Play England

1 year ago today we launched our bold, new 10-year strategy - #ItAllStartsWithPlay! in Parliament. One year on, our objective remains clear: restore a play-based childhood for all children in England by 2035. playengland.org.uk/strategy #ItAllStartsWithPlay

Restricting social media companies’ access to children is only half the answer. We also need to restore the conditions for a play-based childhood. @JonHaidt, author of The Anxious Generation, makes that case powerfully in this interview with @Channel4News. Children need less exposure to addictive social media platforms, but they also need more time playing. More freedom. More independence. More opportunities to be outside, with friends, exploring, creating, taking risks and learning about themselves and the places where they live. That is why this moment represents such an important opportunity for play. @PlayEngland‘s bold, rights-based 10-year strategy - It All Starts With Play! has a clear objective: to restore a play-based childhood for all children in England by 2035. playengland.org.uk/strategy To achieve that, we continue to call on Government for a new National Play Strategy, underpinned by play sufficiency and backed by dedicated investment of £125m per year - that’s just 20p per child, per week! And there is a legitimate question about who should help fund it. If social media companies have profited from the growth of a phone-based childhood, should they now contribute to reestoring a play-based childhood? This national debate should not only be about what children do less of. It must also be about restoring their time, space, opportunity and freedom to do something better . . . Play! If we are serious about giving children their childhood back, then #ItAllStartsWithPlay! #NationalPlayStrategy #BringItBackAndy #PlaySufficiency #Childhood #SocialMedia

The architect of the social media ban explains how smartphones are rewiring children's brains.

FINAL CALL! 📣 We’re Recruiting: Independent Director (Trustee) – Treasurer 📅 Application deadline extended: Midnight, 10 July 2026 #BoardRecruitment #TrusteeRecruitment #Governance #CharityLeadership

Play is firmly back on the political agenda! A great question on today’s episode of @PolCurrency's EMQs put the issue exactly where it needs to be: Why has England not had a National Play Strategy since 2008, and is it time to bring one back? @EdBalls and @George_Osborne discussed England’s first and only National Play Strategy, launched in 2008 by @EdBalls and @AndyBurnham. They also referenced the work of @TomHayesBmouth MP, Chair of the @APPGonPlay, who has been leading the parliamentary call for a new National Play Strategy, alongside @PlayEngland. The 2008 strategy was backed by £235 million and set out a serious national commitment to children’s play, including better play spaces, adventure playgrounds, stronger planning policy, playwork, inclusion, and children’s everyday freedom to play. It was then abandoned in 2010. playengland.org.uk/newsblog/seven… Eighteen years later, the case for action is stronger than ever. That is why @PlayEngland is calling for: • a new National Play Strategy • underpinned by play sufficiency legislation • backed by £125 million per year - that's just 20p per child, per week! playengland.org.uk/strategy This is not nostalgia. It is unfinished public policy. The work started in 2008. It's time to bring it back - and give children their childhood back. #ItAllStartsWithPlay #BringItBackAndy

More Play. Better Learning. @PlayEngland and the @YouthSportTrust have published a new report making the case for embedding Play Sufficiency in Schools. Read the summary report and full evidence review: playengland.org.uk/newsblog/more-… #MorePlayBetterLearning #ItAllStartsWithPlay

📚 Books and Beyond: National Week of Play, 29 June to 5 July 2026. This year’s theme celebrates how books, stories and imagination can spark children’s play. playengland.org.uk/newsblog/books… #PlayWeek2026

Update: The Government has now responded to the @CommonsCMS 'Game On' report ahead of a forthcoming parliamentary debate. publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5902/cmse… There is some progress. The Government says it shares the Committee’s ambition to remove unnecessary ‘No Ball Games’ signs and supports making public spaces more accessible for children’s play. However, it has not accepted the call for legislation, set a timetable or addressed the specific role of housing associations. The Committee also called for national funding and guidance to expand inclusive initiatives such as Play Streets. The Government has instead pointed to existing local public health funding and @Sport_England's Movement Fund, leaving decisions to local authorities without a new national programme or framework. The response confirms plans for a National Plan for Physical Activity and significant investment in school sport and facilities. However, it does not commit to doubling national spending, introducing a statutory duty on local authorities, protecting time for play in schools or developing a new National Play Strategy. These issues will be debated in the House of Commons on Tuesday 30 June, on @DCMS spending relating to sport and youth services: whatson.parliament.uk/event/cal55820 The direction of travel is welcome, but the gap between support and delivery remains. @PlayEngland will continue our call for a new National Play Strategy, underpinned by a play sufficiency approach and dedicated investment of £125m per year in play - that’s just 20p per child, per week! #ItAllStartsWithPlay #NationalPlayStrategy #PlaySufficiency #MoreBallGames #KnowBallGames #GameOn

FINAL CALL! 📣 We’re Recruiting: Independent Director (Trustee) – Treasurer 📅 Application deadline extended: Midnight, 10 July 2026 Exciting times at @PlayEngland as we continue delivering our bold, new 10-year strategy #ItAllStartsWithPlay! #CharityLeadership

