From Play Streets to National Policy: Why the Movement for Children’s Play Is Gathering Momentum

Reflections from the Playing Out Conference in Bristol, 12th March 2026

Yesterday I spent the day in Bristol at a conference organised by Playing Out — an organisation that has quietly helped reshape how communities think about children, streets and play.

For more than 17 years, Playing Out has taken a simple idea and turned it into a movement: that the streets where children live should also be places where they can play.

What began in Bristol in 2009 grew into something much bigger. Thousands of streets across the UK have now hosted “play streets”, temporarily closing roads to traffic so children can play safely outside their homes. Communities across towns and cities have rediscovered something earlier generations took for granted — the freedom for children to play where they live.

That idea became reality through the tireless efforts of Playing Out’s co-founders, Alice Ferguson and Ingrid Skeels, whose vision and determination transformed a local initiative into a national and international movement. Alongside a dedicated team and a growing network of parents, volunteers and campaigners, they have helped change policies in many places and, more importantly, change how communities think about childhood.

Their work has reminded us of something simple but powerful: children belong in our public spaces.

Yesterday’s conference did carry a slightly bittersweet tone, because Playing Out as an organisation is now closing its doors.  But the movement it sparked is very much alive!

If anything, the ideas it championed are becoming part of a much wider national conversation about childhood, communities and the role of play in children’s lives.

A conference about the future of play

The gathering at Bristol City Hall brought together people from across the play sector — campaigners, practitioners, politicians, researchers and community leaders. Across panels, workshops and the many conversations in between, the mood was clearly forward-looking and solution-oriented, exploring ways to break down the barriers children face in being able to play outside, on their doorstep, near their homes.

I was invited to speak towards the end of the day about the impact of the Raising the Nation Play Commission and what has happened since we published our report last year. (Report HERE)

The Commission itself grew out of the arguments I made in my book Raising the Nation (available to download for free HERE): that if we want every child to experience a thriving childhood, we need to do many things differently. That includes protecting time, space and permission for them to play.

Our final report set out ten recommendations organised around three central themes.

First, political leadership.

Play has too often been treated as a marginal issue in public policy. Yet the evidence is overwhelming: play supports children’s physical health, mental wellbeing, creativity, learning and social development. It strengthens communities and contributes to happier, healthier childhoods.

If play is to move from the margins to the mainstream of policy, it requires political leadership. For example, there should be a Minister for Play, and both national and local government must work across departments to pursue shared goals for children’s play.

Second, cultural change.

Over recent decades Britain’s children have gradually lost much of the everyday freedom previous generations once enjoyed. Busier roads, closed playgrounds, fewer informal spaces and rising societal anxieties have all combined to reduce opportunities for children to play freely outdoors.

Reversing that trend requires more than policy change. It requires rebuilding a culture that recognises play as a normal and essential part of childhood.

Third, a rights-based approach.

Children in Scotland and Wales benefit from a legal right to play, where the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has been brought into legislation. English children are not similarly protected, meaning local authorities in England do not have a statutory duty to ensure sufficient opportunities for play.

A stronger rights-based framework would help ensure that English children’s opportunity to play is properly protected.

Reasons to be hopeful

When the Play Commission published its report last June, we argued that play should sit at the centre of any national conversation about childhood.

Looking back over the past year, there are real reasons to believe momentum is building. Across government we are seeing a growing number of policies aimed at strengthening the lives of children and young families — breakfast clubs, family hubs, SEND reform, youth services and the emerging National Youth Strategy, among others.

Individually these initiatives matter. But collectively they point towards something larger: a growing recognition that childhood and family life deserve greater policy attention.

My message in Bristol was simple: play could be the thread that joins these policies together.

If government wants to tell a coherent story about opportunity, wellbeing and childhood, play is one of the most powerful ways to do it.

What has happened since the Play Commission issued its report?

Since the publication of the report in June 2025, I shared that we have focused on three strands of work to ensure its recommendations have the best chance of being adopted.

Political engagement. We have been engaging with ministers, civil servants and parliamentarians across departments to make the case for a National Play Strategy for England — embedding play across policy areas from health and education to planning and transport.

A widening public awareness of its calls. One of the striking things about the Bristol conference was how often the Play Commission report was mentioned across different panels. From politicians to community organisers, people spoke about it as a moment that helped crystallise the importance of play.

Seeing such strong grassroots play movements represented in the room was genuinely uplifting. As awareness of the Play Commission’s recommendations grows, so too does the momentum for change.

Innovation in play landscapes. The third strand is innovation. We are exploring how entire neighbourhoods can become places that naturally enable children to play, partnering with existing initiatives, undertaking further research and developing place-based pilot programmes that ‘pour play’ into every crevice of a community’s spaces and everyday life.

A movement that continues

If the story of Playing Out tells us anything, it is that change often begins with simple ideas and committed people.

At the end of the conference, Alice reflected on a line often attributed to the anthropologist Margaret Mead:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Looking around the room in Bristol, it felt like that principle was alive and well.  And it reminded me of a quote from the entrepreneur Anita Roddick that I often come back to:

“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”

The movement for children’s play has always been powered by people who refused to believe they were too small to matter.

Alice Ferguson and Ingrid Skeels have been two of mosquitoes for many years — persistent, determined and impossible to ignore.

But yesterday’s room in Bristol was full of them.

A whole room full of mosquitoes — people determined to keep buzzing and biting until children’s right to play becomes a reality.

And if that energy continues, the future of play in Britain looks much more hopeful than many might think.