fun stuff to do
Playday is a day for everyone to celebrate
children’s right to play. There are lots of ways to celebrate, and
the most important way is to make sure you have lots of fun
playing!
As well as going to Playday events, we’ve come up with some ideas
for how we might celebrate this year’s Playday theme, which is
Make time! But we know that you’re the real experts
at playing, so make time to tell
us what you’re doing to celebrate Playday this year!
And don’t forget, although we’re
making extra special time for play on 5 August for Playday, every
day should be a play day – it’s your right!
Make a Playday time
capsule
Why not make a time capsule to show people in
the future what it’s like to play in 2009!
- Collect photos, letters, drawings, things you
like to play with – anything you want!
- Place them in a bottle or a box and put a lid on, you might want to
decorate it too.
- Hide your time capsule somewhere secret.
Remember where it is, so you can find it again in the future. Or
bury it so it can be found by others in many years to come.
- Wait. And wait a little bit longer.
Then wait some more! In the future people might find it, and will
be able to see what it was like for children to play in 2009. Or
when you’re grown up, you might look for it yourself and remember
all the fun you had playing.
Promise for play
Ask adults to make time so you and
other children can play.
- Ask adults to sign a pledge (a pledge
is another word for a promise) about what they’re going to do so
you and other children can play.
- It could begin with ‘I promise to make
time for play by…’
- Have fun making lots of pledges for
people to sign. Or everyone could write their promises on one giant
banner.
- Ask all sorts of people – your parents
or carers, teachers, MP, neighbours, councillors. Who could make it
easier for you to be able to play?
- Write down how you will make time for
play this year. You could promise to make new friends to play with,
to spend less time watching TV, to learn a new game, to discover
new places to play, or to try new adventures. You could put your
promise to yourself in an envelope and open it again on Playday
2010 to see if you kept your promise…or you could display it
somewhere to remind yourself everyday to make time for
play.
- You could even make a group promise to
plan a Playday celebration next year.
Time travel through play
Find out what it used to be like to play and
think about how you would like to play in the future.
- Ask the grown-ups how they used to
play when they were younger. They might have stories of games they
played and adventures they had when they were your age. How have
things changed and what has stayed the same? They might be able to
teach you some of their games, and why not teach them some of
yours.
- Think about what it might be like to
play in the future. How would you like to be able to play in the
future, and what can you and other people do to make it
happen?
Play diary
Keep a diary of the time you spend playing on
Playday and share it with other people.
- Keep a diary of all the fun things that
you did on Playday. You can write down what day it was, what you
did and how it made you feel.
- You could continue the diary after
Playday. Keep a record of how much time you spend playing, and what
you do when you play.
- Turn your diary into a scrapbook by
adding photos, drawings, stickers and pictures from
magazines.
- Compare your diary with friends, you
could swap your stories of how you like to spend your time playing,
and try each other’s ideas. Or ask adults if they had the same
amount of time to play - or more or less - when they were your
age. If you would like more time to play, use your diary to
show other people why you don’t think you have enough time to
play.
Silly parents
Do you think your parents are too serious and
need to play more?
- On Playday, ask them to turn off
their mobile phones, forget all the boring adult things they have
to do, and join in the fun!
- Get them to join in with silly and
messy games you like to play.
Playday drawing consultation
Tell everyone how you like to spend your time
playing.
- Send us a picture for the Playday
drawing consultation. Every picture you
send us will go on the Playday gallery
page and you might have a chance to win a digital
camera!
- You might want to get into small
groups and use the drawing consultation template to draw your favourite way to play. Mix
them up and try to guess who the pictures belong to.
- Don’t forget to
write your name on your pictures and send them to us when you have
finished.