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Street play

Many parents and grandparents have fond memories of playing out on the pavement or in the street as children. Playing hopscotch, hide and seek and football with other kids from the neighbourhood was an important part of childhood.

Skateboarding in the street For today's children it's quite a different story. Research has found that 90% of adults played out regularly in their street as children. The majority of children now would like to do the same but one in three aged between seven and 14 said they don't play or hang out in their street at all.⁽¹⁾

Street play gives children a chance to practice and develop independence and vital social skills and gives parents the reassurance of being able to keep an eye on them while they do this. It offers an important stepping stone for both children and parents in the journey from the supervised play of younger years to the independent lifestyle of teenagers.

Playing Out, an organisation working to enable resident-led street play, lists the many benefits of this type of play and offers tips, advice and inspiration to help you reclaim your street for play on its website, including the following.

Benefits of street play:

It's semi-supervised - children can play while parents get on with things around the house
it encourages free play - children follow their own ideas and interests
it's easy to organise and on your doorstep - children like to play near home and you don't need to take them anywhere
it caters for big, energetic play - most city gardens are too small for bike-riding and scooting and many children don't have independent access to parks
it develops a greater sense of community where neighbours look out for each other
children meet and make friends with kids from different schools and age groups.

Getting started

Scooters and bikes At first, you may want to stay with your children - you could do some gardening or have a chat with a neighbour. Try not to get too involved in your child's play - let them decide what to do and how to play.

Invite a few local children and their parents to join you
when you feel confident, let them play on the pavement while you're in the house; it's a good idea to set boundaries of where they can and cannot go and remind them of road safety
leave your front door ajar so that you can hear them and they can come in when they need to. You'll also probably want to check on them from time to time.

Visit the encouraging safe walking section for advice on how to teach your child about road safety.

Things to do

Your children will most likely want to make up their own games for street play, especially if they're hooking up with other kids. The following ideas may help if they need any encouragement:

Wheels - kids relish the opportunity to use their bikes, scooters and roller skates up and down the pavement.
Chalk - children come up with imaginative designs for pavement drawing and it brightens up your street too.
Traditional street games - the old ones are still the best - children will love some of the games parents and grandparents used to play.

Need to remind yourself of the rules for traditional street games? Download some of our favourites: