Fukumoto Fit Kids in Winnipeg has created a kids show on YouTube to encourage young kids to move during the winter months.

"We heard about a grant from Safe at Home Manitoba in early mid-December. We had written three proposals, and one was for our regular program and one was for women's health," says Johnny Fukumoto, the CEO of Fukumoto Fitness.

Those two grants did not receive funding, however, the third one did.

"We wrote a proposal, which is probably more 'out there', was a kids show idea. Mainly because a few of us have kids in the age group and every day we see kids joining their parents and trying to get involved. This was an idea to create something that was really geared towards kids, and having fun moving around."

The idea for the show was not for kids to get a workout but simply get moving and have fun while doing it. 

"We've done six shows and they'll be released every other Saturday until the end of March. The program is to provide valuable stuff for people during these dark and cold months," he says.

Staff from Fukumoto fitness are the ones in the video and Fukumoto wrote the series. 

"The staff in the video are people who are willing to try new things and encourage people as they've been doing that the entire time they've worked here."

Fukumoto's kids have also made an appearance in some of the videos. He and his wife have three sons ages 2, 4, and 6-years-old. 

"The show is for kids ages 4-7, but it just depends on what kids are into."

The first episode was released on January 23 and is called Cosmic Courage. The host Jethro takes kids through space and encourages movement at the same time. 

"One of the hosts, my friend Jethro, he's a phys-ed teacher and a very good storyteller, plus he has two daughters in the same age group."

As the grant is from the province, Fukumoto thought to add some familiar places in and around Winnipeg throughout the show, talking about the Forks, for example. 

The next video will be released on February 6, 2021 to YouTube.