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ORGANISED CHILDRENS PLAY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
The history of the child play movement in the U.K is short, for generations of children play was condemned by adults as an intrusion into their world of work and leisure. For up until the 19th Century, once a small child had grown out of the nappy stage and could walk, the child was expected to play an active role in family life and all associated activities within the family unit. Childhood as a vocation, was not recognised as having any value, special attention, or provision.
In 1385, the Bishop of London complained of children playing around St. Pauls and later in 1447 the Bishop of Exeter also complained of children playing within the church cloisters during services. An Italian visitor to England remarked in his 'Revelations' of the late 15th Century.
"The want of affection in the English, is directly manifested towards their children." " For often having kept them at home till they arrive at the age of 7 or 8 years, or 9 at the utmost". " They put them out to hard service in the houses of other people, binding them for another 7 or 9 years". In London, a Beadle was employed to whip children away from the Royal exchange.
It was however the teacher, writer and visionary William Barnes of Dorchester who warned of the future of children if theeir play spaces were lost to the cars and house building.
Whilst church groups and others like the Childrens Holiday Fund and Fresh Air Fund, provided trips out to country areas for city children and other activity groups. These included the Childrens Happy Evening Association, Band of Hope and Salvation Army activities.
Robert Baden-Powell operated the very first boys scout camp on Brownsea Island at Poole in Dorset, thereby forming the Scout Association in 1907.
Nearby at Shaftesbury (Dorset) Homer Lane had established the first free school in the U.K, which was called "The Little Commonwealth'.
This influenced Coldwell Cook with his book entitled, 'The Free Way', which was originally published in 1917.
Homer Lane with his Little Commonwealth School in Shaftesbury, had recognised the importance of free play in 1913, stating that ;
"The child in the playground was not the same child who came to school, resourceful and purposeful, all qualities apparent in his spontaneous play". In later years A.S.Neil had opened his free school Summerhill.
It was via The Royal Charter of 1925, which established the National Playing Fields Association N.P.F.A, (National Playing Fields Association) allowed them to become the only body specifically responsible for the development of play, playgrounds and recreational grounds nationally within the U.K.
It is only through the extraordinary work of the N.P.F.A, that organised child's play and the facilities of play have grown and become established. Many of the forerunners of childrens charities were established at their offices in Playfield House.
Voluntary organisations and play organisations were the subject of national campaigns aimed at the setting up and delivery of such community projects. With the help of grant aid, resources and specialist know how, facilities for all ages and abilities including disabled children. Along with safety standards of play provision which were set in stone. This was indeed the largest step so far taken, (all very long overdue) Nevertheless, things were now definitely happening for the sake of the children.
By this time a national conscience was aroused and the state itself accepted some responsibility for child welfare, more specifically regarding child protection.
However, it was left to the voluntary sector to monitor the play needs of children. There was previously at that time little in the way of national recreational provision until 1925, when the N.P.F.A was founded. Pictures of Children playing on the streets and bombed sites of the city.
Long before World War Two, the Danish Architect J.H. Sorenson had a vision of how children could best play, freely and imaginatively. He presented his views within his own personal blueprint document entitled "Open Spaces for Town and Country". Sorenson wrote in 1913, "That perhaps we should set up waste material playgrounds in suitable large areas, where children could play with old cars, boxes and timber". For a brilliant article with extraordiny pictures of adventure playgrounds nationally, visit. 
In later years, the adventure playgrounds were to meet these needs, places where children could express their efforts spontaneously. There are many factors that led to the birth of adventure play, but none so important as the psychological theories of childhood which emerged in the 1930's. These new ideas about childhood and play entered the mainstream culture and began to affect politics, town planning and child care practices.
Within this climate of innovation Carl Theodor Sørensen a landscape designer and Hans Dragehjelm a school teacher, created their Family and Children's Park proposal. For several years both men had been interested in designing and building appropriate play spaces for the children of Copenhagen.
Sørensen and Dragehjelm thought that natural play was the ideal play and worked best in natural and rural surroundings. Sørensen was not an opponent of playground equipment, but he wanted it limited to see-saws, swings and sand-boxes. He had long observed that the children in his area were attracted to playing on construction sites and not on the conventional playgrounds. They appeared excited by the endless possibilities that the construction site offered them in creating their own adventures. In a journal article in 1935 Sørensen wrote:
"Finally we should probably at some point experiment with what one could call a junk playground. I am thinking in terms of an area, not too small in size, well closed off from its surroundings by thick greenery, where we should gather, for the amusement of bigger children, all sorts of old scrap that the children from the apartment blocks could be allowed to work with, as the children in the countryside and in the suburbs already have".
"There could be branches and waste from tree polling and bushes, old cardboard boxes, planks and boards, "dead" cars, old tyres and lots of other things, which would be a joy for healthy boys to use for something". "Of course it would look terrible, and of course some kind of order would have to be maintained; but I believe that things would not need to go radically wrong with that sort of situation. If there were really a lot of space, one is tempted to imagine tiny little kindergartens, keeping hens and the like, but it would at all events require an interested adult supervisor..."
Sørensen's junk playground eventually became the first ever adventure playground in the deprived area of Emdrup, Copenhagen. It was opened in August 1943 as part of a housing project with 719 large-family households and was an immediate success. At Emdrup nothing was static or expensive. It was filled with junk - wood, rope, canvas, tires, wire, bricks, pipes, rocks, nets, logs, balls, abandoned furniture, wheels, vehicles, and an unimaginable assortment of other things. The first playleader of the Emdrup adventure playground was John Bertelsen who wrote in an article in 1946 stating:
"The adventure playground is an attempt to give the city child a substitute for the play and development potential it has lost as the city has become a place where there is no space for the child's imagination and play".
"Access to all building sites is forbidden to unauthorized persons, there are no trees where the children can climb and play Tarzan. The railway station grounds and the common, where they used to be able to fight great battles and have strange adventures, do not exist any more. No! It is now not easy to be a child in the city when you feel the urge to be a caveman or a bushman". There are many factors that led to the birth of adventure play, but none so important as the psychological theories of childhood which had emerged earlier in the 1930's. These new ideas about childhood and play entered the mainstream culture and began to affect politics, town planning and child care practices. In a publication entitled Planning for Play , Lady Allen of Hurtwood wrote,
"Adventure playgrounds are significantly different from one another". "For they are influenced by the community, the nature of the site, the wishes of the children, the imaginations of the leader and the amount of money available". Lady Marjorie Allen was originally Chair of the Nursery Association and founder of the;Under Fourteen Council, later to be known as Save The Children Fund.
They published their report on childrens play in 1943, which was entitled; Play Space for Children. It was due to her work that the Curtis Commission was formed which led to the 1948 Childrens Act.
LADY ALLEN
It was the N.P.F.A through its national officers and work over the years led by Lord Luke, Lady Marjorie Allen, Mary Nicholson, Drummond Abernethy and the N.P.F.A's numerous retired officers from the armed services, who pioneered and developed play work initiatives nationally.
This radical step forward, led to the development of numerous national play projects and campaigns in the U.K. Thereby ensuring that childs play was taken seriously by government bodies and local authorities in the years ahead. Lord Luke of the N.P.F.A along with Lady Allen of Hurtwood spearheaded the initial and crucial meetings at N.P.F.A's headquarters in Play Field House. (London) To promote the development and growth of adventure playgrounds in the U.K.
Following an article in the Times newspaper on the subject of juvenile crime in 1951, the N.P.F.A offered grant aid for the first two experimental adventure playgrounds. Lord Luke was appointed by the N.P.F.A as the Chair of such a play committee in 1951.Then by 1954 the N.P.F.A had their own published guidelines on the development of playgrounds, courtesy of Mary Nicholson, which were specifically based on the development of Adventure Playgrounds. Initial meetings of the newly formed Pre-School Play Association were also held at Play Field House.
Adventure Playground emerged from movements in 1960s Europe that worked to reclaim derelict urban spaces, many caused by the devastation of World War II. Filled with trash and debris, the sites were considered unfit even for parking cars and were therefore abandoned by developers. However, children had no qualms about these forbidden sites, often playing happily in rubble heaps. They seemed to prefer the informality of dirt and scraps to formal jungle gyms. Eventually parents and park designers realized that these non-traditional materials inspired creative, thoughtful play. The adults and children worked together to construct the kinds of play spaces the children wanted.
The playgrounds they built were not just play spaces; they were fodder for studies by child psychologists. Proponents for Adventure Playgrounds claimed that the play environment they provided would help kids retain resilient and positive world-views. Adventure Playgrounds continually proved the value of learning experiences outside of school. Children could use the playground for exploring many real-life activities (and even the imagined ones). Many of the constructions were clubhouse-type buildings that fostered elaborate games of pretend. Other equipment was designed for children to create multi-media art projects.
British supporter Lady Allen of Hurtwood went so far as to argue that giving children opportunities to collectively play at cooking, building, and creating would work to eradicate those destructive energies that might lead some urban youth into delinquency.
Landscape design innovator and father of the Adventure Playground, M. Paul Friedberg confirms, “Our problem is that We want the child to be living in a padded box. But a child has to have the real world, fraught with challenges to overcome.” Friedberg’s conviction seems to have held true in England, as full-time employees staffed each adventure playground to oversee creative activities and aid in the general upkeep of the materials. The playgrounds’ need for heavy community involvement and much maintenance would later figure into their demise.
