Organising Community Play

For many children, opportunities to play freely in their local communities are reducing.

You may have noticed your child has less freedom than you had when you were their age, and perhaps you had less freedom than your parents’ generation did.

There are many reasons for this, including concern about traffic, worries about safety and pressure on resources.

It is important to keep a sense of proportion about these risks as the result is a lack of opportunities and confidence to play outdoors.

Children are missing out on the sense of freedom that comes from exploring local streets, parks and neighbourhoods and all the skills they gain as they do this.

This has an impact on children’s health and wellbeing both mentally and physically.

Community members and groups are vital to creating a playful nation.

If we work together to improve children and young people’s play opportunities we can improve the environment for everyone.

Celebrate Play on Playday

a playworker facilitates musical interactions

Playday is an annual celebration of children and young people’s play which traditionally takes place on the first Wednesday in August. Thousands of children and families attend various events across the UK.

Why not plan a Playday event in your local area?


Litter Pick and Play

Litter Pick and Play supports groups running litter-picking activities with children and young people. We designed these activities with children and young people to bring play and fun into environmental projects, including Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Spring Clean Scotland annual event.


Play Together on Pedals

We work in partnership with Cycling UK and Cycling Scotland to deliver the community play programme – Play Together on Pedals. Since 2014, the project has helped to teach more than 8,000 preschool children in Scotland to ride a bike.

You can keep up to date with Play Together on Pedals on Facebook and Twitter.

Play Together on Pedal in Glasgow is funded by Glasgow City Council through the Smarter Choices Smarter Places fund.

In 2022, the partnership created a book to support the project called Out on Bikes with Grampy.


Celebrate the UN International Day of Play

The first UN International Day of Play was held in 2024.

The theme for the 2025 International Day of Play is “Choose Play – Everyday”.

Join people around the world celebrating every child’s right to play and get involved with our Paper Plane Challenge!

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