PROJECT: Neighbourhood Play Havens

FUNDER: The National Lottery Communities Fund

DATES: July-December 2020

Play was an early casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. Children’s lives were stopped in their tracks: schools and playgrounds closed, families were confined to their homes and social interaction all but ceased.  London Play swung into action.

Following the first lockdown, adventure playgrounds were forced to open only to limited numbers of children, who were usually required to book in advance.

Open access adventure play became a thing of the past.

Excluded were those living in families with clinical vulnerabilities; children unable to access or navigate booking systems and many others.

Funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund, enabled London Play to ensure that adventurous play was within their reach.

The Neighbourhood Play Havens project funded adventure playgrounds to open to individual families for weekly private play sessions; or to offer additional ‘bubble’ sessions for children that had been unable to book into their core offer.

Three case studies can be downloaded below.