in later life, says Jacqueline O'Loughlin. Here, the chief executive of PlayBoard, the leading play agency in Northern Ireland, explains why we need If you were fortunate enough to have a happy childhood, it's likely that Obviously, the two statistics aren't unrelated - but there are other factors behind the decline of outdoor play. Parental anxiety is an important one: fears over traffic, stranger danger outside the home.
In Northern Ireland, research has also shown that children here are facilities. This may mean that there's no park nearby or that a busy road accident, then, that childhood obesity rates are spiralling in Northern Ireland, with nearly a quarter of all children in P1 now either overweight or obese? for Northern Ireland, and that it has initiated a Children and Young purpose of improving opportunities for children's play.
Government's agenda, which is why PlayBoard is launching its own Play time to read it. In this document, we highlight the key role of an institution more generally Schools really are in a prime position to facilitate better play, with knock-on benefits in terms of their pupils' physical health, ability and eagerness to learn. For those children who can't access good play opportunities, particularly outdoors, the school playground may well represent their only chance to engage in active and meaningful play.
That's why PlayBoard has initiated Positive PlayGrounds, a training and use of their playgrounds. Many participating schools are already reporting a reduction in bullying, a But, at present, Positive PlayGrounds is only receiving sufficient We'd like the Government - or the new devolved administration, if it comes scheme, I was over the moon. Too often, I had observed children wandering aimlessly around the playground at our primary school, looking bored and just waiting for the bell to ring to go back in.
To be honest, probably only a quarter of children at any one time were for such large numbers? So, when PlayBoard's new initiative was launched, I had no hesitation in And I have to say, it really has made a tremendous difference. The PlayBoard team came in and worked with our staff and children, introducing many new Football had often dominated at the expense of other playground activities.
Now we zone off different areas for different types of activity. own playground rules. That simple move has played a big part in ensuring inclusive, co-operative games and we invested in an inexpensive colourful parachute, which can be used for numerous co-operative games (it's great for large numbers of children and, because it's such fun, even children who We also introduced many traditional games, which tend to be rather neglected these days.
Who remembers Queenio, In and Out the Dusky Bluebells, The Farmer Wants a Wife, Going to Kentucky and French Skipping? weather clothing, and a few showers no longer prevent the children going If it's really wet, we now have indoor play activity boxes for them - and we In short, we've transformed the playground and transformed our school in the While I believe we had a happy school before Positive PlayGrounds, I can to do with new equipment if they weren't told. to spend lots of money on new equipment, and that children need to be just an unprepossessing area of tarmac.
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