Playing Out

We also need to make our streets and housing estates safe and welcoming for so the next generation of Lionesses can kick a ball about (not to mention all the other reasons to enable doorstep play!) #MoreBallGames #StartWithPlay

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.

We are so delighted.

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!!

MAKE PLAY HAPPEN THIS SUMMER JOIN THE INITIATIVE ORGANISE A PLAY STREET WHERE YOU LIVE WHO? D7 PLAY STREETS initiative is about giving children some of the experience of unstructured street play that we enjoyed WHAT? PLAY STREETS are simple community- led opportunities for children to play freely and safely on the streets where they live. WHY? IRELAND has the lowest rate of children’s independent mobility in Europe – it’s time we reclaim our streets for play! If you want to see how it works or need support, come join us at any play street this June. Email: d7playstreets@gmail.com and we can let you know if there are others happening in your area

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 are an easy target apparently

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

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

YouTube video by Bristol Cycling Bristol Kidical Mass 2025 (with EN subtitles)

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...

4. Neighbourhoods are designed and adapted to be child-friendly. This includes: a. Tackling safety concerns - particularly traffic and crime - through a new strategy to make streets safe for play which prioritises children's independent mobility.

b. A national ban on 'No Ball Games' signs. c. A commitment to ensure all families live within a safe 10-minute walk of a park or green space. d. Local authorities using creative solutions like play rangers, mobile play stations, and toy libraries to bring play to more communities, and opening school playgrounds for use outside of school hours.

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.

'Kidical Mass is a joyous celebration and a reminder of what's possible' Bristol's Kidical Mass bike ride takes place on Saturday morning

www.bristol247.com/opinion/your...

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

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...

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

And 👆👆 @edplowden.bsky.social @david-on-a-bike.bsky.social

Also 👆👆
@carladenyer.bsky.social @ellief.bsky.social @cllremmaedwards.bsky.social @robbryher.bsky.social @zoebanksgross.bsky.social @hwschoolstreet.bsky.social

Please share!
@bristol247.bsky.social @bristolcycling.bsky.social @tristancorkpost.bsky.social @sustrans.bsky.social @kinderaufsrad.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...

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. 

"...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...

'Supersize SUVs much more likely to cause fatal injury to cyclists and pedestrians' Sports utility vehicles account for more than half of new cars bought in UK

“No-one buying a car would want to put children at greater risk”. Surely. www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo... @olord.bsky.social #SUVAlliance

Parliamentlive.tv Westminster Hall

It’s not often you see MPs, one after another, standing up & calling for safe streets where children can 🚲🚶🏾🛴 🤸 without fear of being killed. Hats off to @ollyglover.bsky.social and all. #SafeStreetsNow @playingout.bsky.social parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

This is why we exist.

👇👇👇

✅ Take down ‘No Ball Games’ signs and actively promote play as a fundamental right, alongside the benefits of being active. ✅ Reimagine public spaces so they are open, inclusive, and accessible for all forms of play. ✅ Engage in the debate and commit to removing systemic barriers to play, sport and physical activity, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

Doing some planning for @playingout.bsky.social's next Play Streets Forum, where the focus will be on the campaign against "No Ball Games" signs, as part of the wider campaign for children's doorstep play, so a reminder of the petition - please sign and share: chng.it/B6nJ7XVKvn

Don’t worry, the traffic cone with legs more than makes up for it