IN THE USA
Meanwhile in the United States, the movement caught on quickly. Adventure Playgrounds sprouted up in locations all over the New York, predominantly in Manhattan. The new layouts updated the 1930s playground’s repertoire of metal swings and sandboxes. New ways of thinking about play space became fashionable, with prominent architects such as Louis Kahn and Isamu Noguchi’s proposing designs for Riverside Park. Adventure playground builders designed with natural materials to integrate the play area into the land itself. The playgrounds “fit” in the colors of the materials used: stone, concrete, wood, metal, sand. Adventure playgrounds in New York City more often contained innovative shapes for kids to climb in and around rather than raw building materials as in the European sites. Federal regulations with high standards on safety stifled the use of rougher materials in playgrounds. Many parents began to worry about the possibility of injury in the tunnels and massive play shapes that blocked visibility of their children at play. Others felt the constructions should be preserved as landmarks, especially the ones designed by famous architects. Soon adventure equipment lost out to colorful catalog models with less sand and fewer moving parts. “Times change,” Commissioner Henry J. Stern proclaimed. In 1948 Drummond Abernethy was appointed as the secretary of the Childrens and Play leadership Department of The National Playing Fields Association Playground Committee. Shortly after in 1950 the NPFA through Pathe News distributed the following film highlighting the need for play provision.
Drummond's energy and vision led to the establishment of other projects and played a significant role in refining Sørenson's ideas into adventure play. The name change from junk to adventure play was designed to create a more positive public image but it also marked Drummond's extension of the original philosophy. Drummond and Lady Allen together are widely viewed as the two most important figures in the development of adventure play in Britain. Eventually a number of playgrounds were set up on permanent sites with adequate funding. This funding was increasingly provided by the local authorities, who had come to recognize the value of such facilities. By 1973 when i was managing Pin Green adventure playground in Stevenage Herts, sixty one such playgrounds had been established across the country. Whilst working with local playgroups, Mrs Diana Casswell first had the idea that certain children she was working with would benefit from adventure play. From this idea Diana Casswell, along with her husband Reverend Peter Casswell, set about starting the first adventure playground for children with disabilities outside of inner London. From the beginning, a group of committed and experienced people joined the management committee to see the creation of ELHAP. The first major hurdle was to find a suitable site for an adventure playground and by September 1976 negotiations had been completed with the charity Barnardo's for use of this site. Work to adapt it began immediately. A workable area had to be fenced off, structures and play facilities built and pathways laid. Indoor adaptations also had to be made including additional toilet accommodation together with provision for wet weather activities. These two distinct areas of child play, that of play leadership and the adventure play work movement, came together alongside a full time course at Thurrock College. Plus other comparative courses at Kennington College (London) and Stockport Technical College. Many other training courses followed in later years, all spearheaded by the N.P.F.A
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| Drummond Abernethy. .  In 1965 Drummond advocated that "Special pavilions needed to be built in parks for children,that recreation grounds should be within half a mile radius from a child home and that schools and other provisions should open during the evening, weekends and during school holidays."
My early influences of play leadership occurred after reading a National Playing Fields Association booklet entitled ; Play Leadership; this was written by Drummond Abernethy. Drummond was the secretary of the play leadership department of the N.P.F.A. based at Play Field House).
Peter a student with C.S.V Community Service Volunteer and personal friend. Told me of new playgrounds where kids could create and destroy walls, build and light fires and do all manners of things which children normally couldnt do. And of his friend Drummond Abernethy. I found the idea and concept of such playgrounds very intriguing and exciting and I wanted to know more. With the help of N.P.F.A literature which I loaned entitled Adventure Playgrounds and Playleadership. Extract ,"The object of recreation is not taken seriously enough, especially by planners and architects, it tended to be left to the end of any scheme to use up what land was left, when other needs were satisfied." " These play places must be near home and if there is no traffic segregation,there must be some form of leadership". " If action is not taken not only will childrens development be retarded,but they will in all likelihood turn to anti-social activities"- Drummond Abernethy - Director of the Play Leadership Department / National Playing Fields Association". The philosophy particularly interested me, having gained first hand personal experiences within my own childhood upbringing and through later informal youth group experiences and settings. The readings of these books written by Drummond Abernethy and my later friendship with him at Play Field House and throughout the next thirty years. Were to be instrumental in my grasp of the important values and philosophy of childs play work, the discipline and the profession. All children need to play, to make a mess, to play with sand and water, to cut out shapes, colour pictures, make models, play instruments, dress up and to join with their peers in the singing of rhymes and jingles, playing on slides, in wendy houses and similar pursuits. These activities were always under the watchful eye and caring supervision of fully trained professional staff, whom the children could turn to for help, advice, support and comfort. Children need such adults around to read them stories, sing with them, to organise activities and to make such play environments, safe and interesting. Places such as nurseries, playgroups, play schemes and adventure playgrounds, alongside the modern after school kids club networks. These are all ideal havens for such activities. All helped to establish a variety of projects for children nationally. They were all encouraged by the earlier work of the National Playing Fields Association with its many sub-groups and committees. The very first local authority pre-school play provision scheme was the Greater London Councils 1'O Clock Clubs, which were held in london parks. Such schemes were eventually to operate nation-wide. In 1937 the Physical Training and Recreation Act, had made grants available for the first time through the Board of Education. Two years later in I939, a national advisory body was established alongside a government circular (no.1486) which saw their involvement in leisure time provision. This was the start of the partnership between the statutory authorities and the voluntary sector in leisure provision. During this period, of the 4 million young people between the ages of 14 to 20 years, only 500,000 or one in eight were actually involved in any voluntary leisure organisation at that time. One of the very first attempts to provide community based organised activities for the whole family including play provision was The Peckham Experiment; in London, which ran from 1935 to 1939. Later studies in 1945, by H. Pearce and Lucy A. Crockets stated that ; "The child has no wish to be relegated to a world of its own. The world of its parents or grown ups is a mystery and enticement to it, and as it grows it longs to share in it more and more". In present times, with well more than 1 Million single parent families in the UK, the need for good quality play provision is obvious, in no way can it be ignored. Providing sound play provision has so many obvious advantages, by helping to develop a child's range of physical, social, motor, creative abilities and skills. Such skills develop faster when children play with others and have a variety of adults around them to assist them in their playtimes. It is also of great value to parents, providing them with much needed breaks from the pressure involved in bringing up young children, as well as opportunities to take up employment. A great deal of recent research, undertaken in the United States, has shown that such provision, particularly with very young children, can pay for itself, with the prevention of future funding for special needs of children, within specially earmarked educational classes. Junk Playgrounds. During the war years, a variety of play schemes were operated in the london underground which for many families were safe havens from the bombing . Society had become aware that children were the raw materials of the race, and that the childhood years had a direct and crucial effect on the development of personality. (1897-1976) During the war (1939 – 1945), she organised teams of skilled craftsmen to work with many voluntary groups in making stout toys and nursery equipment out of remnants from bomb sites. Lady Allen fought to give women a choice to work or stay at home for the first two years of a child’s life. In the 1943 Education White Paper, Lady Allen fought hard, through lobbying members of parliament and via the press, to make nursery provision for three to five year olds statutory rather than permissive, within primary education. Within the 1944 Education Act, it was stated that local education authorities had a duty to provide nursery education as part of the primary phase. Alas, since then, in many local authorities, when finances were limited, nursery provision was sacrificed as it was not compulsory. Young children and their families suffered. In order to overcome this deficiency, Lady Allen realised the need to combine health, social services and education at national and local levels in a joint ’Ministry of Children’. Then there would be less likelihood for unfortunate children to slip through the net. Until 2004 children’s services have been fragmented, but now there is hope for more integrated services, many based in new ‘Children’s Centres’ (2006). Lady Allen created beautiful gardens, and from 1939 to 1946 was Vice-president the Institute of Landscape Architects. Her burning ambition was to make gardens and adventure playgrounds for British children, as she had seen in Scandinavia. This she undertook with great vigour, lobbying those in power to gain financial and practical support . Many of her inner city playgrounds continue to function, once under the aegis of the Playground Association and the International Association for the Child’s Right to Play. The outdoor play areas attached to nursery schools and children’s centres display the genius of Lady Allen in using space and materials in aesthetically pleasing ways. In 1945/’48 there were many young children and their families misplaced across Europe. Lady Allen, together with Alva Myrdal of Sweden and Suzanne Herbiniere-Lebert of France, worked hard to create OMEP: The World Organisation for Early Childhood Education: intended for all who are involved with children up to the age of eight. It was a tremendous challenge: to involve the leaders of early childhood activities in many countries, with different regimes and approaches. Lady Allen created the first draft constitution, with the help of UNESCO colleagues. The first O.M.E.P World Assembly, with sixteen countries represented, was at Charles University, Prague, immediately following a world seminar arranged by UNESCO. From 1949 onwards Lady Allen worked for UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) as a liaison officer and travelled extensively to see projects in very poor communities. Her OMEP work took her to Scandinavia and the USA, where she undertook lecture tours on the fundamentals of good early years provision, and learnt more of the value of adventure play facilities for children. Lady Allen’s contribution to early childhood care and education in Britain and across the world has been inestimable. The implementation of her ideas in effective practice has enriched the lives of generations of children and of those who work with them. Taken from the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education. "They are decidedly messy occupations and they make the planners who are mostly tidied minded unhappy". "Nevertheless, they