I was invited to the House of Lords last week by Baroness Anne Longfield, who is the former Children’s Commissioner of England and chair of the charity Bite Back 2030, which I helped found with Jamie Oliver in 2017 to reduce childhood obesity and ensure children are better protected from ‘big food’ companies.
I dusted off my suit, decided it was too hot to wear a tie and headed over to Westminster. After passing security I was brought through the forbidding Gothic gates and under the ancient looking tower passing dozens of very serious looking parliamentarians and aides. I navigated a complicated maze of hallways and meeting rooms (getting lost a few times on the way), until I got to the reception where in front of the thick wood door entrance someone handed me a …. Barbie, a beanbag and a bunch of story cubes ?!? Once inside, there were games set up all around the room with serious looking adults throwing balls, playing hopscotch, and dressing dolls.
No, our MPs weren’t having a collective nervous breakdown (though I think I would if I had to do their job!) Instead, it was one of the oddest, but also most fun events I’ve been to in Westminster. The reception was to celebrate the “Everything to Play for” report, published by the Centre for Young Lives, which presents a plan to ensure every child in England is able to play.
The Centre had conducted a year-long inquiry into the importance of play for children’s well-being and how to restore it. Reading the report, all I could think was that they could have saved a lot of time and energy by just asking some of our childminders!
There is a lot in their report that you already know, including that play is essential for children's development, happiness, and health. The report emphasizes that play is crucial for early years development, school readiness, and overall physical and mental health. The main point is that, play is crucial for all children and the play-based learning you facililtate every day is hugely important!
Yet, it shows evidence that something isn’t working nationally around play. Children want more outdoor play than they’re currently getting and opportunities for play in England are declining. All of this has led to a decline in children's physical activity, rising obesity, and mental health problems.
There is a section of the report I thought you would find relevant on the problem of members of the public having more of a “hostility towards children playing” than they used to - with less outdoor spaces available for children to play and too many adults less accepting of children playing outside now than in the past. I often hear this from our community members and perhaps this is something you may have experienced when taking children outside.
It further warns of the risk of ‘digital addition’ - further reinforcing the importance of great trained early years educators like tiney childminders to prevent this addition from starting at the youngest ages.
The report argues that returning play to the heart of childhood in England is key to addressing many challenges faced by the current generation. They propose ten recommendations to make play a political and policy priority in England, backed by national leadership, legal protections, and cultural change:
- National Play Strategy: Implement a new, cross-departmental strategy with an annual investment of £125 million.
- Statutory Play Sufficiency Duty: Require local authorities to assess and secure adequate play provision.
- Legal Protections: Incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into domestic law and recognize age-based discrimination under the Equality Act.
- Child-Friendly Neighbourhoods: Design safe and welcoming environments by tackling traffic and crime, banning "No Ball Games" signs, ensuring access to green spaces, and utilizing creative local play solutions.
- Planning Policy Update: Require developers and planners to consult children and adopt pro-play policies.
- Empower Parents: Launch awareness campaigns for low-cost play ideas, provide advice from health professionals, and pilot extended government support for childcare costs for play schemes.
- Play as a Foundation in Early Years: Ensure early years practitioners receive play-based training, maintain the emphasis on play in the Early Years Foundation Stage, roll out play-focused Family Hubs, expand access to play facilities, and introduce six weeks of paid leave for fathers.
- Play in Schools: Provide training for school staff on integrating play, require schools to develop play plans, embed play-based learning in the curriculum, protect breaktimes, and ban punitive practices that withdraw playtime.
- Safe Digital World: Raise the digital age of consent to 16, implement stricter guidelines for digital games, introduce health warnings on addictive products, and launch a national digital detox campaign.
- Play in Healthcare Settings: Recognize play's importance in health plans, pilot "Play on Prescription," and ensure play is a standard tool in children's care with access to play specialists and spaces.
Finally, to all our tiney childminders and families, please continue to prioritise play with your children and remember every day how important you are to their development and personal growth. Play is serious stuff!
