Our News Category: Play news

A Japanese study has found that outdoor play can mitigate some of the negative impacts of excessive screen time in young children.

New research from Japan indicates that more screen time at age two is associated with poorer communication and daily living skills at age four. But when kids also play outdoors, some of the negative effects of screen time are reduced.

In the study, which will be published in March in JAMA Pediatrics, the researchers followed 885 children from 18 months to four years of age. They looked at the relationship between three key features: average amount of screen time per day at age 2, amount of outdoor play at age 2 years 8 months, and neurodevelopmental outcomes-;specifically, communication, daily living skills, and socialization scores according to a standardized assessment tool called Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-II-;at age 4.

Although both communication and daily living skills were worse in 4-year-old children who had had more screen time at aged 2, outdoor play time had very different effects on these two neurodevelopmental outcomes. We were surprised to find that outdoor play didn’t really alter the negative effects of screen time on communication-;but it did have an effect on daily living skills.”

Kenji J. Tsuchiya, Professor at Osaka University and Study’s Lead Author

Specifically, almost one-fifth of the effects of screen time on daily living skills were mediated by outdoor play, meaning that increasing outdoor play time could reduce the negative effects of screen time on daily living skills by almost 20%. The researchers also found that, although it was not linked to screen time, socialization was better in 4-year-olds who had spent more time playing outside at 2 years 8 months of age.

More on this story at NewsMedical.net 

More than 73,000 children in London are living in temporary accommodation, where lack of space to play is commonplace.

The Shelter survey, funded by Trust for London and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, showed at least 271,000 people are recorded as homeless in England, including 123,000 children.  London is the worst affected area in the country, with one in 58 people in the capital being homeless.

The report authors suggest that numbers will have grown since the survey was carried out last June, and are likely to increase substantially over the coming year as the cost-of-living crisis continues.

Of the homeless parents surveyed, some 61 per cent said their children lack space to play in their temporary accommodation.  Around 45 per cent said their children have gone to school tired, late or hungry as a result of their living situation and 35 per cent said their children do not have their own bed and are forced to share with another family member.

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said:

“Something has gone very wrong when children cannot play because their temporary accommodation is too cramped even for toys, and no friends are allowed to visit.”

“A grotty hostel or B&B is not a home, but this is where thousands of homeless children are forced to live. And many more children will be thrown into homelessness as their parents can no longer afford to keep a roof over their head.”

All ten of the local authority areas in England ranked worst for homelessness are in London: Newham tops the list with one in 21, or just under five percent, of residents classed as homeless including 8,363 children.

For more on this story go to the Shelter website.

A report from London Sport reveals that fewer than half of young Londoners are doing enough physical activity – and suggests that the prohibitive cost of after school activities and sports clubs is likely to exacerbate this in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.

Activity levels for children and young people in London remain below pre-pandemic levels, with only 45 per cent of young Londoners meeting the recommended levels of sport and physical activity.  A new report published by charity London Sport – using Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People Survey – shows that London is still lagging behind the rest of the nation for 5–16-year-olds’ activity levels. Over 600,000 children in this age range are not doing enough physical activity for their health and wellbeing.  

Activity levels are assessed based on children and young people meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of taking part in an average of 60 minutes or more of sport and physical activity a day.  

The London data reveals stark inequalities: children from the least affluent families are 14 per cent less likely to be physically active compared to those from the most affluent families. Children from black, Asian, and other ethnicities are least likely to be active, with only 39 per cent of black children and 40 per cent of Asian children and young people in the capital considered active. And 49 per cent of boys are considered active vs only 41 per cent of girls.

It is still unclear what the full impact of the cost of living crisis will have on activity levels, but it is likely to have increased the barriers to activity for both children and adults, particular in the most deprived areas of the city. A recent Savanta poll showed that nearly half of Londoners spent less on children’s activities or after school clubs in the last six months, suggesting that it is already becoming more difficult for children to access physical activity.  

Emily Robinson, Chief Executive Officer at London Sport said:

“While there was a slight uplift in activity across England, we are still far behind where we want to be in London. The fact remains that less than half of young Londoners are doing the recommended levels of activity each week, which will in turn have a direct impact on their health and wellbeing.”  

For more information and to access the report on London Sport click here.

Fewer children are playing out on their streets than ever before, new research reveals, as a leading child psychologist warns of the negative impact this could have on child mental health.

Research carried out to mark National Play Day has revealed that just 27 per cent of children regularly play outside their homes, compared to 71 per cent of their grandparents’ generation. For those aged specifically between 55 – 64, it was 80 per cent showing that rates of play have declined steadily in just a few generations.

The research carried out by OnePoll to mark National Play Day (August 3), surveyed 3000 adults and children and also found that as well as traffic, parents and neighbours may be curbing children’s ability to play outside their own homes.

One in four children who took part in the survey said they had been told to stop playing in the street or local area either by their parents or neighbours and 30 per cent said they had been told to stop making noise outside.

Helen Dodd, Professor of Child Psychology at University of Exeter, said:

“To have just 27 per cent of children playing out today compared to 80 per cent in the past represents a huge change to the nature of childhood experiences. It’s logical to expect this to have consequences for young people’s development. As a society we’re perhaps not taking seriously enough.”

She continued: “Some consequences of this reduced level of playing out could be on friendship development, social skills, freedom, independence and negotiation of shared spaces. We are also concerned that these changes to children’s experiences could have an adverse effect on their mental health.

“It was also striking to me that 41 per cent of children had been told to stop playing out by either their parents or other adults such as neighbours. It almost feels like we’re going back to a point where we don’t want to be disturbed by ‘noisy children’”.

Adults who said they regularly played out in their street or area close to their home as a child had better mental health as adults, the survey revealed. Children under 13 who had frequently played out also reported good mental health.

