Playing Out
@playingout.bsky.social
We campaign for children's everyday freedom and right to play out near home. Founders of the UK-wide play street movement. www.playingout.net
“Streets for play, streets for freedom” by @aliceferguson.bsky.social & @timrgill.bsky.social makes the case for a "child lens" on transport policy. Time to prioritise those most impacted yet least considered in planning our streets: Children. Read more here: playingout.net/take-action/...
I’ve just shared a bit of a lengthy post about @playingout.bsky.social and the new Play Streets Network that Lucy Colbeck (former PO play streets manager) and I are going to be working on to keep supporting play streets across the country.
I wasn't able to get down to Bristol earlier in the month for Playing Out's big celebration (and farewell) but I loved seeing the reflections of the day, and of the wider Playing Out movement,...
I wasn't able to get down to Bristol earlier in the month for Playing Out's big celebration (and farewell) but I loved seeing the reflections of the day, and of the wider Playing Out movement, which h...
linkedin.com
A privilege to attend @playingout.bsky.social’s last Bristol event yday. A celebration of 17yrs of creating child-friendly streets & a call for others to take up the fight. Struck how many spoke about how children’s doorstep play brings neighbours together & connects ppl from different backgrounds
Spending the day surrounded by inspiration, energetic changemakers at the Playing Out and Beyond event in Bristol @playingout.bsky.social @playworcester.bsky.social (1/?)…
If you’re a councillor - or a candidate in May - and you’d like to pursue a pro-play policy with your council, there’s a kind of “menu” of possible ideas/actions you can engage with here. @edwardlamb.bsky.social @saskiaheijltjes.bsky.social @positivelyplayful.bsky.social @playingout.bsky.social
Council-wide "playing out" policy - Playing Out
Council-wide “playing out” policy Some councils are taking the next step on from supporting play streets. They recognise that enabling all children to play out everyday means creating an environment w...
playingout.net
Alison Stenning@alisonstenning.bsky.social · 5mo agoAnother pro-play policy being put before a council (Bath and North Somerset in this case) by an @greenparty.org.uk councillor, calling for a “Play Scrutiny Task Group to consider play provision [to] ensure more children in Bath and North East Somerset are playing more of the time”. 🙌
What a brilliant @playingout.bsky.social conference today! Children's right to play is more important than ever. Let's make sure that more (all!) children can play, more of the time.
All but forgotten, but reincarnated in a different form by @playingout.bsky.social and allies across the country, such that, between 2010 and 2024, over 1,650 street communities organised regular, temporary play streets in 100+ different local authority areas across the UK.
Impact of play streets - Playing Out
An overview of how play streets benefit children and communities
playingout.net
Brian Groom@groomb.bsky.social · 7mo agoCleminson Street, Salford. Salford pioneered play streets, traffic-free from 8am till sunset (borrowed from New York) in the 1930s. Legislation followed: there were 700 in England and Wales in the 1950s, all but forgotten by the 1980s.
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, 1984
Please sign and share. @playengland.bsky.social @playscotland.bsky.social @playwales.bsky.social secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...
Don’t bulldoze our pitch
URGENT: Children in Bethlehem are about to lose the only place where they can play and feel safe. Help them reach FIFA before Israel destroys their pitch. Sign and share.
secure.avaaz.org
This will be a fabulous celebration of @playingout.bsky.social and all its allies, plotting next steps in the movement to reclaim children’s freedom to play out and move around safely and happily on their doorsteps and in their neighbourhoods. Join us!
Playing Out@playingout.bsky.social · 8mo agoCome to Bristol on 12th March! A day-conference bringing together people from across this wide and diverse movement for children's freedom and right to play out near home. Great speakers, lots of discussion. Low-cost and free ticket options! Don't miss it. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/celebratin...
Come to Bristol on 12th March! A day-conference bringing together people from across this wide and diverse movement for children's freedom and right to play out near home. Great speakers, lots of discussion. Low-cost and free ticket options! Don't miss it. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/celebratin...
Celebrating 16yrs of Playing Out!
Join us in Bristol as we share learning, look ahead and release this amazing, diverse movement for children's freedom into the world.
eventbrite.co.uk
@playingout.bsky.social children were never asked if they would like to give up their natural playgrounds - the streets - and be cooped up indoors or cooped up in cars
Sevonaut@sevonaut.northsky.social · 10mo agoI fervently believe that the fact that children and elders lead lives of isolation in cities and towns (absent daily efforts of their caregivers to ferry them around) should make plain what a terrible job we've done with building cities over the last 70 years.
Tomorrow I'll be talking through the political process we went through on Wirral to get outdoor play on our council Work Programme. Join the latest @playingout.bsky.social webinar if you can! Lots of other good stuff on the agenda as well 😎😀 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/restoring-...
Restoring children's freedom to play out: let's seize the moment
Society is waking up to children's right and need to play out; councils and orgs around the UK are taking action, come and get inspired !
eventbrite.co.uk
Not too late to join our FREE webinar this Wednesday lunchtime! Hear from Cllrs @edwardlamb.bsky.social and @rezinachowdhury.bsky.social on actions councils are taking to restore children's freedom, as well as 'big picture' stuff from us. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/restoring-...
