Playing Out

Playing Out is a community interest company, formed by parents 10 years ago to support the growing parent-led movement for children's freedom to play out in the places where they live. Many of us remember playing out as children, and the benefits it gave us. Today's generations of children are missing out, at huge cost to their health and well-being. There are many reasons for this, but one of the most important is the huge increase in motor traffic since the 1970s, pushing children out of the public streets and spaces where they have a right to belong, and back indoors where the lure of screens is difficult to resist. Alice and Ingrid, the co-founders and directors of Playing Out, pioneered the temporary play street model in Bristol 10 years ago with great support from Bristol City Council, and we have a very small team who continue to work across the UK. Our approach is two-fold: 1. We want to grow the temporary play streets model - there is demand for it and it has huge impacts for the children and communities who do it. 2. The play streets model, however crucial, is not the end in itself. We want to normalise children's freedom. So we work at all levels: policy, campaigning and influencing, changing attitudes towards children and their rights as citizens and human beings in the places where they live.