NCB Now: Play is key to getting children moving
National Children's Bureau
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
In March, Play England, the British Heart Foundation and Playwork Partnerships hosted a seminar of academics and professionals from across playwork, health and education. Over the course of the day-long event, participants looked at how children’s play shapes their health and wellbeing from birth to teenage years and beyond.
The message is serious: children who are active are far more likely to grow up to be active adults and to have a long-term love of the outdoors.
Dr Len Almond, senior adviser at the British Heart Foundation, gave a passionate presentation about the long-term damage suffered by far too many young children being sedentary for most of the time.
Tim Gill, one of the UK’s leading thinkers on childhood, told the meeting that one in six of London’s children never get to a green space, and for too many it is a rare treat.
Cath Prisk, director of Play England, summed up the feeling in the room: “Be brave and find more ways to get the message out there that children need the time and space to play, not least because if they don’t, the health consequences don’t bear thinking about.”