must never forget children enjoy being dirty and untidy, adults abhor it, we have to decide whether we are to make playgrounds for children, or playgrounds that please the planners". Shortly after, on her return to the uk "It is a rewarding experience for children to take and to overcome risks, to learn to use lethal tools with safety". Lady Marjorie Allen formed the Under 14 Council; which was to be known in later years as The Save The Children Fund.By 1946, local councils were campaigning strongly for play, in particular for adventure playgrounds in the UK. By 1951 the N.P.F.A had itself formed a committee lead by Lord Luke, to look into the matter, following Lady Allen;s public platform via a Times article on juvenile crime. London), various play schemes operated. These were the first attempts at play provision in the UK. Lady Allen responded to the article, she wrote ;"that municipal playgrounds were often as bleak as barrack squares and just as boring". "You are not allowed to build fires". "You will head for a juvenile court if you started to dig the expensive asphalt to make a cave". "There are no bricks or planks to build a house, no workshop for carpentry, mechanical work, painting or modelling and of course no trees to climb". In 1948 grant aid was at last made available for voluntary bodies working with children, many local authorities sought ways to tackle rising youth delinquency. A variety of solutions were put forward, including that of play with leadership, some councils provided recreational activities in the parks. These were set up to take kids off the streets, which were seen as menacing, unsafe and breeding grounds for delinquency. In councils like Wandsworth and Peckham ( As the interest and support for play schemes and the development of adventure playgrounds expanded within city environments, the N.P.F.A and others campaigned for play. The only planned and or designated play areas, were the council controlled playing fields, recreation grounds, parks, hard tarmac and concrete surfaced swing parks. However the vast majority of children didn;t even have access to many of these facilities, due in the main to increased traffic congested streets and busy roads which put limits on the child's journey. By 1955, as a result of the growing interest in adventure play and the success of a number of London adventure playgrounds that were supported by the N.P.F.A, the idea of play with leadership was beginning to gain public support. In that same year, the Lollard Street Adventure Playground (Lambeth-London) opened for the first time. A king George Jubilee Trust report entitled;Citizens of Tomorrow; stated that; "children commit more offences on the streets than in other places where children can play safely". Two major pieces of important government documentation were to influence the future of child;s play in the 1960;s. These being the 1963 Children and Young Persons Act which extended the powers of local authorities to promote the welfare of children and the Seebohm Report of 1968, both of which pointed the way ahead. At the Lambeth Adventure Playground (London) during the early part of the 1960's when a sand pit was introduced to the site for use by the small children, the authorities were amazed to see that older teenage girls were making sand pies. In such areas children had been deprived of natural early play experiences and were obviously catching up in the later years of their development, before moving on to new play experiences deemed more suited to their age. Following these sand play experiences, the girls had at last discovered the educational aspects of the properties of sand. Where adventure play was introduced into urban areas, such occurrences were usual, frequent and very necessary. In 1965 Drummond Abernethy of the N.P.F.A remarked in Town and Country Planning, " Children and teenagers are not delinquent, but the products of what we have done to them when they were small". "Moreover, this is a period when the sanctions have been thrown overboard and when teenagers are strong and virile group with little to do with their ample leisure". " Recreation must fulfil their needs, if action is not taken not only will a child's development suffer,but also they will in all likelihood turn to anti social activities". |
| THE FUTURE OF CHILDS PLAY.
"We dont stop playing because we grow old". "We grow old because we stop playing"- George Bernard Shaw. COME OUT TO PLAY. Girls and boys, come out to play, The moon doth shine as bright as day; Leave your supper, and leave your sleep, And come with your playfellows into the street. Come with a whoop, come with a call, Come with a good will or not at all. Up the ladder and down the wall, A half-penny roll will serve us all. You find milk, and I'll find flour, And we'll have a pudding in half an hour. As child’s play grew in influence particularly amongst the authorities and the planners, it was soon to become apparent that changes were necessary in the actual construction, siteing and styles of provision. The log styled type of playgrounds of the 1970’s era, which became so popular in the new towns housing development areas were soon to replace the early adventure playgrounds, or those known as junk playgrounds, as they were once called. This primarily was due to specific concerns relating to safety standards, the height of play structures, dangers of falls and the daily use by children of what were considered by many as dangerous tools. Due to these concerns and the national campaigns into safety on playgrounds, new safety guidelines were introduced. It was therefore, as a consequence of such developments that such play activities on adventure playgrounds were to be gradually phased out. As one of the pioneers of play leadership, Bernard McGovern, was quick to point out in his book ‘Play Leadership’. (1973) "Many of these playgrounds now consist of mammoth man made constructions such as forts, towers, giant slides, tunnels, tree houses, buildings with all modern conveniences and in some cases as many as four or five play leaders on the staff". "We have now reached the stage where the adventure playground equipment is being commercially manufactured with the accent on safety". "Designs are changing and the adventure playgrounds are in danger of becoming new look conventional playgrounds, with little to stimulate the imagination of children who frequent them". In many ways it is very unfortunate that his prophecy has become present day reality, with the building aspect of the children’s den building gone from the free play adventure playgrounds, forever. Which in many ways is in itself a great pity and it is most unfortunate that Bernard’s prophecy has become reality. Thus the play movements greatest creative activity has been repressed by the statutory law makers. Recent developments from both sides of the political spectrum have encouraged the growth of numerous out of school, play initiatives. Governments have come to realise that a lack of such provision has prevented parents and guardians from either gaining employment or training. Significant funds have been made available supporting child care facilities, along with training and information. Training and enterprise agencies have worked alongside various voluntary organisations to develop such schemes. He had a little winkle he kept it in his pants he took it down to longham then he took it oer to France he wouldn't take that chance he wasn't ready for love yet he didn't want romance though it was rare you see it didn't have a father or mother like a ship lost at sea he was proud as proud could be he took it to the fairground he took it overseas about his resume then he took it to the sea shore put it back in the sea. The staffing of kids clubs should meet certain criteria. There should be a minimum of one member of staff per 8 children, with at least two members of staff on duty at any time. Regardless of the number of children present within a group. At least half of the staff should hold relevant qualifications, such as child- care training, teaching, play work qualifications and youth work experience. Or else they should be committed to the appropriate training, such as working towards an N.V.Q.(National Vocational Qualification) In addition they should have experience in working with children between the ages of 5 – 16 years, with the ability to maintain high standards of practice at all times. Staff ratios should not include students, trainees or people participating in work experience. Children aged 3 or under should not attend such projects. When a member of staff has a child aged 3 or over attending, they must be on the register. The principles for the care of children and the quality of provision for good practice are paramount and include the child’s welfare and development. Children should be treated and respected as individuals whose needs should be catered for. The child’s parent’s responsibility should be recognised and respected. They are generally the first educators of their children, this should be reflected in their relationship with other carers and providers. The values, which may derive from different social backgrounds, racial, cultural, religious and linguistic, should always be recognised and respected. The aims and objectives of the scheme should be clearly written in order to share them with parents and other interested parties. Fetes, Fairs, Jumble sales, Theme’s market’s, Barbecues, Cream teas, Coffee mornings and Tupperware parties. Highland games, It’s a knockout competition’s, Pram and baby races, Fancy dress shows, Pet shows, Sponsored Walks, Sponsored Disco and Charity walks. Swim marathons, Bike ride or hike, Fancy dress football, Dads versus Mums pyjama football, Tiny tots disco, Community bonfire and fireworks evenings. Talent competition, Karioke contests, Senior citizens tea, old time music, Pantomime, Carol evening, Halloween party, Baby sitting service, Firewood delivery service, Cabaret, Wine and Cheese evenings. Candle making, Craft evening, Art exhibition, Flower arranging, Dance competition, Break dancing competition, Carnival, Street procession, Yoga, Painting, Cookery, Pop concert, Dinner and dance, Mask making sessions, Jewellery making and Open days. So many activities could be arranged, including Treasure hunts, Car washing service, Go-kart racing, Computer games day, Garden produce show, Children through the ages show, Play day, Gymnkhana, Fast tea, Raffles, Lottery, Promise auction, Swop shop, CD Fair, Book sale, Antique fair and Dutch auction. Sports meeting, Glamorous granny show, Baby show, Balloon race, Bring and buy sale, Strawberry teas, Car boot sale, Teddy bears picnic, Open air disco, Clay pigeon shoot and Bed push. Others like Bedlam day, Donkey rides, Pony rides, Sand castle competition, Cricket match, Netball match, Fun run, Fortune telling, Horoscopes, Fun fairs, Carnivals Mini golf, Model making Heavy horse show. Tractor display and Puppet show. Quiz, Rag week, Scavenger hunt, Tennis tournament, Toy fair, Tug of war, Spine chillier trail, Celebrity auction,Orienteering, Table tennis, Medieval day, Water frolic, parachute play and party. Children want and need to play, they cannot help it, and it is in their very nature and necessary, for their full development. They should always be encouraged to play, for not only does it keep them happy, but also they learn so much through their play experiences. Children need a vast number, amount and variety of play materials, which must be safe to use, imaginative and colourful, yet need not be very expensive. However, there must be a structured educational programme within the free activities of particular play places such as day nurseries. By using their creative imaginations within the caring guidance of such fully trained adults, children will quickly develop language, motor and social skills. All of which are essential to their development. Whilst at the same time learning to both make and to share, relationships, along with communication skills and social skills alike. It is therefor necessary that a good play project should itself contain a wide range and variety of good quality play equipment, which meets the needs of all of its users. When catering specifically for young children it is imperative that the play environment meets their particular needs. Small children in particular need places to play, to make a mess, to play with both sand and water, to cut out shapes, make models, play instruments, dress up and to join with their peers in the singing of simple rhymes and jingles. They also need to play on slides, in Wendy houses and to take part in similar pursuits, always within the watchful eyes of adults who are fully trained and with whom they can turn to in times of need, for