Mount Olympus Primary’s Alexia Alexopoulous is very familiar with the effects of exercise on the body but do the children in your class understand them? AST, Sarah Williams, offers some practical ideas that combine science and PE.

The human body is capable of great things if we challenge ourselves – and this is a key theme of Sports Day on Mount Olympus. Our heroine Alexia benefitted from the gods’ laziness and overconfidence, but it was only by pushing herself, being determined to do her best and focusing on her goal that she won the cross-country race. Gods may be capable of winning an event with little effort but, for us mere mortals, exercise involves hard work! Ask the children to skim through the story and find examples in the text and pictures of the impact of exercise on the body, for example: face scorched red, panting, puffing… Can the children think of any other effects of exercise that Alexia might have experienced but aren’t mentioned (for example, increased heart/pulse rate, aching muscles, feeling tired)?