Duthie Park was alive with laughter, creativity, and joyful energy with over 500 people joining us for Playday Aberdeen 2025—with more than 100 children arriving during the first hour alone! Meeting at the heart of our community, this free and inclusive event celebrated every child’s right to play.
Organised by Play Scotland as part of the UK-wide Playday campaign. Playday is held on the first Wednesday of August to spotlight the vital importance of play and the theme this year was “Spaces for Play”.
Event Highlights
Families were invited to drop by between 12pm and 4pm on Wednesday, 6 August, at Duthie Park, Aberdeen. A host of great partners brought a wide variety of hands-on and imaginative activities, including:
- Aberdeen Park Rangers with nature-based fun like butterfly tracking games
- Aberdeen City Libraries, offering story time, songs, and rhyme festivities
- Splat Messy Play, exploring with tactile, explorative arts, messy play, and take-home crafts
- The Peep Learning Together Programme, delivering stories, songs, and play sessions
- Creative Learning – Geronimo with cardboard, Makedo tools, and shaping giant games with artists
- ScrapAntics, constructing playgrounds from loose parts and reclaimed materials
- CFINE, providing refreshing, free fruit snacks Play Scotland
We were treated to wonderfully sunny weather and just enough wind to lift rainbow kites into the air!
Driven by fun, this event didn’t just entertain, it inspired. One parent shared:
“It’s so good for mums like me, I’m not super creative, but it gives me loads of ideas.”
What the Families Loved Most
We provided activities suitable for babies to teenagers, with messy play and loose parts ensuring children led their own exploration and play. Every family surveyed confirmed they had fun, a heartwarming 100% positive response.
Why Play Spaces Are Valuable
All respondents affirmed that spaces for play are important, yet only 52% felt there are enough such spaces to play for children, while 48% disagreed. A sentiment echoed by many: while Aberdeen offers a good offer, it’s often “not great for older children or more wild spaces.”
Quotes from attendees highlighted why spaces for play matter so much:
- “Freedom”
- “Helps them develop and socialise”
- “Learning, active, your own space, mental health”
- “Space to be loud”
- “Good for your brain and body and it’s fun”
Launching Getting it Right for Play
As part of our Playday celebrations, we were excited to launch Getting it Right for Play – a revised toolkit to assess and improve play spaces.
We were delighted to be visited by the Lord Provost David Cameron, and his wife, Councillor Hazel Cameron, who attended the event.
A Heartfelt Thank You
To all who joined—the families, volunteers, and partners—thank you for making Playday Aberdeen 2025 a wonderful, playful celebration. The park turned into a living, breathing testament to the power of play. With your energy and feedback, we’re already looking forward to an even brighter, more joyous Playday in 2026.
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