Play that helps kids go wild

The Play Day in Merrion Square, Dublin, this Sunday aims to bring back creativity and exploration to children’s play

WHILE WE may remember childhoods in which we headed off to the beach alone, played in the woods and perhaps even on building sites, children today seem to be denied such freedom.

“When children play nowadays, they spend a lot of time indoors or being driven to classes and not a lot of time devising their own play, getting bored and figuring out what to do,” says Anne O’Brien, play development officer at Dublin City Council, who is behind the Play Day taking place in Merrion Square, Dublin, this Sunday (2pm-5.30pm).

The idea behind the day – which has been running in Ireland since 2005 – is to give children a chance to explore and use their imagination while playing, something O’Brien refers to as “ordinary play”.

Activities will include obstacle courses; playing with “gloop” made from food colouring, cornflower and water; making play dough; dressing up; doing puppet shows; painting and making crafts; pillow fights; and various activities involving a parachute.

“It’s a huge circle of colourful fabric that the children can hold and play various games with, such as holding it in the air and then sitting on the inside edges to make a tent, which makes the kids go ‘ahh’. Suddenly you have created this little place.”

The events are all active, says O’Brien, “as opposed to entertainment that is laid on which can be quite passive: people spend loads on bouncy castles while summer projects will organise to take kids out every day, which is also very expensive.”

The age of children at the event ranges from babies up to about 12.

“At the end of the Play Days people have come up to me and said, ‘that was the best day’ and yet these activities don’t cost anything. Parents just come into Merrion Square and sit with their kids or watch their kids who are totally engrossed.

“Parents learn from this and it is really easy to replicate in the community,” says O’Brien who would love to see the stark green spaces in estates being transformed by local parents getting together – with the help of O’Brien.

“Parents could devise a racing game, make a tent or encourage kids to make dens. People say kids don’t make dens any more but maybe they just need to be allowed to do it. We need to facilitate children – not organise them but allow them more creative time.”

The games that O’Brien talks about will resonate with many adults who remember getting up to such antics as children, so how did we lose that?

“It hasn’t got lost altogether,” says O’Brien, “but if you ask most people of our age where the exciting places they used to play are, they will nearly all tell you that it was in wild places, in out-of-the-way fields at the back of the house or down at the river. Older kids may still be able to go to those places now but younger children are less able to move away from home than we were.

“But if people are nervous about letting their children go out on their own, it is possible to provide the atmosphere and drama close to home.

“Kids love a sense of adventure, discovery, freedom and drama. We can still have those creative spaces: those green spaces on our estates, for instance, should be much more interesting than they are.”

She suggests putting in fruiting plants, bamboo mazes, an obstacle course, a mound in the grass and/or a place for a den, such as bushes to play in.

“Such things would give stimulus for imagination,” says O’Brien who has taken heed of new thinking across Europe which says that the less-structured, natural part of play is essential and that playgrounds need good natural spaces around them.

“Such as long grass, when do kids ever get the chance to play in long grass? And nice big rocks to climb on.

“Research says that kids love playgrounds and going on swings and seesaws – they love things that make their body move – but after doing that they want to move on to explore what is around the playground, to go into places where they can pretend and go on an adventure.

“I was talking to a group of 12 year olds the other day who said that they loved climbing trees and I was thinking, are there any trees in this city that they can climb? But they had found trees.

“That kind of climbing is different from climbing on a climbing frame, which is so regular there is nothing unexpected. You know how to climb it, you have climbed it 10 times before but a tree is not as regular and will change.

“Part of kids’ development involves being able to discover things, manoeuvre through them and manipulate them.”

While playgrounds and their equipment are still essential, “there is a move away from square boxes painted red and yellow; why should kids be in a box with a railing around them with equipment they can’t manipulate, change or develop?” says O’Brien, who laments the Government’s cuts in funding in her area.

The Play Day in Merrion Square (supported by the Office for the Minister of Children) aims to use activities that promote creative play – being active, having control over the activity and devising “the next mad thing”.

O’Brien can also help people set up their own Play Days across Ireland. “In Merrion Square it’s a very relaxing day. The kids are so involved and parents can see the whole place.”