Playing Out is a simple yet effective approach to reclaiming street space for childrens' play.  On 1 June, 2009, in collaboration with Greville Road Neighbours, we closed Greville Road in Bristol England for a few hours after school to allow the children to play out. It was International Children's Day and we wanted to celebrate the vitality of children in our neighbourhood so chose to turn the street over to them for an afternoon of free play.   We had a fantastic turnout of a wide age range of children and their parents and carers.  Despite the heat, the children expended loads of energy through informal physical activity and relished the freedom of being able to play and explore close to their own home. Neighbours were supportive, drivers bemused and most everyone was moved to reconsider their street space as more than a car park and motorway. 

We now have great hopes for this idea to go viral and want to encourage other streets to experience Playing Out.  With funding from Active Bristol we are now working with Greville Road Neighbours to deliver a further six Playing Out events in summer 2010.

Contact us if you'd like to play out on your street.

more photos of Playing Out 

Online links, instructions and support for hosting your own Playing Out event will be created as part of our project.  These will be available from  September 2010.

 Playing Out is supported by Active Bristol

Why Playing Out?  A rationale for street play.

Children need to play. It is vital for their physical and emotional development and for their social learning. It is also a human right under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child .

Play England defines play as “what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests, in their own way and for their own reasons”. This implies a degree of freedom and independence, which cannot be satisfied by organised play. Whilst Playing Out is organized to some extent, it is meant as a signal that children need and want to play in their own streets, unsupervised and on a regular basis.

Children need space to play, run, scoot, cycle, skate. Parks are great but most children don’t have independent access to these so their main, everyday play space needs to be on their doorstep. The ability for children to play in their own street adds to community cohesion and neighbourliness – an important factor in personal and social health.

Most of the time, cars - both parked and moving - dominate our streets to such an extent that play becomes impossible. Unfortunately, at present, an organised road closure is the only way we can see to safely create the conditions for street play. Ideally, our streets would be spaces where cars, cyclists and people of all ages can coexist happily. This is our long-term goal.

For our pilot event, we chose a section of road (‘The Dogleg’) that is relatively free of parked cars and allowed residents access for parking at both ends of Greville Road. We hope during the events that most people will see the value of giving local children a reasonable amount of time in which to ‘play out’ after school (not such a strange idea 30 years ago!).  We aim to minimise inconvenience while raising awareness and having some good, healthy fun!