A plan for play - An Eye View Series report

There is a simple, inexpensive and joyful way to address many of the major challenges facing society and its children; addressing the alarming mental health crisis and obesity epidemic and helping to prepare children for an ever-changing work force. The solution that is all too often overlooked and neglected is - play. The right to play is so important that it is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Research documents its importance to every aspect of child health, development and wellbeing. Yet many children have little or no access to high quality play opportunities. Play provision should be considered in relation to every aspect of children’s lives – the design of their neighbourhoods, as well as within the services they access, such as child care centres, schools, hospitals, recreation facilities, parks and adventure playgrounds. Play cannot be relegated to the places and context that adults decide are appropriate It should be woven into the fabric of every aspect of children’s lives and the communities they are part of. Equitable access to play means reducing the insidious gradient of inequity that impacts children’s lives even before they are born and continues across their lifespan. Schools are one important venue to ensure equitable access to play. For some children, it will be the only opportunity they have for this nourishing and necessary activity. Play comprises a quarter of the school year, yet teachers and support staff receive no proper training or support to ensure that children in their care – our society’s future – have fulfilling play time. We know that early life experiences set the stage for the future, and that early intervention saves unquantifiable and unnecessary suffering and costs later on – for children, families and society as a whole. We owe it to children and ourselves both now and tomorrow, to make a plan for play that sees every child in every place playing every day. This report makes that case

A Plan for Play

This report is the fourth of a series from The All Party-Parliamentary Group on a Fit and Healthy Childhood and although it stands alone in its own right, is best considered in that context. The recommendations within it contribute to our vision of ‘whole child’ health and wellbeing. ‘Play’ itself requires definition and has been interpreted in many ways by many different people and organisations. In essence it is what children freely choose to do when their time and ability to act are entirely their own. It may be what a child chooses to do when they are not under the control, overt or implied, of an adult. Many people regard play as a ‘process’ rather than an outcome. It has no defined purpose or agenda other than what is in the mind of the child at that moment. In reality, there are levels of ‘adult control’ depending on the situation, but what is most important is that no adult is at that moment, steering what is happening. Enablement of play through ‘light touch and design’ is a particular skill, as is play supervision if it is to remain ‘play’ rather than an adult-controlled activity of arguably less value