Playing with a purpose for Playday 2010

Today at Eureka! we are celebrating Playday, the national event where communities around the UK host events that champion and support children’s right to play. In the process of preparing for our events, I read the research released this week by Play England to support the 2010 Playday campaign.

Taking time out for some sandcastle building during last year's Playday!

Play England found there is a profound loss of community spirit in Britain, which in turn is leading to children no longer being able to play outside. I have to wonder what has led to this lack of togetherness, and is it really the only reason why children don’t play outdoors any more?

In 2005 I returned to the UK after four years of living and working abroad. Bringing a six-year-old and a one-year-old back to the UK I became acutely aware of the lack of children on our streets. I noticed the ever-growing perception that children are ‘in danger’ if out of the sight of a parent, and we experienced the lack of play provision in many areas.

As I have written before, the evidence to support our multiple fears is not there. There have not been increases in child abductions and murders, compared to 20 or 30 years back, but there has been an increase in media coverage.

Playday 2010’s campaign theme is ‘Our Place’. Play England’s research states almost half of adults surveyed think it’s unsafe for children to play without supervision. However when 73% of children want to play outside more where they live, isn’t it our role as adults to enable this play in our home environments rather than install fear? I believe it is up to us to take note of these facts and figures, and to support the reinvigoration of community spirit by positively reinforcing the value of play.

It’s also encouraging to learn that the new ministerial Childhood and Families Task Force, chaired by the Prime Minister, has made Playful communities one of its priority areas – this is great news and I look forward to reading their conclusions, which are expected at the end of the year.

Taking time out to play today is just one in a series of steps to change our communities for the better. For Playday, I will be around the museum getting messy, crafty and active. We’re celebrating the right of all children to play, will you?

Rebecca Johnson is Play and Learning Director for Eureka! The National Children's Museum.

The seven different types of play

Who knew there were so many ‘types’ of play!? 

In my research at Eureka! I came across this really interesting article from The National Institute for Play (NIFP) in the USA. They’ve identified seven different types of play that we all engage in at different stages of our lives.

Attunement Play
This means a feeling of being "at one" with another being, and this picture taken in our Me and My Body gallery demonstrates it pretty well as a mother and daughter work comfortably together on one of our exhibits.

Body Play & Movement
Keeping active is very important to us here at the museum and there are always plenty of items to keep you moving as shown by this young girl who looks to be really enjoying herself as she plays in the Eureka! grounds.

Object Play
Object play is perhaps the most obvious and familiar form of play because it involves toys. Here at Eureka! there are plenty of opportunities for object play, including treasure baskets, a collection of natural and household objects presented in a round basket for babies to explore. The aim of the baskets is to provide a rich sensory experience for children, letting babies explore objects by themselves, using their five senses and giving an ideal outlet for their natural curiosity.

Social Play
Social play is the rough and tumble we probably all remember enjoying with our brothers and sisters, friends and family as young children. Social play is also found in the close relationship between friends. As the picture below shows, this kind of play is commonly found at Eureka! and these children are happily creating a sculpture in our giant sandpit.

Imaginative & Pretend Play
In the Living and Working Together gallery at Eureka!, imagination is essential with role play opportunities all over the place. Whether you are drawing money out from the play bank or filling up your car at the petrol pump, a child’s mind can create a world of their own in this pretend town square.

Storytelling-Narrative Play
I really like this photo as the little girl seems to be listening intently to the story that is being read aloud to her even though she is sat in one of the walkways of the museum!

Transformative-Integrative & Creative Play
This picture was taken on National Playday where children were given cardboard boxes and craft materials and left to their own devices. All the children were very creative and many transformed their boxes into houses such as the boy below.

Jenny Goodall is in the Play & Learning Team at Eureka!

Playday

Eureka! celebrated Playday earlier this month. The day is an annual celebration of children's right to play and 100s of events took play all over the country. Eureka! marked the event in typical style with lots of opportunities for play at the museum, indoors and out.

The organisers behind Playday revealed that 72% of parents want more time to play with their children or to take them places to play (opinion poll conducted by ICM).

At Eureka! play is at the heart of what we do and Playday was a great chance to demonstrate our commitment to play by encouraging all our staff to make time to play. It was the perfect opportunity to spend half an hour escaping the pressures of our daily lives and experiencing the positive effects of play, something we tend to lose sight of as adults.

It was great to see so many children, parents and grandparents getting stuck into play, as well as staff - even our CEO Leigh-Anne Stradeski had a bounce on a spacehopper!