Play Services
ListenPlay is freely chosen, personally directed, intrinsically motivated behaviour that actively engages the child… Play can be fun or serious. Through play children explore social, material and imaginary worlds and their relationship with them, elaborating all the while a flexible range of responses to the challenges that they encounter
(Best Play, NPFA/Playlink/Children’s Play Council, London 2001)
We are concerned that there are a number of factors that have led to deterioration in the quality of play over a sustained period. As adults, many of us believe that today’s children have fewer opportunities for play than we did. Opportunities for play are limited by factors outside children and young people’s control:
- Parental fears about strangers (often not warranted but highlighted by media response to isolated incidents), traffic and pollution and their concerns about crime, violence and bullying
- Lack of tolerance for children and young people and lack of access to and conflicts over local spaces
- Increased focus on academic learning and structured activities outside school hours
- The effects of disability
There is also a damaging impact that arises from an over cautious approach to safety. For fear of litigation, challenge and adventure is built out meaning that opportunities that exist do not contribute to children’s development and are so boring that they lead to children and young people taking much greater risks elsewhere.
Children are exposed to sophisticated media influences and resulting peer pressure and spend more time watching television and playing computer games as a result.
These factors all create an environment where children and young people’s freedom has been restricted, risks and challenges are limited and their access to public spaces is often to undertake adult-led activities. There is plenty of evidence that many parents, in the face of these factors, have forgotten how to encourage their children and let them play.
Bracknell Forest Council will acknowledge these concerns and work towards finding alternative solutions to enable children to enjoy the freedom to play in a safe, exciting and innovative environment.
Bracknell Forest Early Years, Childcare & Play Partnership developed its Play Strategy in 2007 in order to explore and address issues surrounding play opportunities for local children and young people. A National Play Strategy followed in 2008, bringing with it the opportunities to address local issues. The Play Ranger Service, funded by BIG lottery, and The Playbuilder Project are two initiatives that have come about as a direct result of local and national play strategies.
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