Manchester City defender John Stones and goalkeeper Scott Carson saw how the club are helping to keep schoolchildren active when they joined in with a City Play session at the Etihad Campus.
The City in the Community programme, funded by the Premier League and the Professional Footballers Association, works with children aged between two and five in schools and nurseries across Greater Manchester to promote a healthy lifestyle.
"It brings back memories of being at school and all the fun times when you are out in the playground or with your friends," Stones said, after joining in with some of the games with the children.
"You look and everyone's got a smile on their face and everyone is getting involved. That's the main thing."
The physical development sessions involve gentle exercises and games to inspire creativity and movement. The programme has engaged close to 10,000 youngsters over the last two years.
"Our theme today is pirates and the idea from that has come from a book," said City in the Community early years manager Natalie Sutcliffe.
"All parents have books in the house and what we want to try and teach them is that you can take a page from that book and bring it into a 30-minute activity session."
