New conference to look at impact of lockdown on children's play

Play 2021, on 7 to 8 July, has been organised by Playful Planet and the University of Birmingham, with the support of playful schools specialists, Opal (Outdoor Play and Learning).

Leading advocates of children’s play, including independent writer and researcher, Tim Gill and Helen Dodds of the University of Reading, will be sharing their insights on play and learning at the event.

Adrian Voce, founding director of Play England who now runs Playful Planet advocating for children’s play and child-friendly cities, said, ‘Because child policy tends to be dominated by education, play is often seen through prism of how play contributes to children’s learning outcomes.

‘I wanted to broaden it out and look at it from a wider perspective and how it’s about the space that children are afforded in different contexts, whether in the public domain or socially, in terms of needing permission, and children being welcomed to play in different contexts.’

Children’s need to play has come into sharp focus in the pandemic, with academics, the children’s commissioner, practitioners, and parents and carers, all keenly aware how hard - and possibly damaging - it has been for children to have so little opportunity to enjoy the freedom and the space that they need to play.

Mr Voce added, ‘Children’s play not been recognised in the coronavirus guidance for England as needing any special attention. Other than the occasional mention that playgrounds can either open or have to shut, the need for children to play has not been specifically identified. And that’s a worry.’

Playing Out, a Bristol-based company, has challenged the Government to recognise that children under 12 have a particular need to play out and have even gone so far as to suggest that the rules have been discriminatory and unlawful.

SPEAKERS

With growing momentum in the sector, Mr Voce said that now is ‘good time’ to have a conference that provides a platform for both academics and practitioners to discuss their research and try to get policy makers to take note of how important it is for children to have space to play.

Nursery World has covered Professor Dodd’s Co-Spyce research on the impact of Covid lockdowns on children’s play and social lives, and Mr Gill’s new book Urban Playground, published by the Royal Institute of British Architects, makes the case for child-friendly planning and place-making.

Mr Gill, who is an expert in child-friendly design, will be speaking about street play and planning.
He said, ‘Urban planning has, in part, been about a battle for space between children and cars. For most of the 20th century, cars were the winners. But this is beginning to change.

‘The pandemic, with its brief taste of hyperlocal living, has shone a light on the problems of car-dominated towns and cities: traffic danger, congestion, air and noise pollution, isolation and a retreat from the outdoors. New movements are emerging to reclaim streets and neighbourhoods for play and socialising: a trend that goes with the grain of Government policy, and is supported by forward-thinking local authorities. This conference is a timely opportunity to take stock of what makes the world just outside our front doors work well for children.’

Alison Stenning, professor of social and economic geography at Newcastle University and co-author of Beyond active travel: children, play and community on streets during and after the coronavirus lockdown (2020), will be speaking about her recent research on how ‘playing out’ shapes residents’ attachments to their streets and the people on them, and how play has the potential to challenge the erosion of relationships in everyday places.

• For more information on the conference, which is planned to be an in-person event - but will be changed to virtual if needs be, visit Playful Planet - For a Child-friendly World.