After a lot of work behind the scenes, it is great to see @MHCLG publish the guidance for the £18m Playground Fund. gov.uk/government/pub… The fund will support 66 local authorities in England to create, improve or enhance playgrounds in communities with some of the greatest need. Each authority will receive £270,000 over 2026/27 and 2027/28, made up of £240,000 capital and £30,000 revenue. For me, the significant policy win is that the guidance does not frame this simply as an equipment replacement programme. Instead, it embeds many of the principles @PlayEngland has been seeking to advance: • evidence-led site selection • meaningful engagement with children, families and communities • accessible and inclusive design • play value, not just new equipment • risk-benefit • inspection, maintenance and long-term stewardship • wider play sufficiency principles That matters! It is also encouraging to see the ministerial foreword recognise play as fundamental to childhood and playgrounds as part of the everyday infrastructure that helps children thrive. Playgrounds are not just pieces of equipment. At their best, they are everyday social infrastructure for childhood. They are places where children move, imagine, make friends, experience challenge and risk, spend time outdoors and feel part of their community. @PlayEngland has been pleased to work closely with @MHCLG to help shape the guidance and embed core principles from the play sector. I also want to thank @TomHayesBmouth, Chair of the @APPGonPlay, for helping create the parliamentary momentum for this work; Dr Michael Martin and colleagues at the @SheffieldUni for the important playground provision data and methodology work that helped underpin the targeting approach, and Chris Worman MBE, Chair of the Parks Working Group, for helping keep the realities of parks and local delivery firmly in view. This fund is not the whole answer. England still needs a new National Play Strategy, underpinned by a play sufficiency approach and dedicated investment. But it is a practical and welcome step forward. If delivered well, this investment will improve playgrounds in communities that need them most and help build the case for future national investment in children’s play. #ItAllStartsWithPlay #Playgrounds #PrideInPlace #PlaySufficiency

‘Giving children their childhood back.’ Those words appeared in today’s Government announcement on a social media ban for under-16s. gov.uk/government/new… For us at @PlayEngland, they are particularly significant. Since 2024, we have been calling on government to give children their childhood back. That same ambition sits at the heart of our 10-year strategy - It All Starts with Play! playengland.org.uk/strategy It is therefore encouraging to see play explicitly recognised in the Government’s announcement, with a commitment to “less time for scrolling and more time for play”, alongside references from the Prime Minister to children “playing with their friends outside”. gov.uk/government/spe… That matters because it signals an important shift in how childhood and play are being discussed nationally. Additionally, the £132.5m ‘Every Child Can’ enrichment programme represents a major investment in music, culture, arts and sport — but not play. gov.uk/government/new… Yet this highlights an even bigger opportunity. Music, culture, arts and sport (and lots more) - they all start with play! Play is where children first explore, create, imagine, move, connect and belong. It is the foundation of so much that enriches childhood and shapes healthy, happy and resilient lives. That is why we continue to call for a new National Play Strategy, a play sufficiency approach and dedicated investment of £125m per year in play - that’s about 20p per child, per week. If we are serious about giving children their childhood back, then #ItAllStartsWithPlay

The UK Government has announced plans to ban social media platforms from providing their services to under 16s. This is a major step to protect children online – meaning less time to scroll, more time to play, and a safer digital future.

Children will be given back their childhoods thanks to government action to ban social media platforms from offering services to under-16s, with less time for scrolling and more time for play. Find out more: gov.uk/government/new… @JoshMacAlister

We are banning social media access for under 16s. These days kids must find their feet in a world where technology intrudes into every area of their life. I just can’t let that go on anymore. So we’re giving children their childhoods back.

Parliament Square as you've never seen it on #InternationalDayofPlay yesterday. Volcano centre and London's wonderful articulate, creative, energetic and awesome children showing the #PowerofPlay

Play creates powerful learning opportunities that help promote intellectual, social, emotional and physical development. On Thursday’s International Day of Play and always, we must ensure every child has the opportunity to play, learn and thrive. un.org/en/observances…

🛝Happy International Day of Play! 🎉 Play is how children enjoy their childhood, build friendships and make sense of the world. We’re working to make play a normal, accepted and visible part of everyday life again. playengland.org.uk/strategy #ItAllStartsWithPlay

Around the world, opportunities for outdoor play are disappearing. So Greg Goya and UNICEF turned streets into playgrounds. We created four games across cities, transforming ordinary places into moments of joy. Play is everywhere. This #InternationalDayOfPlay, share where you find it.

Happy International Day of Play! 🛝 The government has: 🚬 legislated for smokefree playgrounds 💷 provided £18m to fix up to 200, and 🏗️ it’s protecting them in developments. Play is central to childhood. Not a luxury. Not an afterthought. We need to support more play!

International Day of Play 2026 – Play 31 Challenge We are calling on all schools across the UK and Ireland to give children 31 more minutes of play on International Day of Play. playengland.org.uk/newsblog/inter… #IDoP2026

Two days to go until Parliament Square becomes a giant playground! From 4.30pm this Thursday. Join us! #InternationalDayofPlay #Article31 #PlayMatters londonplay.org.uk/event/london-p…