Looking at how children play

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in the importance of playing outdoors and a growing awareness of the barriers to children’s play.

Looking at research about how and where children play will help you compare the experiences of children in your area with children in other areas. You may want to look at factors such as gender, ethnicity, family culture, disability, as well as local place characteristics and the impact this has on children’s play. There are also differences between urban and rural areas, as well as natural and built environments that may help you argue the case for your project.

Finding out about the research evidence will:

• increase your own knowledge and awareness
• help you ask more informed questions
• enable you to better engage with different agencies
• help you think about what should be provided.

Working out what needs to be done

You may have a very clear understanding of local play needs and what you want to achieve.

You may be considering provision where there is none or want to improve or update existing play provision. Or you may want to create something to address a particular need e.g. the lack of play opportunities for a particular group of children or those who don’t feel safe using their local play area. But there may be more general, less specific concerns about play opportunities in the community, and more complex, sometimes conflicting, issues that you may find need to be addressed by a wider needs analysis of your area before you start your project.

You will almost certainly have to do this if you want to create something new and permanent such as a new play area or a staffed adventure playground. Funders will also require you to have an understanding of local need and how your project will make a difference.

The first step in assessing local need is to find out about your population of children and young people.

For example:

• What is their age?
• Where do they live?
• What are their cultural and ethnic backgrounds?
• Are they disabled?

Understanding the barriers to children’s outdoor play is important. For example:

If children feel unsafe you may want to think about the design and layout of your local play area, or you may want to think about staffed play provision such as play rangers or greater community involvement through community play events.

If there are dangers from traffic you may want to look at traffic-calming measures or safe streets.

Each solution might require a different set of partners to help you make it happen. For example:

• If children do not use a play area because it is in a location where they do not feel safe, is poorly maintained or uninteresting, you will probably want to contact the parks department.
• If there are traffic dangers you will probably want to contact the highways department.
• If children have anxieties about street crime and bullying you may need to engage with neighbourhood police teams and youth or play services.

A play audit

Would your project benefit if you carried out your own play audit?

Although your local authority should have carried out its own play audit as part of its local play strategy, this is not the same as local knowledge. And your own audit can be a very important step, not just for gathering information but also for encouraging the local community to look at their neighbourhood as a place for play.

The audit should establish:

• exactly what play spaces currently exist
• who is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of these play spaces
• what plans there are for the development of these play spaces or new provision.

You may also want to consider:

• how children and young people use these play spaces
• how children use a network of provision in an area
• how children travel through the area
• how disabled children access play provision.

Tools for evaluating play provision recommends the type of spaces you should consider in an audit:

Doorstep spaces: small spaces, within sight of home, where children, especially young children can play within view of known adults.  For example, a grassed area, open space, residential street in a home zone or small purpose-designed play area.

Local spaces: larger areas or facilities that can be reached safely by children who are beginning to travel independently and with friends, without accompanying adults and for adults with young children to walk to with ease. This could be a grassed area, small park, local open space, designed space for play or informal recreation, or a school playground that’s open outside school hours.

Neighbourhood spaces: larger areas or facilities that children and young people who are accustomed to travelling longer distances independently can safely access, and where they can spend time in play and informal recreation with their peers enjoying a wider range of play experiences. For example, this might be a park, playing field, recreation ground or natural open space such as woodland, moorland or a beach, accessible and attractive to older children and young people.

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