simple, allowing them to be done in a variety of settings such as a school hallway, a living room at home, or a local park. The bitesize format makes them perfect for quick movement breaks during lessons or to support everyday transitions at home.

Georgia Wills, Senior Occupational Therapist, Sport for Confidence, said, “From an occupational therapy perspective, movement is how children explore their environment. It is a meaningful occupation that supports how young people learn, connect and develop confidence in themselves. When movement is woven throughout the school day, it can have a powerful impact on concentration, memory and classroom engagement, while also supporting emotional regulation and mental wellbeing. For many children, particularly those with SEND, regular opportunities to move help reduce anxiety, build confidence and create positive ways to release energy.

"Movement also plays an important role in developing social skills such as teamwork, communication and friendship building. By reducing long periods of sitting and creating more opportunities for inclusive, meaningful movement, schools can support young people to feel more engaged, capable and connected – not just in PE, but in learning and everyday school life.” 

The Inclusion 2028 Young Person Collective, made up of young people aged 14 to 22 with lived experience, contributed their ideas for the cards to ensure they are relatable and accessible to young people. The collective also shared that ‘strength’ and ‘balance’ can refer not only to physical abilities but also to emotional resilience and stability. As a result, each card includes a positive thought and/or action alongside the physical activity.

Grace, from the Inclusion 2028 Young Person Collective, said, “Working with the Inclusion 2028 Young Person Collective has been incredibly rewarding. By creating these cards alongside other young people, I hope they help schools and parents feel more confident in supporting inclusive physical activity for every child, including those with disabilities.”

The full suite of strength and balance activity cards are now available to view and download here. Each card includes an outline of the activity with adaptations to make it more challenging, as well as an easy read version of the activity on the reverse side of the card.

As well as the strength and balance activity cards, Sport for Confidence have also created two toolkits to support schools, families and young people build strength and balance throughout the day. One toolkit is aimed at school practitioners, with guidance to embed strength and balance activities beyond PE, with a complementary resource designed for parents and caregivers, with simple ideas to support movement at home.

Emily Wingate, Business Development Manager at Sport for Confidence, said, “At Sport for Confidence, our occupational therapists focus on making movement meaningful, accessible and part of everyday life. That’s why we developed strength and balance activity cards and practical toolkits for schools and families to help create simple movement opportunities throughout the day."

The cards were co-created with young people with lived experience through the Inclusion 2028 Young Person Collective, ensuring the activities, imagery and themes feel relevant and accessible. Alongside simple physical activities, the resources also explore strength and balance from a broader perspective, recognising strength not only as physical ability but also strength of character and voice, and balance not just as physical stability but also emotional and social wellbeing.

The toolkits provide practical ideas that teachers, parents and carers can use to introduce bite-sized movement breaks in a range of settings, from classrooms to assembly halls or at home. By gently weaving movement into existing routines, these resources aim to support environments where movement enhances learning, wellbeing and inclusion for every child.” 

If you have any questions about the resources or Inclusion 2028 please contact [email protected]