help, advice support or comfort. All children need to have adults somewhere around if only to read them stories, to sing with them and to ensure that their play environment is safe and exciting. The play needs of our children remain ‘basically the same’ in our present age. When compared to those children of previous generations. Modern day children have however, in many areas, become more sophisticated and have matured that much earlier than the children of yester years. From an age of 5 to 8 years they need to explore and to experience a variety of energetic pastimes of short periods.To play by themselves and with others as part of a group environment. To identify with other children, to respond too rhythmic sounds, to make choices, rules and to share experiences and to co-operate in play and to organise their own play times. Later in middle childhood of say 9 to 11 years of age they need to engage in more strenuous activities with elements of roughness, to enjoy their roles as boys and girls. To engage in single gender as well as mixed gender activities and to participate in a wide range of activities with a wide range of play materials. One area however where children’s play needs are yet to be fully met, is that of within school playgrounds themselves and in the actual school building. Which is still often not used sufficiently during weekends and school holidays. As adults many of us can no doubt recall the lonely harsh concrete or tarmacked playgrounds of our school days. Where we were often shut out on cold wintry days to find our own pastimes in rope games, rhyming slang, card flicks, marbles, jacks, yo-yos, spinning tops, hop scotch, elastics jumps, hula hoops, chase, leap frog or football. There have been efforts in recent years to go some way to correct this inequality, with concrete pipes, painted stepping stones, or colourful snakes and ladders, alphabets designs on the tarmac surface or even with some type of wooden log miniature play area. However these are very limited examples and although some authorities are becoming more adventurous with gardens, conservation areas and play areas with safety surfaces, it is still quite rare. Child’s play itself is obviously therefor not taken too seriously as yet, when children are themselves still separated from play experiences in safe surroundings.Left mainly to their own devices within dangerous educational establishments environments. It is no wonder that so many of our children see school as a threat and lose interest in education at an early age, when their full life play experiences and total play environments are not taken seriously by adults. Another area of concern and some controvasy within the play work field has been that of the training of playleaders, although this has always been a controversial subject. In the early days of the profession it was felt that good leadership was something that evolved out of the personality; a sort of magical personality thing. Either you had it, or you did not have it. However as the profession developed with its varied interests and range of activities it became essential that play staff possessed a knowledge of essential skills. Such as first aid, childcare, welfare rights, recreational pursuits, child psychology, social work and construction skills. Whilst not forgetting knowledge of pre school play, youth work and community work. Initially courses were offered to those already in the field, ranging from day release play leadership courses at colleges of F.E, crash courses operating from N.P.F. At Play Field House, or courses run locally either by play associations or local authorities. Such courses were usually supported through the offices of the N.P.F.A’s own play leadership department, with local college participation. Eventually such opportunities were all amalgamated into one specific full time diploma courses at Thurrock. With additional day release courses in other further education colleges of education nationally. In recent years with the development of the national vocational qualifications format, new programmes were set and a qualification in play work up to level 5 has been established nationally. However there remains many in the ranks of professionals who do not regard the qualification with any value despite the work involved in their attainment. Such evidence can range from an employers witness statement to daily play programmes. Evidence can include the following examples - Minutes of meetings, attendance lists, newsletters, letters, newspaper cuttings, schedules and references. As well as letters of appointment, letters from employers, conditions of service, awards, certificates, proof of work undertaken by the student, research documents, qualifications, membership of play bodies, playground reports, financial reports and statements, official documents and headed letters from play bodies. |
| Play needs and Safety The play needs of the modern child, as we move into the millennium, although sophisticated, remain essentially simple. Space is paramount, somewhere where they can stretch their limbs and energies.
Safety is also a major factor, with local authorities becoming more aware at last of their responsibilities, through precedents being set.
With instances nationally of parents suing councils for negligence, where safety standards have been ignored.
Where children have been seriously injured from falls in park playgrounds. On concrete surfaces, or whilst using play equipment, which has not been adequately maintained.Or or where safety standards have been ignored.
Fresh air is obviously another major factor with the increasing high rates of asthma, Particularly amongst the child population, along with the other factors of congested roads and the child being driven to school, even when the school is within easy walking distance of the child’s home.
Rob Wheway of Fair Play For Children wrote in a front page editorial in the Guardian of August 1992 entitled "Why girls and boys stay in to play’.
Rob wrote that, "In the last twenty years children have been punished by being restricted in their numerous outings to amble in their local community. To visit relations, meet friends, fish in local streams, make dens in the few remaining pieces of woodland, or bombed sites, or play games on the rec. or in the fields".
"The use of the car for any journey local or otherwise, has made a definite difference in the rate of traffic around our communities and thereby cut off our children’s access. to Even the local amenity, whether adventure playground or unsupervised swing park playground".
"Its time that we played fair with our children’s lives and looked seriously at the way we have imprisoned our children and thereby denied them their right to play in and around their neighbourhoods in safety".
We are now even in a worse situation from when Rob wrote his warning, with even less recreational spaces. Particularly recreation playing fields, which have been sold off for housing development, along with even many of the children’s school playing fields. More children than ever have difficulty finding safe places to cross their busy neighbourhood roads with more and more traffic and poor air quality.As a result,children are having less and less recreation. So that many of our children are therefor not healthy and fit as children were in earlier decades. Directly due to less exercise and poor air quality.
All these are major factors, which offset the child’s physical development and needs to be adhered to if there is any hope for the future. From the earlier decades reformers called for improvements in safety on the roads, play space for children and exercise or recreation space.Unfortunately in many ways since that time,things have to a great extent actually deteriorated.
Street games and Rhymes.. The adventurous hidden places for play are even rarer for children now and due to safety concerns we tend to over protect children from the dangers of strangers and busy roads. The Traditional street playground games and rhymes of earlier times are diminishing as a result. Nickelodeon which polled 1000 children and 1000 adults in 2005, came up with the following facts. Children have shunned traditional games like conkers and chase games which have virtually dissappeared in favour of mobile text, gameboy consoles and high tech. The only games left as popular was football which one in ten still played. Some of the children had never heard of games like whats the time mr wolf,Hide and Seek and double dutch skipping. The old style adventure playgrounds have adapted to safety standards with new surfaces and low-level handrails, unfortunately as a consequence much of the adventure element has gone. Play projects with a solid ratio of adult to children, has meant that many are sending kids home with too high numbers to cover. Plus there are now as a consequence, few playgrounds with such large attendance’s, as was the case in previous decades.
Their findings confirmed what many experts have predicted, that britain is storing up a major health problem with a third of boys and half of girls getting less than the recommended 1 hour of exercise a day.Many are driven to school,glued to the tv and their pcs and are overweight on junk foods.
A national survey undertaken by childrens tv channel
However now there are greater options at hand with safer surfaces and better training of play staff. The need for good quality play places for children within our communities remains essential, easily accessible and with quality leadership.
Although the conventional unsupervised play areas such as swing parks, play spaces are necessary, these should be seen as only secondary to supervised play areas, play clubs and schemes which operate when children need them.
After school, at weekends and during school holiday periods. The early founders of child’s play work, were correct in promoting such provision for all ages of children, specifically in communities where they still are more than ever so desperately needed.
The earliest adventure playgrounds to the modern day play facility, are all none the less similar in aspirations, with their aim always to provide safe, adventurous, creative activities for all of our children.The concept and the reality are,and still remain to this day,an extraordinary adventure,for all of those who have lived through the changes, whilst growing in both the knowledge and the understanding of the play world of children.
Despite the dissapearance of many of the junk adventure laygrounds in the uk in recent years.Mainly due to the health and safety laws. Play time is over for many of our children,with up to half of youngsters banned from climbing trees, playing conkers or riding their bikes by over-protective parents who are terrified that they might get hurt.
ICM research for Play England shows that half of seven to 12-year-olds are banned from climbing trees. Four in 10 were banned from playing in their local park or recreational area without an adult present and one in three cannot ride a bike without parental supervision. One in five had been banned from playing conkers and one in six were not allowed to play chase because over-protective parents had ruled that it was too dangerous.
.Child Play objectives. In infancy and early childhood, play is the activity through which children learn to recognize colours and shapes, tastes and sounds—the very building blocks of reality. Play also provides pathways to love and social connection. Elementary school children use play to learn mutual respect, friendship, cooperation, and competition. For adolescents, play is a means of exploring possible identities, as well as a way to blow off steam and stay fit. With play on the decline, we risk losing these and many other benefits.
Years of research has confirmed the value of play. In early childhood, play helps children develop skills they can not get in any other way. Babbling, for example, is a self-initiated form of play through which infants create the sounds they need to learn the language of their parents. Likewise, children teach themselves to crawl, stand, and walk through repetitious practice play. At the preschool level, children engage in dramatic play and learn who is a leader, who is a follower, who is outgoing, who is shy. They also learn to negotiate their own conflicts.
A 2007 report from the American Academy of Paediatrics documents that play promotes not only behavioural development but brain growth as well. The University of North Carolina's Abecedarian Early Child Intervention program found that children who received an enriched, play-oriented parenting and early childhood program had significantly higher IQ's at age five than did a comparable group of children who were not in the program. (105 vs. 85 points).