Restoring children's freedom to play out: let's seize the moment
Society is waking up to children's right and need to play out; councils and orgs around the UK are taking action, come and get inspired !
eventbrite.co.uk
Let’s seize this moment for children’s outdoor play! FREE lunchtime webinar, Weds 3 Dec 12.30-1.30pm Hear from Cllrs @rezinachowdhury.bsky.social and @edwardlamb.bsky.social on the bolder actions councils can take to restore children's outdoor play. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/restoring-...
Restoring children's freedom to play out: let's seize the moment
Society is waking up to children's right and need to play out; councils and orgs around the UK are taking action, come and get inspired !
eventbrite.co.uk
Lots of posts with comments about the proposed two-hour screen limit/curfew for children and young people are popping up in my timeline, all saying the same thing: Invest in places for C&YP to play and hang out in.
This is wonderful news! Exactly what we've been wanting to happen. Enormous gratitude to @edwardlamb.bsky.social and Wirral Council for leading the way for other councils to follow!!
Cllr Ed Lamb@edwardlamb.bsky.social · last yr.On Monday night at Wirral Council, we unanimously passed my @wirralgreenparty.bsky.social motion to support more welcoming, child-friendly neighbourhoods and a proper strategy to promote outdoor play. 🌱🚲🏃♀️ A small step — but a meaningful one. Here’s a short thread. 🧵👇
If you live in Dublin and would like to organise a Play Street for your street / area for World Car Free Day, you can read all about the UK experience of how to do it informally here via @playingout.bsky.social: playingout.net/play-streets... #d7playstreets
Children have as much right to their streets as drivers. There is no legal basis for them being shoed off streets. And I have no doubt that cars - moving and parked - cause a nuisance for children. This is extraordinarily depressing from Manchester City Council. @playingout.bsky.social
Stevie Zero@stevie-zero.bsky.social · last yr.Grim messaging from Manchester City Council 👀
Any organisation that exists to support children cannot remain silent in the face of this genocide. Our Government must end its complicity and take meaningful action against Israel *right now*. #StopKillingChildren
War Child UK@warchilduk.bsky.social · last yr."We're still in a situation where a classroom full of children are dying every day...We need to see more tangible action from governments to end this" - Hratche Koundarjian, our Head of Communications and Campaigns, spoke to @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social outside Westminster yesterday. [1/2]
Last weekend in Bristol, children on bikes took over their city centre! They were seen and heard. They had a blast. But the aim of #KidicalMass is also serious. This is not the everyday norm. Children across the UK need #SafeStreetsNow. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLtA...
Bristol Kidical Mass 2025 (with EN subtitles)
YouTube video by Bristol Cycling
youtube.com
Off to the launch of the Play Commission final report this morning - will be absorbing the report and its recommendations on the train, but pleased to see strong arguments for child-friendly neighbourhoods. @playingout.bsky.social
Today is International Day of Play. As Ingrid Skeels - @playingout.bsky.social - says below: "we have to make the outside world a place children can play in real life." Instead of debating road "closures", we should be *opening* our streets so more children can play on the streets where they live.
Stephen Frost@sfrost.bsky.social · last yr.Great to see coverage of the Raising the Nation Play Commission report today. Clear message: “From traffic-dominated streets to the huge decline in youth clubs and loss of funds for playgrounds, experts pointed to the decline in neighbourhood spaces where children could actually play freely”
I always saying opening a street for play is magical, often not spectacular, but the ordinary magic that Stuart Lester talks about. No wonder those who try it want more. www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midland...
Residents of street where cars banned for kids to play say 'make it permanent'
The road, near a city primary school, was temporarily closed down to all forms of traffic
birminghammail.co.uk
Ladies Mile is a totally unnecessary road cutting across Bristol’s biggest public greenspace - The Downs - making it unsafe for kids. It was closed to cars for the day yesterday and what a change! Let’s make this permanent. @edplowden.bsky.social @robbryher.bsky.social @bristol247.bsky.social
On my way into work this morning I saw this, on a rare “home zone” in Bristol, where cars do not have priority. Imagine the time and energy this must have taken! Imagine the sense of belonging, of “my space, my street, my community”. Imagine if all children had this. @playingout.bsky.social
Bristol folk - join us for #KidicalMass 2025! A family-friendly city-centre protest ride calling for safer streets for children and everyone. Come on bikes, scooters, skateboards or roller-skates! Castle Park bandstand from 11am, Saturday 14th June. www.facebook.com/events/10929...
"...with the cost of inaction measured in children’s lives, politicians urgently need to wake up and act". @mumsforlungs.bsky.social @adfreecities.bsky.social @playingout.bsky.social @cleancitiescampaign.org #SUVAlliance www.suv-alliance.org.uk/blog/surging...
Surging SUV use driving road fatalities rise, new study finds — SUV Alliance
A study finds that the likelihood of a pedestrian or cyclist being fatally injured is 44% higher if they are hit by an SUV or light truck compared with smaller cars.
suv-alliance.org.uk
