Children at play / Department of the Environment.

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Date:: 1973

Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Children at play / Department of the Environment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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Introduction The importance of play 1. A century or so ago the full importance of play was not appreciated and even for the children of the wealthier classes it was frowned upon as frivolous, unnecessary and a manifestation of idleness. But it is now widely accepted that children have a deep and urgent need for play. 2. One of the first people to bring about this change of heart was the educationist Froebel. It is nearly 150 years ago since he stated that ‘Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood’.*! He was convinced that play was essential to a child’s full development. Since his teachings, there have been many theories of play which have been well documented?:>:*:5, the most comprehensive of which was expounded by Piaget®. He saw play as part of the child’s response to his environment — a crucial process in reaching conceptual proficiency and intellectual development. He focussed attention on the need to provide the right type of environment and situation at each stage of develop- ment so that a child’s potential could be fully realised. What all theories of play hold in common is that the child is father of the man; that play is not an end in itself, but has a purpose; and that therefore the child’s opportunity — or lack of opportunity — for play determines to some considerable extent the sort of adult that he will become. 3. Play is generally believed to be one of the principal ways in which a child learns how to give as well as take, and in so doing he learns how to adapt to adult society as he grows up. Between birth and maturity, the child comes to terms with the world around him, and comes to accept that he has to take his fellows into account. The extent to which a child successfully learns how to live in and not outside society depends on a wide range of factors. These include not only his genetic inheritance, the social and physical background of his family, educational facilities, and relationships with his parents, but also the opportunity for play. 4. The realisation that play is essential to development has slowly but surely permeated our educational system and cultural heri- tage. Pre-school play groups, nursery schools, educational toys, youth clubs, and school playgrounds have all come into being at different times, from a belief that the child is rather different from a miniature adult, and that at each stage of his development he needs and enjoys these provisions. 5. The child who has not had the opportunity to meet his fellows, take part in their games, or explore his environment is deprived and therefore at a disadvantage. So at the very least we should ensure that opportunities for play suitable for each stage of development are available as far as possible to all children. Aims and scope of this bulletin 6. It is the aim of this bulletin to deal with the facilities, layout and building form of the immediate housing area which -will ensure the best possible opportunities for play. In doing this, we have enveloped in the word play all the activities of young chil- dren near their homes. The bulletin is mainly concerned with *A numerical list of bibliographical references is given on page 107. those under 11, as the research showed that older children spend less of their time near to their homes. Because the leisure needs of the over-11s are more sophisticated, it is unlikely that they can all be fulfilled within the immediate housing area, but only in the wider neighbourhood. Nor have we explored the play habits and requirements of children inside the home. They both clearly deserve further investigation. 7. This bulletin is therefore no more than an attempt to guide designers and managers to plan for the play needs of children at the design stage of new housing schemes. It also tries to provide practical guidance, and where possible, solutions for making good the deficiencies of play opportunities in existing housing areas, where space may be at a premium. Although the study was carried out almost entirely on estates of local authority housing the conclusions would seem to be generally applicable to all housing schemes whatever their tenure and wherever they are built. 8. Though the main emphasis of the bulletin is on attaining the best physical environment for play, we know that for many children their social environment is crucial. Therefore the chapter on play supervision discusses some of the social problems which reduce opportunities for play, and possible solutions. The research 9. The evidence of where children played when they were out of doors, how many of them were outside, and what they were doing, has been based on over 50,000 observations of children’s outdoor activities on 15 modern housing estates, one older area scheduled for redevelopment, one adventure playground, and on a recreation ground before, during and after a supervised play scheme came into operation. Design recommendations which follow from the conclusions of the research are on page 8. The observation method and characteristics of the areas in which observations took place are described in more detail in para- graphs 12-16. The observation data were subjected to tests of significance. Therefore throughout the text the word ‘significant’ refers to a statistically meaningful correlation. 10. On nearly all the estates on which observations were carried out and on a further 50 local authority estates surveyed sub- sequent to the play studies, housewives, both those with and those without children, were asked questions about problems associ- ated with play and for their opinions of existing facilities. In addition, in Oldham and Paddington, interviews were carried out with a random sample of children between seven and 11 living on or near new estates. They talked about where they played, what they did with their spare time and their play preferences. 11. All the estates where observations took place were subjected to detailed cost analyses by the Department of the Environment’s quantity surveyors. This has enabled the relative popularity of various play areas to be related to their overall cost. +The quantity surveyors’ estimates included the cost of: construction; play equipment; seats, litter bins and lighting; surrounding walls, fencing and balustrading; planting; paving; grassing and turfing; drainage and general excavation.