A large body of research evidence also supports the value and importance of particular types of play. For example, Israeli psychologist Sara Smilansky's classic studies of sociodramatic play, where two or more children participate in shared make believe, demonstrate the value of this play for academic, social, and emotional learning.
Why is CHILDS PLAY disappearing.
The decline of children's free, self-initiated play is the result of a perfect storm of technological innovation, rapid social change, and economic globalization. Technological innovations have led to the all-pervasiveness of television and compu ter screens in our society in general, and in our homes in particular. An unintended consequence of this invasion is that childhood has moved indoors. Children who might once have enjoyed a pick-up game of baseball in an empty lot now watch the game on TV, sitting on their couch.
Meanwhile, single and working parents now outnumber the once-predominant nuclear family, in which a stay-at-home mother could provide the kind of loose oversight that facilitates free play. Instead, busy working parents outsource at least some of their former responsibilities to coaches, tutors, trainers, martial arts teachers, and other professionals. As a result, middle-income children spend more of their free time in adult-led and -organized activities than any earlier generation. (Low-income youth sometimes have the opposite problem: Their parents may not have the means to put them in high-quality programs that provide alternatives to playing in unsafe neighbourhoods.) Finally, a global economy has increased parental fears about their children's prospects in an increasingly high-tech marketplace. Many middle-class parents have bought into the idea that education is a race, and that the earlier you start your child in academics, the better. As adults have increasingly thwarted self-initiated play and games, we have lost important markers of the stages in a child's development. In the absence of such markers, it is difficult to determine what is appropriate and not appropriate for children. We run the risk of pushing them into certain activities before they are ready, or stunting the development of important intellectual, social, or emotional skills.
By pushing young children into team sports for which they are not developmentally ready, we rule out forms of play that once encouraged them to learn skills of independence and creativity. Instead of learning on their own in backyards, fields, and on sidewalks, children are only learning to do what adults tell them to do. Moreover, one study found that many children who start playing soccer at age four are burned out on that sport by the time they reach adolescence, just the age when they might truly enjoy and excel at it.
Charter for Play. http://www.playscotland.org/pdfs/charter-for-childrens-play
Meanwhile in the UK in 2007 researchers interviewed 1,030 children and young people, aged from seven to 16, and 1,030 adults and declared that play time is over for children, with up to half of youngsters banned from climbing trees, playing conkers or riding their bikes. By over-protective parents who are terrified that they might get hurt.
Culture of Fear. In his book Paranoid Parenting, the sociologist Professor Frank Furedi describes the culture of fear that has led parents to restrict their children's movements outdoors. Professor Furedi complained that in 1971, eight in every 10 eight-year-olds were allowed to walk to school alone. Today it is thought to be fewer than one in 10. There has been growing concern that health and safety fears have stifled schools, encouraging them to ban traditional playground games such as conkers, snowball fights and cartwheeling, or prohibited pupils from doing the backstroke in swimming lessons. John F Kennedy Primary in Washington, Tyne and Wear, banned the sack race and the three-legged run from sports days – in case the pupils were hurt. In 2005, the headmaster of Cummersdale Primary School, in Carlisle, bought six pairs of industrial safety-goggles for pupils to wear when they played conkers in the playground. Josie Gleave, of Play England, argued that the low probability of accidents made playgrounds one of the safest places for children to be. The risk of a fatal playground injury is approximately one in 30 million and three-quarters of injuries sustained on the playground consist of minor cuts or bruises. "
Ministers pointed to research showing how over-protective society has become, with one in three parents refusing to allow children to play outside their house or garden. As many as a quarter of those aged 8-10 have never even played outside with an adult. They are concerned that children are being deprived by being kept inside, a trend encouraged by over-protective parents and “no ball games” signs placed on walls by councils and residents’ groups. When the idea for more adventure playgrounds was first announced in last year’s children’s plan alongside a series of other measures designed. Local authorities and their strategic partners have a responsibility to support children’s play and young people’s recreation as an aspect of their duty to co-operate under Section 10 of the Children Act 2004 and within the Every Child Matters framework. The majority of District Councils will have developed a play strategy which will set out how they will be providing and maintaining local play opportunities for children. Many of these plans will have been revised in light of recommendations from the review ‘Getting serious about play’, jointly commissioned by the DCMS and the then DfES.
One of the outcomes of this review was the creation of the Big Lottery Fund which made £155m available to fund play provision in England. With the announcement, in the Children’s Plan, of the new £235m investment and the first ever national play strategy for England, all local authorities are expected to develop a strategy, in conjunction with their key strategic partners. Thirty local authorities have been identified to be Play Pathfinders, these local authorities will receive around £2m capital and around £500k revenue funding to deliver a minimum of 28 new or refurbished play areas and one staffed adventure playground per local authority. The remaining authorities are Playbuilders and will receive around £1m Capital and around £45k revenue funding to deliver a minimum of 22 new or refurbished play areas per local authority. This will mean 3,500 new or refurbished play areas and 30 new staffed adventure playgrounds expected by 2011. However, the survey's findings also showed that a large proportion of children were being banned from taking risks by their parents.
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9) Government or local authority grants to be made available to private clubs, social centres, pubs, and shops, to provide crèche’s or play facilities.
10) Nursery and pre school playgroup provision to be made freely available to all pre school children.
11) Government grants to be made available to employers, for them, to provide crèche facilities at the work place, where feasible.
12) All local authorities to be encouraged to provide a wide range of quality play provision for all ages of children. In playgrounds, parks, centres, recreational playing fields, sports centres, leisure centres, community centres, open space areas, youth clubs, out of school clubs As well as play schemes, adventure playgrounds, nature trails, side streets, school playgrounds, and cul de sacks.
13) To provide road restricted areas in built up neighbourhoods. Along with stricter traffic speed limits and with child safety warning play signs, displayed for the attention of motorists.
14) A library of child’s play established to keep records of all aspects of child’s play history and developments, including laws, regulations and standards of play provision.The library to also keep a record of children’s play rhymes, jingles, street games, nursery rhymes, recreational games, pursuits and activities along with all established play projects, play associations and play organisations.This could well be accessible through a particular Internet web page.
15) Nationally recognised children’s play charter endorsed by her majesty’s government.
He found from studies in the U.S.A that over the last two decades alone, children have lost eight hours of free, unstructured, and spontaneous play a week.
ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS
WHAT IS AN ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND?
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Sorenson was a Danish Archtect and planner who had observed closely the city children playing on building sites and although he was not an opponent of playground equipment,he wanted it limited to see-saws, swings and sand-boxes. He had long observed that the children in his area were attracted to playing on construction sites and not on the conventional playgrounds. They appeared excited by the endless possibilities that the construction site offered them in creating their own adventures. Thus Sorenson developed the germ of an imaginative idea,the junk playground.
Thus in a journal article as early as 1935 Sørensen the founder of the concept of Adventure Playgrounds wrote:
"Finally we should probably at some point experiment with what one could call a junk playground. I am thinking in terms of an area, not too small in size, well closed off from its surroundings by thick greenery, where we should gather, for the amusement of bigger children, all sorts of old scrap that the children from the apartment blocks could be allowed to work with, as the children in the countryside and in the suburbs already have. There could be branches and waste from tree polling and bushes, old cardboard boxes, planks and boards, "dead" cars, old tyres and lots of other things, which would be a joy for healthy boys to use for something. Of course it would look terrible, and of course some kind of order would have to be maintained; but I believe that things would not need to go radically wrong with that sort of situation. If there were really a lot of space, one is tempted to imagine tiny little kindergartens, keeping hens and the like, but it would at all events require an interested adult supervisor..." There are many factors that led to the birth of adventure play, but none so important as the psychological theories of childhood which emerged in the 1930's. These new ideas about childhood and play entered the mainstream culture and began to affect politics, town planning and child care practices. Within this climate of innovation Sørensen and Hans Dragehjelm (a school teacher) created their Family and Children's Park proposal. For several years both men had been interested in designing and building appropriate play spaces for the children of Copenhagen.
Sørensen and Dragehjelm thought that natural play was the ideal play and worked best in natural and rural surroundings.
It was Sorenson who was to found the first recorded Junk Playground in the deprived neighberhood of Emdrupt,Copenhagen
. It was opened in August 1943 as part of a housing project with 719 large-family households and was an immediate success. At Emdrup nothing was static or expensive. It was filled with junk - wood, rope, canvas, tires, wire, bricks, pipes, rocks, nets, logs, balls, abandoned furniture, wheels, vehicles, and an unimaginable assortment of other things.The first playleader of the Emdrup adventure playground John Bertelsen wrote in an article in 1946 stating:
"The adventure playground is an attempt to give the city child a substitute for the play and development potential it has lost as the city has become a place where there is no space for the child's imagination and play. Access to all building sites is forbidden to unauthorized persons, there are no trees where the children can climb and play Tarzan. The railway station grounds and the common, where they used to be able to fight great battles and have strange adventures, do not exist any more. No! It is now not easy to be a child in the city when you feel the urge to be a caveman or a bushman".
http://www.cityprojects.org/cityprojects_content.php?id=167&i=11Lady Marjorie Allen after her first visit to Emdrupt stated that ; " It was like a revelation, I knew in the first instance of seeing it, they had hit on something tremendously important". "They are decidedly messy occupations and they make the planners who are mostly tidied minded unhappy". "Nevertheless, they must never forget children enjoy being dirty and untidy, adults abhor it, we have to decide whether we are to make playgrounds for children, or playgrounds that please the planners". "It is a rewarding experience for children to take and to overcome risks, to learn to use lethal tools with safety". 
