Plain English: Wave 3 Summary of findings: Play

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Plain English Wave 3 Summary of findings Play

• Presented to COI Communications and The DCSF
• Presented by Marnie Freeman
• April 2008

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Section oneObjectives and methodology
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Research objectives

• To gain a deeper understanding of childrens and
  parents perspective on play and play provision
  (quantity, quality, and accessibility)
• To understand the extent to which the type and
  range of play provision influences childrens and
  parents attitudes to play
•  
• To inform communications with children, parents
  and carers on play provision in terms of tone,
  language and terms they use themselves
•  
• To assess how to make existing play facilities
  more appealing
•  
• To gauge what children and parents want in terms
  of new play facilities (quality, supervision,
  location, opening times, transport)
•  
• To understand any gender differences in play
  experiences
•  
• To learn about what parents know in terms of the
  benefits of different kinds of play

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Overview of sample

• Eight triads with kids
• Four with girls and four with boys
• 8 to 9
• 9 to 10
• 10 to 11
• 11 to 12
• Four parents groups
• Three with mums and one with dads
• In four locations
• Dudley, NE Somerset , Telscombe Cliffs and
  Slough
• In February 2008

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Section two Summary of findings
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What is play?

• The term outside play spans a diverse range of
  activities, reaching beyond
• traditional definitions
• This has implications for how the term is defined
  and brought to life in communications
• Need to be specific about the type of play being
  communicated
• Outside play gives children a sense of freedom
  and exhilaration they seldom feel in other areas
  of their life
• Other benefits include
• Social interaction
• Physical exercise and risk taking
• Learning about the world and personal
  responsibility

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The positives of outside play

• Kids love being outside it makes them feel alive
  and free
• Emotional benefits are more top of mind than the
  physical ones

Emotional Happy Excited Fun Freedom (and
from adults)
Social Playing with friends Communicating
Making new friends (under 9s) Interaction with
others (genders, ages)
Learning Sense of responsibility Independence
...about the world around them Road and
cycling safety
Physical Raring to go - burning off energy
Fitness Freedom Fresh air
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Gender differences
Boys are rougher and like to get messy and muddy,
girls worry about their hair talk more (Girl
10, Slough)

• Clear gender differences emerged implications for
  range of resources available
• If they dont have access to the same gender
  playmates in their local communities there is
  evidence of more mixed gender playing - always
  better to play with someone
• As they enter the tween years a more definite
  gender division seems to emerge with regard to
  the appeal of outside play
• Some girls appear to become less interested in
  it, preferring to spend their time
  talking/supporting and shopping with their
  friends
• - Organised indoor activities are more likely
  to capture their interest

• Boys play is perceived as more active, and
• associated with sport/free play more than
• equipment
• More competitive, team games, fear factor, more
  rough
• Risk taking

• Girls are linked with more passive, dialogue
• based interaction (unless they are tomboys)
• Imagination/role play, falling out with friends,
  worrying about how they look
• Emotional creative

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Concerns

• Parents recognise the benefits of children
  playing outside but have a range of
• concerns
• Stranger danger (paedophiles, abduction, abuse
  etc)
• Bullying from older teens is causing anxiety
  around letting their kids out to play on their
  own
• Lack of community values and support
• Less pronounced in the rural areas which had a
  stronger sense of community
• Younger children (up to 9/10 years) are always
  accompanied by an adult when playing
• outside, unless they are playing in their back
  garden (Assuming that they have one)
• Parents deferring letting their children out on
  their own until 11/12 years (sometimes older)
• The notable exception are children living in
  rural and semi rural areas who have more freedom
  at a younger age to explore the area within a
  short distance of their home

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Concerns

• There is a perception that their children are
  safer in more public and busy places
• And that parks/open spaces can be more sinister
  places, where their children can be exposed/
  vulnerable to more trouble
• Or get into trouble themselves
• Parents appear to be more comfortable with
  allowing their children the freedom to go to
  shopping centres/cinemas with their friends, than
  they are allowing them to go to parks/open spaces
  unaccompanied by an adult
• Shopping centres - the alternative playground

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Access

• Most children in this sample had access to a
  range of parks and open spaces
• Whilst the quality and range of equipment varied
  between locations, the overwhelming factors
  affecting usage were
• The presence/threatened presence of intimidating
  teenagers
• The state of the equipment, which could often be
  out of order as vandalised
• Parents and children offer clear guidance
  regarding what they want from parks
• More naturally inspired play rather than
  structured man-made equipment (wood, water,
  trees)
• Equipment which encourages risk taking in a safe
  environment
• Segregated by age
• Well maintained and updated
• Secured at night to protect from vandalism

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Current provision

• Currently, children under the age of 8/9 years
  were felt to be well catered for
• Swings, slides, roundabouts
• Bright colours
• Physical, exploratory, imaginative play
• However, parents and children highlighted a gap
  in provision for 9 to13 year olds (tweens)
• For this age range there was a call for
• Activities and equipment that are mentally and
  physically challenging
• Boys strongly supported the idea of astroturf for
  football and for some, skate parks (particularly
  Telscombe)
• In essence, tweens are looking for assault
  courses rather than playgrounds