Campaigners and child development experts are now calling for children across the UK to enjoy fun, friends and freedom this summer with the launch of the Summer of Play campaign.

Now in its second year, the group encourages business, councils and charities to pledge their support for more play opportunities for families, particularly for families struggling with the cost of living crisis.

Major companies such as Kingsmill and Amazon are backing the campaign and there are hundreds of activities planned for National Play Day on August 3 and throughout the summer holidays. This year the theme is All To Play For, highlighting that play is for everyone and post-pandemic, play is more important than ever.

Anita Grant, chair of Play England, said:

“The relationship between adventurous play and mental health is stronger for children growing up in lower income families. This suggests that adventurous play might be more beneficial for these children and will increase resilience and improved well being. So it is more important than ever that we keep our focus on play and specifically adventurous outdoor play.

The survey is supported by Play England, Play Scotland, Play Wales, Play Northern Ireland with charity Save The Children. 1000 children and young people aged 6-16 years, 1000 adults aged 18+ and 1000 parents of children aged 6-16 years took part.

The Summer of Play campaign is asking organisations to pledge their support at www.summerofplay.co.uk

The Commission on Young Lives has published its fourth thematic report, looking at the growing crisis of mental health problems among children and young people and the failures of existing services to address this. Among its recommendations is the roll out of a major programme of social prescribing for mental health wellbeing, enabling GPs and health professionals to pay for youth activities such as sport, art music and drama.

ENGLAND: The report, co-authored with the leading thinktank Centre for Mental Health, and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, reveals a profound crisis in children and young people’s mental health services in England and a system of support that is buckling under pressure, frequently over-medicalised and bureaucratic, unresponsive, outdated, and siloed. Speaking with professionals who work with children, and to children and families themselves, the Commission has heard about young people who have barely returned to school since Covid, the increase in the regularity and extreme nature of many young people’s mental health problems, and how self-harm and suicide attempts are a much more regular feature of school and college life.

It highlights how the Covid pandemic was a disaster for the mental health of many children. There was a 47 per cent increase in the number of new emergency referrals to crisis care teams in under-18-year-olds between December 2019 and April 2021.

One in six children aged 6-16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2021, up from one in nine in 2017.

Mental health services are failing to meet the needs of children in crisis with only 23 per cent of referrals starting treatment within the four week target window. Additionally the report acknowledges the negative perceptions that many children, particularly from marginalised groups have of mental health services, because they have had previously bad experiences of other statutory services. Clinical models devised to help young people often feel outdated, uncomfortable, and overly medicalised to children themselves.

Alongside the headline recommendation, that the next Prime Minister commits to funding an immediate £1bn children and young people’s mental health wellbeing recovery programme; the report also calls for a national ‘Programmes on Prescription’ scheme in every area. This would mean the roll out of a major funded programme of social prescribing for mental health wellbeing that enables GPs and health professionals to pay for sports and arts sessions, music, drama, activities, youth clubs, outings, and volunteering programmes to improve young people’s confidence, self-esteem, and skills and make friends.

View the full story and report here.

The Commission on Young Lives is a major independent commission to evidence and design a new national system to prevent crisis in vulnerable young people and support them to succeed in life. It launched in September 2021 and is chaired by Anne Longfield CBE, the former Children’s Commissioner for England, and hosted by the Oasis Charitable Trust, who have decades of experience of working in and with communities, empowering families and vulnerable children.

As the country sweltered in record heats last week, some playgrounds became no-go areas with metal slides reaching temperatures of over 71 degrees.

The Metro newspaper reported that children’s play parks were “reminiscent of coronavirus lockdowns” as they lay empty due to the searing heat. Thermal imaging used by BBC Newsnight showed temperatures on a children’s slide in a playground in Manchester reaching over 71 degrees celsius and the paving underneath a swing set recording over 56 degrees.

Reporter Yasminara Khan told Newsnight:

We went to a local playground. It was deserted. It’s usually full of dog walkers and children playing.

She said the recordings showed how playgrounds can become no-go areas, and where the heat gets trapped, such as tarmac.

The rising frequency of such climate extremes is prompting playground designers to rethink the dominance of asphalt and metal in many municipal playgrounds. For example this Canadian study published in 2021  developed proposed guidelines for designing ‘thermally comfortable playgrounds’ including water features and natural vegetation; see Thermally Comfortable Playgrounds report.

The Children’s Alliance is calling for a National UK Strategy for Play to support the emotional recovery and resilience of children affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The group’s latest report on child mental health argues that the primary need for ‘Generation Covid’ is not educational attainment, but emotional recovery and the fostering of resilience. Drawing on the large body of evidence outlining the scale of the mental health crisis among young people as well as research on the benefits of play the report states:

“Children and young people were not a priority in the early stages of the pandemic. Whilst children and young people were considered to be at ‘low health risk’ but this did not account for the seriousness of mental health issues.”

Recommendations include the provision of a centrally funded, national network of play spaces; statutory national in-school counselling/play therapy services; and the development of a National UK Strategy for Play.

The report says that government investment in children’s play should be seen as a public health measure, which would bring benefits far outweighing the ‘relatively modest’ financial investment required. It calls for every child in the UK, including those with additional needs, should have spaces close to home where they can play and to enjoy the mental health benefits of outdoor activity. It states:

“It is important to acknowledge that the present crisis in children and young people’s mental health has been years in the making. The Covid-19 pandemic would not have had such a devastating impact on children’s wellbeing if their mental health had not been historically neglected in successive government decision-making. The number and quality of public play opportunities has seen an alarming decline in recent years and the UK as a whole has no national play strategy. A nationally co-ordinated, sustained investment in children’s play should be a key component of any ‘Build Back Better’ or ‘Levelling Up’ strategy.”

For the full report click here