While families started a half-term holiday in lockdown, campaigners called for the rules in England around children’s play to be made clearer. They also warned that children’s well-being is being affected by them being unable to interact socially with other children.
Lockdown rules for Scotland and Wales explicitly state that any form of play outdoors is acceptable. In England, the official advice is that public playgrounds should be ‘primarily’ for families without gardens.
The Cabinet Office issued a statement saying, ‘Playgrounds are primarily for use by children who do not have access to private outdoor space, and while parents, guardians or carers are allowed to take children to a playground for exercise, they must not socialise with other people while there.’
But, writing on Twitter, Jeremy Hunt, the chair of the health select committee, stated, ‘I’m in the “go harder and faster” camp on covid but it does seem over-zealous to allow two adults to exercise outdoors but not two children (who face much lower risk from covid but probably greater mental health risks from lockdown).’
Anita Grant, chief executive of Islington Play Association and chair of trustees of Play England, said, ‘The heavy-handed way that Government have responded to calls for clarity about telling parents that children’s play is as important as grown-ups exercise has been misguided.
‘It is obviously important that playgrounds are fundamentally important for those without access to safe open space or gardens but the idea that children should be segregated according to living conditions is blatantly ridiculous and not anything anyone would support.
‘Play England firmly believes that free play, where children get to choose how they play, outdoors and with friends is the way that they will start to recover from the restriction and control that they have experienced through the lockdowns. Children need to play with friends, peers, neighbours and in the community. That is how they will reconnect with their world, revitalise their social skills and develop the resilience and independence that they will need for the future.’
Chair of the Association of Play Industries Mark Hardy highlighted that the vast majority of children live in urban areas which means that public, community playgrounds are often their only safe space in which to play and exercise, particularly for those one in eight UK households without gardens.
‘Children have paid an extraordinarily high price in lockdown, effectively under varying degrees of house arrest for almost a year,’ said Mr Hardy.
‘Their world as they know it has been turned upside down and outdoor play is absolutely vital to their recovery.’
He added, ‘Playgrounds are an essential public service without which the physical, mental and emotional health of children suffers.’
