Cambridge Kids
Club, Panash Shah, speaks at the parliament for the Play England strategy launch.
Play England
has unveiled its bold new 10-year strategy, ‘It all starts with play’, at a
high-profile event in the Houses of Parliament. The plan aims to “make play
normal again” and ensure that by 2035 every child in England has the right,
space, and opportunity to enjoy free, everyday play.
Among the
speakers were fellow advocates in addressing MPs, peers, and over 120 play
professionals from across the UK.
The strategy
sets out four priorities, spaces, skills, systems, and social norms, designed
to reverse the decline of unsupervised play caused by shrinking public spaces,
risk aversion, digital distractions, and increasing pressures on children’s
wellbeing.
Spaces – Creating
play-friendly environments wherever children spend time at home, school, in
the street, in the park, or in digital spaces.
Skills – Recognising
and supporting the vital people who enable play opportunities – with
playworkers at its heart – and providing a steady pipeline of trained and
experienced play enablers.
Systems – Building a
resilient play sector and rebuilding a national infrastructure that has been
stripped away in recent years.
Social norms –
Re-normalising play as an essential, accepted part of childhood – shifting
culture from risk-averse and screen-dominated, back towards freedom, fun, and
exploration.
Executive
Director Eugene Minogue called the plan a “call to action,” insisting that play
deprivation is damaging children’s health, development, and happiness. “We
don’t need to fix children, we need to fix the system. And it all starts with
play.”
Momentum for
change is building. In January, parliament held its first debate on children’s
play in over a decade, and a new All-Party Parliamentary Group on play has been
launched to push for statutory protections and sustainable funding, chaired by
Tom Hayes MP.
The launch
symbolised the growing movement that restoring a play-based childhood is not
optional – it is essential for the wellbeing of future generations.
