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Play Development - How Can I Support Childrens Play

Tips For Supporting Children To Play Out Confidently
How Can I Get Involved?
Games and Activities

Tips For Supporting Children To Play Out Confidently

Most of us remember the joy and freedom of playing out as children. The benefits to us were enormous:

we met and had adventures with friends
we knew our own neighbourhood inside out and travelled around it freely
we got to know the characteristics of local people - who to avoid and who to
trust - and they got to know and trust us (or not !)
we were physically active
we were self-reliant, resourceful and independent

We all have a responsibility to support and prepare our children to play out confidently in their community:

Prepare children to be road safe: We can prepare children for walking and cycling independently by telling them and showing them from an early age how they can keep themselves safe on and around roads.
Familiarise children with their neighbourhood: We can walk and cycle in the local area and help children to identify safer routes to play spaces and other places they need to access independently in their community.
Work with children: Once they are competent enough to travel around and play out without us, we can make agreements with children on where and how long they go out to play. It helps both us and them if they can tell the time, know their neighbourhood and know their address and phone number.
Keep our worries in perspective: We can try to be realistic about our fears for children’s safety. The benefits of playing out far outweigh the risks.
Take a community approach: We can get to know local people – neighbours and other families – and agree to keep an eye out for children. The more children who play out, the safer our children will be.
Change our environment: We can join with others locally to campaign for changes to our neighbourhood that might make our environment one where children can play out confidently.
Look to our own driving habits: As drivers we can cut our speed and drive as we would wish others to drive in residential streets where our children play.

How can I get involved?

There are a whole host of ways in which people can get involved in support children to play ranging from advocating for greater tolerance towards play in their community to developing year round play provision.

Here are some ways you might like to get involved:

Join the Wrexham Play Network and meet other people involved in upholding children’s right to play in Wrexham.
Get involved in Playwork by volunteering in a local play setting or by accessing one of our training courses. Click here for more information.
Visit our Playschemes and Playgrounds page to find out if there is already an open access play project running in your community. If there is then contact the WCBC Play Development Team to find out how you can lend your support.
Read Play Wales’s tips for supporting children to play out confidently.
Have a look at our games ideas and try some out with children in your family.

Everyone can help to support children’s play in some way even if it is just taking the time to try remembering what it was like to play as a child and then trying to have a bit more tolerance for children’s play behaviour. It is not always as straight forward as it sounds because it can be easy for adults to forget what it was like to be a child when all you really wanted to do was play.

Games and Activities

Below are some cheap and simple play ideas for supporting your children to play.

Giant Bubbles: We used this at play day event and it was great fun, we mixed up large amounts in buckets and the children used old metal coat hangers for the bubbles.

9 cups of water
1 cup of quality washing up liquid in Green or Yellow (it does makes a difference)
1/4 cup of glycerine
mix it slowly, avoid making it froth up. Best if left over night to settle.
Scavenger hunts: Send children to find objects on a list. To change the game you could send children to find objects of only one colour or objects that fit into a match box etc.
String hunts: Hang bits of string of all different lengths around, the winner is the one with the longest string, eventually children will work out they can tie them all together to win, it helps if you form a team.
Sports days: Fancy dress race relay race, instead of passing a baton they have to put on the fancy dress, wheel borrow race, piggy back race, egg and spoon.
Kite making: Kites can be made form plastic bags, fine material or paper.
Blind fold rope trails: All the children are blindfolded and hold the rope, the person at the front can see and guides everyone around a course e.g. up and down pavements, under held out cricket bats or branches etc.
Spider webs: Make a giant web out of string or rope climb through it with out touching the string.
Water fight: Use pop bottles, paper cups, hose pipe, pots & pans, buckets as well as water pistols and water bombs.
Cereal box game: Must pick it up with their teeth, hands and knees must not touch the floor, gradually keep ripping the top off until it becomes really hard to do.
Glupe: Cornflower and a small amount of water mixed very slowly, makes a great gunge that feels solid but looks like a liquid.
Junk Modelling: Very environmentally friendly. Allow children to let their own imaginations run wild and create models from old cereal boxes, toilet roll middles and any interesting bits of junk. Junk modelling also works well with giant carpet tubes, big cardboard boxes and lots of paint.
Fire sculptures: Thread material through chicken wire, cover in paraffin then light it (looks great in the dark).
Making your own paint and brushes: Use twigs, mud, water and even food.
Fire: Once the fire or Barbecue is safely lit, try cooking “dampers” out of flour and water, wrap the dough around a stick and eat with jam. You could try jacket potatoes, baked bananas etc in a camp fire. Remember to check if your insurance covers it and if allowed do at your setting. If not you can use a kitchen as children often love to cook.
Giant paper Mache: Please note that it will take ages to dry and needs to be gradually built up leaving time for the layers to dry in between. We have covered stuffed paper suits to make life sized models, or use chicken wire to make a frame.
Face paint and fancy dress.
Painting paper plates.: Painting paper plates make great masks or signs for bedroom doors.
Bubble painting: Add washing up liquid and water to powder paint, use a straw to blow into it and place paper over the paint to get a bubble picture.
Pillow fights
Den building: Dens don’t have to be made from wood, children can make dens using material and string.
Circle Games: Blink Murder, Chinese Whispers, Duck Duck Goose etc
Tic, Tag etc.: Off ground tic either everyone must remain off the ground or change it so that off ground is safe. Stick in the mud etc.
Water or Mud Slides.
Go-Kart building.
Making bike ramps.: Make using planks and bits of wood, watch for nails sticking out as they could puncture tyres.
Giant painting: Use old ends of wallpaper, great for foot painting and sharing a picture.
Making musical instruments.: Boxes with elastic bands to make guitars, dried food in containers to make shakers, drums made from kitchen equipment etc.
Big group games: Ladders, Captains Coming, Traffic lights, Chinese Whispers etc.