2008: Give us a go!
Playday is the annual celebration of children’s
right to play - a national campaign, which last year
culminated on Wednesday 6 August.
On Playday and throughout the summer of 2008, thousands of
children, young people and communities got out to play at
hundreds of locally organised events across the UK.
Give us a go!
The 2008 Playday campaign theme was Give
us a go!
The campaign called for children to be allowed challenging
and adventurous play opportunities and aimed to shake off the
'cotton wool' culture that can limit children’s play.
Key campaign messages were:
- All children need opportunities to take their own risks when
playing; they need and want challenge, excitement and uncertainty
in play.
- Through play, children can learn how to manage challenge and
risk for themselves in everyday situations.
- Opportunities for children to take risks while playing are
reducing, as increasingly health and safety considerations are
impacting on children’s play.
- Adults should provide for children and young people to have
adventurous play opportunities.
Playday research
A comprehensive body of research was commissioned to
support the Give us a go! campaign. The research explores
the benefits and challenges of enabling children to manage their
own risks whilst playing. We have published in-depth research
with children and young people. For the first time, play providers
were consulted, to explore the benefits and challenges of enabling
children to manage their own risks whilst playing. A literature
review collating published research relating to the theme is also
available, and national opinion polls of both children and adults
conducted by ICM.
The opinion poll findings show that children are facing serious
restrictions to their opportunities for adventurous play. Half of
children (51%) aged 7-12 years reported they are not allowed to
climb a tree without adult supervision and half (49%) also report
that they have been stopped from climbing trees because it was
considered to be too dangerous.
The research also finds a change in the places where children
and young people today experience adventurous and challenging play.
As children, 70% of adults enjoyed most of their adventures in
natural outdoor environments. This compares with only 29% of
children today as both the space and the freedom to roam has
dramatically declined in recent years. Today, children’s
experiences of adventure are confined to designated areas such as
playgrounds (56%), their homes (48%) or theme parks (44%).
The Playday 2008 research is available here
Playday events
Over 500 events took place across
the UK to celebrate Playday 2008.
For advice on how to get involved, visit our Playday events pages.
To find how Playday was celebrated near you, take a
look at the events near you pages.