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How they find out about outdoor play provision

• Parents talk to other parents
• They tend to find out about whats going on from
  each other, especially if they live locally
• Including the good parks to go to and those to
  avoid
• Pester power is also a source of information
• None recalled finding out about parks and outdoor
  play provision through local media
• LA websites, leaflets, local paper, radio
• Either receiving information or seeking it out
• If there has been communication relating to play
  it seems parents in the sample were unaware of it
  
• Word of mouth is the main source of information-
  parents rely on others to find out
• about new and exciting play areas

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The ideal
It is better to keep it separate, so we can see
which part is for us and so we dont knock the
little ones over as well (Boy 12, Telscombe)

• Consistent themes across the four locations
• Free play rather than structured
• A good range of equipment suitable for varied
  ages
• Clearly segregated but still close to each other
  (so parents can still see older kids if need to)
• There is a preference (for the over 6s) to have
  more natural things to enable varied free play
  rather than more structured equipment
• Wood preferred to plastic
• Metal disliked by many as it rusts, gets hot and
  cold
• Parents and older children (9) are keen for
  facilities that encourage an element of risk
  taking and challenge
• Climbing, jumping, swinging, sliding etc
• All kids enjoy having access to private spaces
  e.g. Tree houses, dens
• Safe water play that allows kids hands on
  interaction e.g. Sprinklers, shallow pools
• Children are looking for adventure style
  playgrounds that fuel their imaginations

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Supported by...

• In current social climate they cannot imagine
  their ideal remaining ideal for very
• long!

Good toilet facilities Especially needed for
little ones
Cafe Something for parents
Good maintenance Of equipment and environment
(Park keepers)
No dog mess Ensuring it all gets cleared up!

Investment To keep well maintained To ring
the changes
Protection/security Locked up at night , high
gates Monitored (Police CCTV)
Opening times Everyday of the year From dawn
to dusk
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Choices by age and gender
Under 5s Exploratory play Imaginative play
6 to 9s Physical play Co-operative play Social
play Achievable challenges
10 to 13s Challenges Fitness, agility Endurance So
cial
Equipment Slides Swings Tunnels Water Sand Wendy
houses
Equipment Slides Swings Tunnels Climbing
wall Trampolines (Girl bias) Camps to build/log
cabin Tree climbing Aerial run way
Equipment Monkey bars Assault courses Ramps for
bikes and Skateboards Astroturf Chill out
areas
Most facilities cater well for this age range
As children grow kids demand more mentally and
physically challenging activities
Want choices of more grown up equipment, which
looks and feels different to a childish
playground
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Their choices
Brilliant! Boy 10, Dudley
Good flat pitches for football and astroturf with
flood lights for matches at night! Boy 11, Wells
Being outside and climbing trees is really
exciting, you feel a bit like a bird Girl 8,
Telscombe
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Their choices
It looks like a climbing wall, I went on one of
those once and it was brilliant Boy 12, Slough
We can sit around and chat on that Girl 12 Dudley
Things like this are good for older kids like us
Girl 11, NE Somerset
Looks like it would be a bit of a challenge to
climb Boy 12, Telscombe
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Their choices
Looks a bit bumpy and dangerous! Boy 12, Telscombe
Somewhere to sit with your mates Girl 12 Dudley
Stuff like that would be good all around the
park, you could have like a treasure hunt or
problems that you had to solve as you went around
Boy 10, NE Somerset
Kids love climbing through tunnels and hiding Mum
, Slough
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Their choices
This looks a bit boring as it doesnt look like
they can get involved with the water in any way
Mum , NE Somerset
We do this when we go to my grandmas in the
country and it is brilliant, we dont catch real
fish, we just pretend to Girl 9, Slough
This type of thing would need to be supervised,
other wise they would abuse it Dad , Dudley
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Their choices
There are drug needles in the park, I have seen
one in the sand pit Boy 11, Dudley
It look dangerous and made out of hard steel
which would hurt if you fell on it Mum ,
Telscombe
Too many primary colours for older kids, they
would probably prefer camouflage Dad , Dudley
Dull and boring, I would rather be in the
woods Girl 11, NE Somerset
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Play rangers

• Play rangers prompted some interest amongst
  parents and children
• Particular areas of interest include
• Offering ideas and stimulation
• Supervision and safety
• Also scope to reach out and engage tweens and
  young teens
• However, many questions arise regarding how they
  will operate.
• Any communication will need to deal with these
  issues before parents/children can emotionally
  connect with this idea and think of
  getting/letting their children get involved
• Key issues which need addressing include
• Their qualifications to work with children
• How they will manage activities and how children
  can get involved
• How the scheme has been developed and piloted
• How the scheme caters for children of different
  ages and genders