I welcome the review of children's natural play by Stuart Lester and Martin Maudsley for Playday 2006, commissioned by the Children's Play Council. It is apt at this time to examine the importance of playing naturally and the barriers to children doing so. As the review highlights very effectively, children have a natural inclination and ability to interact with the natural environment, and research shows that it is 'playing out' that children value the most.
Experiencing the freedom of open space, fields, streams, sea, sand, animals, trees and plants is an essential element in our learning and development. As a child growing up in London, I didn't have to go outside of my neighbourhood to have these experiences; there were fields, woods and canals near my home where my friends and I played, as well as the streets and city playgrounds. However, there are severe restrictions for some children today.
This is why the role of the professional playworker is so important. One might characterise it as providing children with an opportunity to experience natural play as closely as possible.
Of course, the provision of supervised settings for playing naturally is only part of the picture - although I'd like to think that, even in a perfect world, children would still enjoy visiting them. A change in our culture, as the review demonstrates, is what really counts. As a society we must strive to make our urban and rural spaces much more accessible. This means not only, for example, reducing traffic and traffic speed, but also recognising the right of children and young people to inhabit natural spaces for their play.
We have a long way to go to become a child-friendly society, but initiatives such as Playday, work by the Children's Play Council and PlayBoard, Play Wales and Play Scotland and this excellent review are all contributing to children being able to play, naturally.
