Active Kids International

In 2009, Active Kids began as a small program at a single elementary school in Massachusetts called FitKidz Get Up & Go. A group of passionate moms, led by Kathleen Tullie, who read the book Spark by Dr. John Ratey, firmly believed that getting our kids moving before school would promote a more productive school day. Active Kids sought to empower the community to help the youth of this generation embrace healthy habits that would last a lifetime. Word of this grassroots effort spread and within a year, the program became the signature platform of the Reebok Foundation where it was renamed BOKS. It remained Reebok’s core program for more than a decade. In 2023 the program became an independent charity called Active Kids, where it remains today.

The original 12 week functional fitness curriculum was designed to provide children (elementary schools K-5) with 45 minutes of fun, non-competitive, kid-friendly activities achieving moderate to vigorous physical activity through warm-ups, a skill of the week, running, relay races, obstacle courses, group games and ending with an age appropriate nutrition tip designed to increase nutritional knowledge and build healthy habits. The program can accommodate various sized schools with and without gyms, in urban and suburban settings. Today, there are several curriculum offerings but the common thread that runs through each is the emphasis on non-competitive fun.

Trainers are crucial to implementing Active Kids. Active Kids develops community by enabling school faculty, parents and community members to be involved in the program at different capacities. Providing a free curriculum aids flexible implementation options for communities. In settings where it is difficult to find volunteers, Active Kids utilized a funding model to provide much needed funds to schools for school employees to act as trainers.

Since 2009, the program has grown from 8 schools within Massachusetts to more than 5,000 enrolled schools throughout the world. In addition in has:

• Expanded its program to offer before, during and after school physical activity curricula as well as virtual at-home resources for parents to keep kids active;
• Broadened its reach beyond elementary school to middle school, high school, early childhood, and more recently announced its inclusive resources, for children with intellectual disabilities, in partnership with Special Olympics;
• Conducted long-term research of the program’s efficacy with research partners including Mass General Hospital for Children, Harvard School of Public Health, National Institute of Out of School Time and others;
• Published validation of positive physical, mental and socioemotional impact on kids in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and Journal of Exercise Sports and Orthopedics ;
• Received recognition from Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Active Schools program.

Active Kids was brought to Canada through a multi-sector partnership under the name BOKS between Reebok, the Canadian Football League, and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Under the Public Health Agency’s Diabetes Prevention strategy, the organization partnered with private companies, including Active Kids, by funding the launch of innovative programs to help increase healthy behaviors.

Using this funding, Reebok hired and supported 5 staff members in the first year: a manager, five regional coordinators to conduct outreach and training, and a marketing coordinator. By year five, Reebok had eight full-time staff in four regions of Canada implementing the program.

The original goal for the program was 90 schools per year for a total of 450 schools in five years. In Canada, there is a strong foundation of volunteerism within the schools, and school staff generously volunteer their time before and after school to run extra-curricular programs. Through outreach at physical education conferences, generalist teacher conferences, directly through the school districts, and through social media marketing, the BOKS team was able to reach and surpass this target, hitting 1,211 schools after the initial five years. 85 percent of trainers in Canada are school staff, with the other 15 percent made up of parents, community volunteers, and high school students.

In Canada, the program consists of an Elementary Lesson Plan Document, a Middle School Lesson Plan Document (these are 45 minute lesson plans that can be modified), and Bursts, which are 5-10 minute “bursts” of activity that can be performed in small spaces such as the classroom. The Bursts have become increasingly popular as many schools have begun to incorporate physical activity breaks into the day. The most popular program continues to be the Elementary.

During the 5-year project, the Canadian team launched a local database housed in Salesforce to manage their program. They launched a website, virtual training platform, and Trainer Hub to house all lesson plans, tools, and documents.

The Public Health Agency functioned as the main funding partner, and Reebok supported in a limited financial way and through access to in-kind resources. By leveraging Reebok’s existing HR, IT, and office overhead, the BOKS team was able to reduce some of their expenses. The Canadian Football League acted primarily as a marketing partner, providing advertising and in-school player visits to up to 45 participating schools per year to encourage children to continue to stay active and healthy.

A study of more than 500 participants at 19 schools across Canada, conducted by Propel at the University of Waterloo revealed the following:

• Children who participated in Active Kids showed statistically significant improvements in shift and working memory (the ability to change efficiently & effectively from one task to another). This is yet more evidence that physical activity directly improves brain function!
• We know that good sleep is critical for a child’s development and continued health. Parent’s reported that children were able to fall asleep faster, and stay asleep longer, after participating in Active Kids.
• 12,000 steps represents the equivalent of 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. On average, children took an extra 2,221 steps on Active Kids days, bringing the average total to 12,652, helping them to reach that critical 60 minutes.

Additionally, research in the United States conducted by Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital proved the positive benefits of Active Kids. These findings which covered social-emotional well-beings were published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and the New York Times. The BOKS program continues to be supported financially by both The Public Health Agency of Canada and Reebok, and continues to grow year-over-year.

Active Kids Japan started in the Spring of 2011 through a collaboration between Reebok Japan and the United Sports Foundation (a Foundation created by Xebio, a large sports retailer) under the name BOKS. BOKS Japan is currently self-funded through the Reebok Japan marketing department and the partnership with Xebio’s United Sports Foundation. BOKS Japan went live with their localized website in June of 2015. Active Kids US provides in-kind technology support.

With the help of Xebio, BOKS Japan initially utilized store employees of Xebio as BOKS Trainers. These employees were ex-pro-athletes. The presence of athletes helped expand and lend credibility to the Active Kids branding in Japan. In 2019, BOKS Japan was reinvigorated with ReebokOne Ambassadors engaged as BOKS trainers.

Today, BOKS Japan focuses on a bi-monthly virtual program where participants get a hand-on experience with professional trainers that are recorded and posted on BOKS Japan’s Facebook page. Marketing on social channels include Instagram and Facebook posts. To maintain a solid trainer base, a monthly online BOKS Ambassadors Training Session will be hosted from May-Oct (2020) for Reebok employees/stakeholders interested. Outreach to foster homes and nursery schools will supplement virtual programming until it is safe to return to schools.