Shortly after, on her return to the UK, Lady Marjorie Allen formed the Under 14 Council; which was to be known in later years as The Save The Children Fund.
By 1946, local councils were campaigning strongly for play, in particular for adventure playgrounds in the UK. By 1951 the N.P.F.A had itself formed a committee lead by Lord Luke, to look into the matter, following Lady Allen;s public platform via a Times article on juvenile crime.
Lady Allen responded to the article, she wrote ;"that municipal playgrounds were often as bleak as barrack squares and just as boring". "You are not allowed to build fires". "You will head for a juvenile court if you started to dig the expensive asphalt to make a cave". "There are no bricks or planks to build a house, no workshop for carpentry, mechanical work, painting or modelling and of course no trees to climb".
M. Paul Friedberg Landscape design innovator , confirms, “Our problem is that", "We want the child to be living in a padded box". "But a child has to have the real world, fraught with challenges to overcome.”
Meanwhile in the U.K Drummond Abernethy was appointed as Secretary of the Playground Committee of the N.P.F.A at playfield house in 1948.
. Drummond's energy and vision led to the establishment of other projects and played a significant role in refining Sørenson's ideas into adventure play. The name change from junk to adventure play was designed to create a more positive public image but it also marked Drummond's extension of the original philosophy. Drummond and Lady Marjorie Allen together are widely viewed as the two most prominent figures in the development of adventure play in Britain.
These early adventure playgrounds tended to be run with extremely limited resources and to be short lived due to lack of funds, loss of site or lack of local support. Lessons were learnt and the London Adventure Playground Association (LAPA) was established.
Eventually a number of playgrounds were set up on permanent sites with adequate funding. This funding was increasingly provided by the local authorities, who had come to recognize the value of such facilities. By 1973 when i was managing Pin Green adventure playground in Stevenage Herts, sixty one such playgrounds had been established across the country.
In the years following it was the N.P.F.A through its national officers and work over the years led by Drummond, Lord Luke, Lady Marjorie Allen, Mary Nicholson, and the N.P.F.A's numerous retired officers from the armed services. That the concept of such play initiatives as adventure playgrounds were developed and grew nationally. This radical step forward, led to the development of numerous national play projects and campaigns in the U.K. Thereby ensuring that child’s play was taken seriously by government bodies and local authorities in the years ahead. Following an article in the Times newspaper on the subject of juvenile crime in 1951, the N.P.F.A offered grant aid for the first two experimental adventure playgrounds. Lord Luke was appointed by the N.P.F.A as the Chair of such a play committee in 1951. Then by 1954 the N.P.F.A had their own published guidelines on the development of adventure playgrounds, courtesy of Mary Nicholson.
Adventure Playground in the UK also emerged alongside movements in the 1960s Europe, that worked to reclaim derelict urban spaces, many caused by the devastation of World War II. These were filled with trash and debris, the sites were considered unfit even for parking cars and were therefore abandoned by developers. However, children had no qualms about these forbidden sites, often playing happily in rubble heaps. They seemed to prefer the informality of dirt and scraps to formal jungle gyms. Eventually parents and park designers realized that these non-traditional materials inspired creative, thoughtful play. The adults and children worked together to construct the kinds of play spaces the children wanted.
The playgrounds they built were not just play spaces; they were fodder for studies by child psychologists. Proponents for Adventure Playgrounds claimed that the play environment they provided would help kids retain resilient and positive world-views. Adventure Playgrounds continually proved the value of learning experiences outside of school. Children could use the playground for exploring many real-life activities. (and even the imagined ones). Many of the constructions were clubhouse-type buildings that fostered elaborate games of pretend. Other equipment was designed for children to create multi-media art projects.
From the early 1970s the N.P.F.A Playleadership Department gradually changed its administrative structure and image. Former Adventure Playground leaders were employed as regional officers.With a mandate to set up regional play associations throughout the UK. With people such as Mick Fitzmaurice,Tony Chilton, Andy Scott, Gyles Brandraith, Bob Hughes, Nick Bamforth, Pat Kirkwood, Rob Wheway etc. Spearheading new initiatives and encouraging the formation of new adventure playgrounds in new towns, rural communities as well as inner city areas.With the success of the Stevenage adventure playgrounds thanks to the work of Donne Buck and others like David Kershaw and Betty Pickersgill.
Stevenage was shown as an example how local authority and voluntary community play associations could work togrether in encouraging the growth of adventure playgrounds nationally throughout the seventies.
ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS FOR THE DISABLED.
Despite these remarkable developments adventure playgrounds were still failing to meet the needs of one important group of children - those with disabilities. To fill this gap, a number of holiday schemes were set up in conjunction with the Cheyne Centre in Chelsea. The success of this venture fuelled enthusiasm for an adventure playground where children with disabilities could learn through free play. In February 1970 the Handicapped Adventure Playground Association (H.A.P.A) opened its first playground in Chelsea. My friend and collegue Dorothy Whittaker was its first leader.This was the worlds first adventure playground for disabled children.
H.A.P.A opened a further 5 adventure playgrounds across North, West and South London. In the 1990’s, H.A.P.A had changed its name to Kids Active and more recently merged with another charity KIDS. Whilst working with local playgroups, Mrs Diana Casswell first had the idea that certain children she was working with would benefit from adventure play. From this idea Diana Casswell, along with her husband Reverend Peter Casswell, set about starting the first adventure playground for children with disabilities outside of inner London. From the beginning, a group of committed and experienced people joined the management committee to see the creation of E.L.H.A.P.
The first major hurdle was to find a suitable site for an adventure playground and by September 1976 negotiations had been completed with the charity Barnardo's for use of this site. Work to adapt it began immediately. A workable area had to be fenced off, structures and play facilities built and pathways laid. Indoor adaptations also had to be made including additional toilet accommodation together with provision for wet weather activities.
In the summer of 1977 E.L.H.A.P opened, being well used from the start and as facilities and awareness grew the playground became increasingly popular. Within a short time of opening demand was such that a timetable of use had to be created to allow all the users to regularly visit. Without the dedication and determination of the Casswells and the other founding members, E.L.H.A.P could never have existed.
From its first days E.L.H.A.P was fortunate in having the support of Drummond Abernethy. Drummond lived locally in Loughton and always had a particularly keen interest in E.L.H.A.P. Upon his retirement from the National Playing Fields Association in 1978 Drummond became chairman of E.L.H.A.P. This was a position he retained until ill health forced him to stand down in 1986, although he remained on the executive committee until his death. A large part of ELHAP's success is attributed to Drummond Abernethy... Under his guidance ELHAP developed into a thriving playground and its unique experiences have now been enjoyed by many thousands of children with disabilities.
Since 1977 ELHAP has offered adventure play opportunities to children and young people with disabilities from the local area. It remains one of only seven specialist playgrounds in the South East of England, but is regarded by its supporters as the most unique and magical of all the adventure playgrounds. Drummond Abernethy, with his wealth of adventure play experience, used to describe ELHAP as the "the very best adventure playground for children with disabilities."
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE BACKS ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS 2009.
Today in 2009 the government is to try to turn around the “no ball games” attitudes of councils and parents with the building of a new network of adventure playgrounds that encourage children to take risks and get dirty. Details of the plans were announced by Ed Balls, the children’s secretary, and Andy Burnham, the culture secretary when they released a national play strategy. signs placed on walls by councils and residents’ groups. When the idea for more adventure playgrounds was first announced in last year’s children’s plan alongside a series of other measures designed
“no ball games”
Today there around around a thousand adventure playgrounds in Europe, largely in Denmark, Switzerland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and in England. In Germany alone there are some 400 adventure playgrounds. Japan has a significant number of adventure playgrounds as well.
