Children’s Play and Independent Mobility in 2020: Results from the British Children’s Play Survey

Abstract

The British Children’s Play Survey was conducted in April 2020 with a nationally representative sample of 1919 parents/caregivers with a child aged 5–11 years. Respondents completed a range of measures focused on children’s play, independent mobility and adult tolerance of and attitudes towards risk in play. The results show that, averaged across the year, children play for around 3 h per day, with around half of children’s play happening outdoors. Away from home, the most common places for children to play are playgrounds and green spaces. The most adventurous places for play were green spaces and indoor play centres. A significant difference was found between the age that children were reported to be allowed out alone (10.74 years; SD = 2.20 years) and the age that their parents/caregivers reported they had been allowed out alone (8.91 years; SD = 2.31 years). A range of socio-demographic factors were associated with children’s play. There was little evidence that geographical location predicted children’s play, but it was more important for independent mobility. Further, when parents/caregivers had more positive attitudes around children’s risk-taking in play, children spent more time playing and were allowed to be out of the house independently at a younger age.

Parent Perceived Barriers and Facilitators of Children’s Adventurous Play in Britain: A Framework Analysis

“…For some parents who had children with physical or neurodevelopmental disabilities, it appeared that facilitating adventurous play was challenging due to the child's disability. This aligns with ndings from the BCPS that children with disabilities spent signi cantly less time playing adventurously than their typically developing peers (19). Additionally, Beetham and colleagues (39) found parents of children with disabilities had a lower tolerance of risk in relation to their children's play than parents of typically developing children.…”

“…The aim of the present study was to explore and identify the barriers and facilitators for parents in Britain with regards to encouraging their children to play adventurously. Data was collected as part of the British Children's Play Survey (BCPS) (19), a nationally representative survey of parents and caregivers with a primary school-aged child. Two open-ended questions asked parents to identify the barriers and facilitators they perceive when encouraging their children to engage in adventurous play.…”

Perceived Barriers and Facilitators of Adventurous Play in Schools: A Qualitative Systematic Review

“…Despite this, there is evidence that children's opportunities for, and engagement in, adventurous play has declined in recent decades. Children play outside less than in previous generations [19], have less independent mobility [20] and are not allowed out alone until they are almost two years older than their parents were [21]. These declines have often been attributed to increased societal concerns surrounding children's safety [22].…”

“…Adults, as such, represent an important constraint on children's opportunities to take risks and challenges in their play [23,24]. Indeed, it is known that parents' attitudes and beliefs about risk during play are associated with the amount of time children spend playing in an adventurous way [21].…”

Perceived Barriers and Facilitators of Adventurous Play in Schools: A qualitative systematic review

“…Despite this, there is evidence that children's opportunities for, and engagement in, adventurous play has declined in recent decades. Children play outside less than in previous generations [6], have less independent mobility [7] and are not allowed out alone until they are almost two years older than their parents were [8]. These declines have often been attributed to increased societal concerns surrounding children's safety [9].…”