Diverse, creative, outdoor play is critically important for the wellbeing of children and for the health of families
PLAY. It is vital for children. Play within concrete areas and playgrounds is good, play within nature and green settings is the absolute jackpot. Play allows children to bond, helps them establish new friendships, explore their social structures and learn more about their bodies, testing their physical boundaries and challenging its limits.
Diverse, creative, outdoor play is critically important for the wellbeing of children and for the health of families. It is something I take a keen interest in, especially as the science tells us that one of the main ways to connect children with the natural world is free play in nature without an adult. No adult means problem solving, creating your own identity outdoors and discovering what nature means to you.
I am sure we can all agree that free, outdoor spaces where children can play, explore, as well as recover and seek solace are a good thing and that when we design new developments, create new outdoor spaces or assess how our parks are being used then we need to embrace what children need to do, despite the fear that they might “destroy” things or may be a bit loud.
In relation to the “destroy” element, I have found that in my 15-plus years of working with children outdoors, that many learn and soothe themselves by snapping branches and twigs, writing on trees and pulling out flowers to create some form of artwork or potion. Nature always recovers and children form a connection with nature when they actively engage with it, despite what the initial optics look like.
The book Last Child in the Woods, written by Richard Louv (published in 2005) documents the decreased exposure of children to the natural world and how this harms children and society. It is a book I have read countless times – I thoroughly recommend it. The book was groundbreaking and sounded the alarm about the health and societal costs (and therefore economic costs) of children’s isolation from nature. It sparked a growing movement to remedy the problem, which I am proud to be a part of.
Chapter three is named “The Best of Intentions: Why Johnnie and Jeannie Don’t Play Outside Anymore” and it focuses on the reasons why fewer children play outside. The first identified issue is time and fear, with too many structured clubs and not enough time.
The second issue is what Louv calls “The Bogeyman Syndrome Redux”, the fear of what could happen to a child if left alone outside with “the fear of traffic, crime, stranger-danger and of nature itself”.
•In January 2022 the land at Millbrook Playing Fields was gifted to the people of Jersey to become part of the park. Despite a consultation, it still lies empty
Picture: ROB CURRIE
The third issue is education as being a barrier, the rise of ecophobia and how nature has become too abstract, and the fourth is the criminalisation of natural play, which is linked to nature being abstract.
Children are criminalised for playing outdoors – we have all seen the signs or heard the voices of “you can’t play here, go somewhere else” or “sorry no ball games allowed”, but where are children meant to go? They must and need to go somewhere. Jersey is following this trend as ball games are banned from Millbrook Park as well as Howard Davis Park (which I wholeheartedly disagree with). I am sure we can find a balance, rather than alienating and criminalising children for playing outdoors.
This then leads me to LinkedIn and a post by Jonathan Ball regarding the extension to Coronation Park. The land to extend the park was generously gifted in 2022 and as I write this, still lies empty, even though a public consultation was published shortly after, encouraging children, families and members of the public to put forward ideas as to how to use and design the new section of the park. The findings were published in
April 2023, and an additional update was pencilled in for the summer of 2023. Unfortunately, we have heard nothing since. We did the brilliant thing of asking children what they want and how they want to play, but then nothing.
My main question is, please may we have an update on this? The curious case of Coronation Park and its extension is continuing a trend of not providing the opportunities we could for children to play. We have done okay when it comes to the parks in the centre of St Helier (although we do not have enough), but these are more urban parks, with minimal green space, whereas Coronation Park is larger, greener, more open and has the potential to be more diverse and provide greater benefits.
Perhaps this is another example of the wheels of democracy not moving quick enough, or red tape providing too much of an obstacle? Maybe there is no money to move forward or it’s just not a priority? Whatever the reason(s) may be, I and many others, including children, families and play advocates would like to know why the land next to Coronation Park still lies empty, especially when the potential positives are so diverse.
Please may we have an answer.
Stephen Le Quesne is a naturalist and outdoor learning instructor.