THAMES VALLEY ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND
http://www.playengland.org.uk/resources/pathfinder-adventure-playground-briefing.pdf
London play adventure playground newspaper
http://www.a-n.co.uk/publications/article/341480
| THE PLAY ENABLER. We built a ship upon the stairs All made of the back room chairs And filled it full of soft pillows And water in the nursery pails And Tom said Let us alsso take an apple and a slice of cake Which was enough for You and Me To go a sailing on till tea And had the very best of plays But Tom fell out and hurt his knee So there was no one left but me.. One of the early pioneers of play leadership, H.S. (Pat) Turner, commented that, "It is a personal job, demanding a personal style, more rewarding than anything else I’ve ever done". Remarking on the adventure playground concept, Pat said, " It is a living thing, a community with many facets and in constant change". The play leader has to be resourceful to have a quick eye for opportunities to both improve and expand the range of facilities on the site. To be always prepared to provide an abundant range of play materials for energetic and versatile children from timber to scrap materials to game items. He or she must be prepared to intervene as a mediator in situations with and amongst groups and with individual children where there is friction, bullying or conflicts of interests. To step in where there is a likelihood of harm to children causing or receiving physical hurt. Breaking up fights and disputes is unfortunately part of the job. As well as encouraging fresh and new activities, he has to provide opportunities for new occupations and the have ability to change a situation quickly. A great deal of his time is spent working closely in liaison with other professionals from the play field or the statutory welfare services. Caring professionals from the Social Services, Welfare, Probation, Education, Community Workers, Schools and Youth Workers. This involves the play leader in attending numerous meetings with play people and a wide range of those who work closely with children. The N.P.F.A recognised that the play leader’s main value and functions (man or woman) were not to organise or push, but to listen, guide and help. In short, to enable' and to see that the children do not hurt themselves or one another'. The relationship between the leader and each individual child is of great importance, he must know when to help the child, and when to withdraw, so that the child can work at the problem alone and learn confidence through unaided achievement. The play leader will try unobtrusively to get children involved in as many ways as possible.Drummond Abernethy of the N.P.F.A. once remarked to me at one of our regular meetings that "The play leader is to be seen like the captain of a ship". " He must be in charge of the playground and not be subservient to his management committee". "For his adventure playground to be successful, he should know through his contact with the kids how best the playground should operate and then advise his management committee accordingly". CHILDHOOD PLAYS. I was most fortune to share in their childhood days the hours that they spent in their dreams and foolish play I spent my life within their world their playtime's and their games I was obliged to share their pretences rearranged I laughed and organized their games from land to sea I saw their frolics and their friendships start to grow within the cities throughout the winter snow I built their structures tall werin they played their games on swings of rope and tyre with airal runways adventure playgrounds where all the children played these community's grew and flourished wherein children could pretend from Scottish cities down to dorsets Poole children playing games of group activities running games of dare to swinging from a tree which I was privileged to share just a play leader who took them through life's fair. Ray Wills It has always been seen as of great importance in the development of any adventure playground that the first play leader appointed is able to have a period of time before work on the adventure playground site, to gain contact with local children and community leaders. In this way play leaders, have involved the children in the actual playground’s development from the start and the kids feel that the playground is truly theirs. Many play leaders have used this period of time to meet groups of kids in a variety of settings, such as school classrooms, youth clubs and on the streets. Or in less formal settings such as the local swing parks, in fact wherever children congregated in their free time. In such settings, the play leader was able to best relate to them and explain the plans of the new project. The kid's involvement in these early stages was paramount, with many relationships formed between the leader and groups of children, the future users of the play scheme. In this way by the time of the playgrounds official opening of the playground, the play leader had a nucleus of young people who were keen to be involved, making the task of acceptance that much easier. Construction undertaken by the playground staff and volunteers was an important day-to-day exercise, largely dependent upon their own individual and group construction skills. Good leverage, rigid support, along with strength flexibility and weight of timber, were all matters to be considered in the actual building of the play structures. The variety of wood and timber was crucial, only good solid timber was used and such timber was checked for protruding nails, damaged areas and worn sections, which all had to be either replaced or strengthened regularly. An office with a telephone, filing system, along with first aid facilities, was essential. The adventure playground with regular attendance, following its official opening had to provide a full range of essential services, including toilets, washing and cooking facilities, electricity and water, along with sewerage services. Which all had to be brought into the playground site and into the building itself. Access to emergency services, such as fire and ambulance services, had to be catered for, with wide gate entrances and exits. Along with secure ground foundations for heavy vehicles, with sufficient room for turning of such large vehicles. Children from all social backgrounds were involved, including ethnic children and even those young people who were regarded as being un-clubable. These were often the adventure playgrounds greatest success. Adventure playgrounds catered for such adventurous kids who required adventure activities such as those that they formerly had access to in their secret waste ground hideouts and on the common grounds. The attraction for the play leader was no doubt the variety of the job. The adventure playground concept of catering for a mixed age group provided opportunities for older children to support the younger in many ways with projects and with the organisation of trips out from the site. The tiny tot was often being led or supported by a teenage girl, or a large lad on an aerial runway, or else going down a slide together. These were regular daily features of such exciting play environments. He was his mothers pride his sisters joy his fathers son his brothers ploy he played their games he beat the drum the soldiers he lined up for war the cowboys n Indians played em all his songs were sweet he smiled and girls were at his feet his tongue was proud he voiced his feelings to his means his heart was light and his steps were proud he never followed the regular crowd he milked the cows and stroked the horns he picked mushrooms in early light cockles in Shell bay were his delight for-took of love from local girls he daisy chained and conkers played cigarette cards he regularly saved he had a catapult was true picked blackberries and berry blues his verse was wild and his heart was strong his verses they all went on and on and on and on. Ray Wills The daily planning and organisation of the playgrounds adventure activities were all part of the job, in a day in the life of the adventure playground leader. Until recent times, adventure playgrounds included pursuits such as den building and campfires, as an essential part of their successful framework. However, due to new health and safety laws and legislation, these facilities no longer exist within the adventure playground movement. Whilst both forms of play with leadership and adventure play, can be operated running parallel, side by side. With the children attending both styles of activities, such as adventure playgrounds and with play schemes operating close by, or on site. In such situations children have a wider choice and variety of activities available to them. They can choose the activity that suits their needs on any one particular day. Somewhere in between these two distinct areas of play is to be found the play work, or play with leadership disciplines, ranging from pre-school play groups, holiday play schemes, after school clubs to the more adventurous unstructured adventure playground, or play park. The need for special play places for all children, has resulted in town planners taking child’s play into account with the provision of play spaces, toddler play space and conventional unsupervised playgrounds within housing estates. These were built professionally and situated close to their own homes and in their communities. Although without leadership, these were attractive colourful areas, though problems evolved over the years with vandalism, poor maintenance and safety issues prominent. With the dangers of falls, these became a problem. Then due to a great deal of much public concern safety surfaces became a necessity. It is truly a compliment to the adventure playground ideal, that it has been so sweetly imitated on a small scale. Especially within the park play areas and play spaces that are scattered throughout our housing areas, specifically for use by small children, with their log type effects, poles, ladders slides and rope walks. All of these so attractively coloured with safety designed play surfaces, of sand, bark or rubber and a superb improvement from the original tarmac and concrete playgrounds with their dangerous metal ironmongery and wood equipment. The former play areas of static park playground equipment which has been responsible over the years for thousands of injuries to thousands of small energetic children along with the foreboding school yard playgrounds bare bleak and unimaginative places. Initially when play projects were set up often the leader worked alone. As play leadership developed it was recognised that it was vital that there were other extra staff members available, to cope with the large numbers of children attending. Also that sound supervision and counselling relationships were necessary for such schemes to be successful. Such working experiences were an education to others and myself in these demanding yet exhilarating situations. Often at first these dens were of flimsy constructions, often consisting of just four wooden pallet boards sides, plus a roof held together with just a few nails and a prayer. Gradually with construction experience, children became confident and adept adding extra rooms and ramps. Then as they became more skilful, adding sliding doors, or hinged trap doors, extensions and underground entrances and exits. The art of building became a matter of achievement both between competitive groups and within groups, leading to co-operation and assistance. Swaps of materials, with deals, became a common place. Such activities became an essential part of the day to day adventure playground environment of the kid’s community. Local authorities began to improve equipment and safety standards nationally. Within the county of Dorset, I had the subject aired on local radio, within the press and with support from ‘Fair Play for Children’. Whilst I was acting in a voluntary capacity, as regional officer for the ‘Safety on Playgrounds Association Action Group’. It is important that children’s play should be recognised, as a child’s right and in particular that specific places are set aside for children's playgrounds, which desperately needed to be planned to include such adventurous activities. Children need to play whenever and wherever they are, to feel safe and secure, within they’re own neighbourhoods. They need to be encouraged to use such play facilities, with practical use, safety and free movement. Places whereby parents could both, bring, monitor and observe their children, through interaction with other children. Attractive places within pleasant environments situated within each neighbourhood, where children can play safely.. So that play itself can once again develop and become a truly social and educational experience for all children, despite there own individual circumstances, or environments. |
Child’s play itself can be impromptu with no adult present, as in the case of the activities, games and pursuits of children on the school playgrounds waste ground alleyways and common lands. Here children have themselves devised numerous pastimes. Many of these rhymes are passed down from generation to generation, or altered to suit changing styles. These range from rhyming slang games to chase games and can include a range of activities such as the building of camps, tree houses and underground dens. To the more impromptu games of football, rounders, cricket and ad hoc unsupervised activities, though with set standards, laws, rules, procedures, or rituals. 
| PIONEERS OF CHILDS PLAY/PLAY PEOPLE.
In the following page I present a biograhical account of the people who played a prominent part in the development of childs play provision in the UK. Along withothers who championed childrens play in all its varied forms.
W.DRUMMOND ABERNETHY.
The first time I heard of Drummond was when I was a Community Service Volunteer student in the mid sixties and I was given a copy of his N.P.F.A publication Play leadership, this was one of a variety of publications on child’s play compiled by the N.P.F.A.
However it was after I had operated a successful Easter holiday play scheme in Redditch that I was seconded by Redditch District Council to Playfield house in London.
Playfield House was the central office of the National Playing Fields Association in central London, staffed by retired officers of the forces. I was to attend a training course there on play leadership under the guidance of Drummond Abernethy who directed me to numerous play projects, from play parks and I o clock clubs to Adventure Playgrounds.
During my training by N.P.F.A I was based at the Notting Hill Adventure Playground where I worked under the direction of Pat Smythe the leader and Francis McLennon. I reported back to Drummond at Playfield House each day.
In the years ahead and throughout my play career Drummond was always available and supportative and always keen to talk with me on all kinds of issues from handicapped children on playgrounds to the development of the Institute of Childs Play.
