active play
Following the Children’s Commissioner recent report into play and physical activity, we talk to Alice Ferguson, the co-founder of Playing Out, about the UK’s growing street play movement.
Q. The Children’s Commissioner for England has called for play and physical activity to be made a national priority. How will this impact outdoor play in England? The Children’s Commissioner’s report makes several really important points. Firstly, that children naturally want to be outdoors, active and playing with friends. Secondly, that it is the changing physical and social conditions around them (“busy lives, busy roads…”) that get in the way of this – not screens or their own laziness. And thirdly, that we all need to work together to change things. The impact of the report will very much depend on what happens next. We are meeting with the Children’s Commissioner to talk about this and in particular, what can be done at a policy level to address the current barriers to children playing out.
Q. Can street play help reduce physical inactivity among children?
This movement has shown that the solution to children’s inactivity is incredibly simple – they just need to be given the time, space and opportunity to play outside freely. Research by the University of Bristol using accelerometers
About Playing Out
Playing Out was Formed by neighbours Alice Ferguson and Amy Rose who were frustrated by their children’s freedom to play out was so restricted, mainly because of the traffic that dominated local streets. Since 2018, the model has developed into a national organisation supporting a growing parent-led street play movement across the UK. Playing Out has helped more than 50 local authorities to put street play schemes in place, enabling around 900 street communities to 'play out' regularly. The aim is to grow this movement until street play becomes normal again.
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and GPS found that children were up to five times more physically active during street play than on a normal day after school. There are no organised, adult-supervised games or activity. No glossy cartoon-illustrated leaflets telling children how physical activity can be fun. No rewards other than the enjoyment of having freedom to use the space outside their own front door and choose what they want to do. Just easy access to a safe space, other children and permission to play. So yes, as well as providing a whole host of other benefits, there is enormous potential for street play to meet children’s need for physical activity. But in order to realise this potential we need public health and wider government policy that addresses the barriers to street play being a normal, everyday option for most children. In particular, public health policy (and funding) that is based on a better understanding of children’s natural urge to play and be active (i.e. they don’t need to be “encouraged”, just enabled),
Images: Playing Out
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