For many years I attended the many group meetings which were held at Playfield House along with all the pioneers of the play movement. Drummond and I continued to communicate by phone, letter and the occasional visit to the Adventure playgrounds I was responsible for.We would often meet up at the numerous play conferences and campaign sessions in London and nationally.
Drummond Abernethy had been secretary of the National Playing Fields Association Playground Committee since 1948 until his retirement in 1978 when he acted in an advisory role.. Drummond's energy and vision led to the establishment of other play projects nationally and throughout Europe.
He played a significant role in refining Sørenson's ideas into adventure play, speaking to local authories,play bodies and community organisations.Thus he became a known spokesman and orator on the subject of play leadership in general. The name change from junk to adventure play was designed to create a more positive public image but it also marked Drummond's extension of the original philosophy. Drummond was at that time widely viewed as being one of the most prominent figures in the development of adventure play in Britain and abroad. From its first days the handicapped Adventure Play movement was also most fortunate in having the support of Drummond Abernethy. Drummond lived locally in Loughton and always had a particularly keen interest in play for disabled children. Upon his retirement from the National Playing Fields Association in 1978 Drummond became chairman of ELHAP. This was a position he retained until ill health forced him to stand down in 1986, although he remained on the executive committee until his death. A large part of ELHAP's success is attributed to Drummond. Under his guidance ELHAP developed into a thriving playground and its unique experiences have now been enjoyed by many thousands of children with disabilities. . Drummond Abernethy, with his wealth of adventure play experience, used to describe ELHAP as the "very best adventure playground for children with special needs".
Lady Marjorie Allen of Hurtwood (1897-1976) 
"Better a broken bone than a broken spirit" 'I had no particular sense of vocation, and no plans for a career': Yet this unsophisticated girl, with no interest in formal education, was to make a name for herself as a landscape architect.Then later to be drawn into work for children by the injustices she saw them enduring. Remembrance of her early good fortune - an idyllic childhood on a farm in an atmosphere of security and affection and the chance to follow her own interests at a progressive school.Made her the more determined in later life to do something children 'condemned to live in barbaric and sub-human city surroundings. She was happily married to Clifford Allen, pacifist, socialist and internationalist.He helped her to clarify and present her ideas. Always a person who 'loved embarking on a practical joh and seeing it through to a successful finish. Lady Allen became a practised speaker and writer with a reputation for getting things done, nationally and internationally. She would like to be remembered for the campaign which led to the passing of the Children Act (1948) and for her work for adventure playgrounds, recently extended to include handicapped children. Lady Allen is the first to realize that the work she has chosen is never finished. But the person who, with equal energy and enthusiasm, drives earth-shifters on playground sites and undertakes lecture tours, remains undaunted by the challenge. Lady Marjory Allen of Hurtwood was an able, strong and forthright advocate for children. She strove to overcome injustice and championed children’s rights, particularly for orphans, the disabled and the deprived. In Britain she was a leader of many organisations, striving to improve conditions for children and later worked with UNESCO and UNICEF on international projects. She was a founder leader of L’Organisation Mondiale Pour L’Education Prescolaire’, OMEP. Her high level international contacts brought great benefits to early years provision in Britain. As a child,Marjory Gill was brought up on a farm,within a large,loving and secure family,with much fun and affection.At Bedales School she followed her own interests and eventually became a landscape architect.Her great interest was in giving children the same opportunities as she had enjoyed by learning through good play opportunities.Nationally and internationally,she strove to improve children’s lives by tirelessly appealing to politicians,the media and influential members of society to help overcome the injustices suffered by many children. Her recorded speeches and articles reflect her enthusiasm and practical approach to solving problems.Lady Marjory was happily married to Lord Clifford Allen,a pacifist, socialist and internationalist.Who helped to clarify and present her ideas effectively. Their daughter was a constant inspiration to them.With great vision,determination and imagination,she inspired others to work with her in improving provision in nursery centres.During the war(1939–1945),she organised teams of skilled craftsmen to work with many voluntary groups in making stout toys and nursery equipment out of remnants from bomb sites.Neither time nor materials were wasted! Lady Allen fought to give women a choice to work or stay at home for the first two years of a child’s life.
Lady Allen Link http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/subject_guides/pacifist/121.pdf Then there would be less likelihood for unfortunate children to slip through the net. Until 2004 children’s services have been fragmented, but now there is hope for more integrated services, many based in new ‘Children’s Centres’ (2006).
DONNE BUCK Donne Buck has been a proinent play pioner for 50 years .
Heres his story http://www.ncb.org.uk/Page.asp?originx_6215po_87243436916v71b_20092103857i
WILLIAM BARNES.
Teacher, Minister, Mayor, Poet, Visionary.
William Barnes was an early proponent of childs play. Barnes believed that if children were denied their right to play they would grow up with ill health, weak and low in spirit. He campaigned for many years to keep the green open spaces for childrens natural play. He could see a time in the future when because of land development in excess and heavy traffic that there would be nowhere left for kids to play.
THE LANE The children will soon have no place for to play, And if they do grow, They will have a mushroom face, With their bodies as simple as dough, But a man is made of a child, And his limbs do grow worksome by play, And if the young child's little body is spoilt, Why the mans will the sooner decay, But wealth is worth now more than health is worth, Let it all go. If it will bring but a sovereign or two for to breed the young fox or the horse, We can give up a whole acre of ground, But the greens be a grudged for to rear, WILLIAM BARNES.
EILEEN SOPER
Eileen Soper (26 Mar 1905 - 18 Mar 1990)
Born in Enfield in 1905, Eileen moved at a young age to Harner Green in Hertfordshire. Soper was a gifted child, encouraged in her art by her father George, an artist himself. She developed her craft at a very young age, and had her first exhibition at the Print Makers Society of California in 1921. Queen Mary herself purchased one of Super’s prints - Flying Swings. She also was the youngest artist ever to exhibit her work at The Royal Academy in London - at the ripe age of just 15.
She moved primarily to illustrating during the 1940's. Eileen Soper was an incredible artist who, over the space of almost twenty years, illustrated every one of the 21 Famous Five books - the only long Blyton series where the same illustrator was used throughout.
Also in her enormous portfolio are The Moods Story Books (Happy, Merry, Jolly, Sunny, Gay, Lucky, Bright, Friendly), The first three Colours Story Books (Blue, Red, Green), Tales After Tea, Tales After Supper, The Children’s Life of Christ and Tales From The Bible (Methuen 1943 and 1944), The Train That Lost Its Way (Brockhampton 1946), All of the Macmillan short story books, The Little White Duck, Polly Piglet (Brockhampton 1943), The Twins Little Book series (Brockhampton) and The Secret of Killimoon, just to name a few.
Apart from her illustrations for other authors, Soper also wrote and illustrated over twenty books of her own, chiefly nature series. They include: Eileen Soper’s Book of Badgers, The Wildlife Series (Routledge c.1965), When Badgers Wake, Wild Encounters and Wild Favours (Routledge 1955, 1957 and 1963 respectively). Born in Enfield, she moved at a young age to Harner Green in Hertfordshire. Soper was a gifted child, encouraged in her art by her father George, an artist himself. She developed her craft at a very young age, and had her first exhibition at the Print Makers Society of California in 1921. Queen Mary herself purchased one of Super’s prints - Flying Swings.
She moved primarily to illustrating during the 1940's. Soper helped to found The Society of Wildlife Artists, and was also a member of The Royal Society of Miniature Painters. Her sister Eva was her only companion during the later part of her life, and Soper passed away only recently in 1990 at the age of 85.
Eileen Soper also produced so many etchings it's impossible to show them all here. Encouraged by her father in the art of printmaking from an early age, Eileen soon rivalled him in talent and surpassed him in popularity, while neatly complementing his subjects by depicting children at play.
Her etchings, exhibited in England at the Royal Academy from 1921, when she was only sixteen, attracted great attention, among critics, fellow artists and the general public. Eileen’s etchings concern themselves with the ordinary events that make up a child’s day, simple and perhaps monotonous to the adult but ever fresh to the child itself. The majority of her etchings deal with children at play – on the beach, in country lanes and on street corners – or with animals.
One of the reasons why she was able to depict such honest images of children free from nostalgia was that she was scarcely more than a child herself, producing most of the etchings whilst she was in her teens or early 20s.
Eileen’s early plates are characterised by a their multiple states, small sizes and focusing on one, two sometimes three, children. Her later plates reflect her growing confidence in composition. This confidence enabled her to depict a greater number of children in detailed settings without overcrowding the image, produced with fewer re-workings and states.
In 1930 the etching market declined and Eileen turned her skills to other forms of artistic expression. But it was not just for financial reasons that she turned away from etching. Quite simply, the child Eileen had grown up and no longer possessed the child’s frank and naïve vision of the world which had enabled her to capture children without sentimentality.
Apart from her illustrations for other authors, Soper also wrote and illustrated over twenty books of her own, chiefly nature series. They include: Eileen Soper’s Book of Badgers, The Wildlife Series (Routledge c.1965), When Badgers Wake, Wild Encounters and Wild Favours (Routledge 1955, 1957 and 1963 respectively). Soper helped to found The Society of Wildlife Artists, and was also a member of The Royal Society of Miniature Painters.
PLAY PEOPLE SUE TOWNEND GYLES BRANDRETH SORENSON HOME.Click on boy.
She died in 1990.
Lady Allen Link http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/subject_guides/pacifist/121.pdf
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