Social Media Marketing & play...

How indoor play centres can use the Internet as a Marketing tool...

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An extremely busy but enjoyable week began with presentations to the Regional Meeting of the Play Providers Association http://www.playproviders.org.uk/ on the subject of Internet / Social Marketing.

It was an enjoyable and valuable experience with the majority of play operators being interested in how they can revolutionise their business by developing a Social Media strategy. In the spirit of the message we were spreading, we have shared a summary of the slides at Slideshare http://tinyurl.com/nd6lpa

We only had time to present a brief overview of the possibilities that are available to soft play centres but we hope that we prompted thought and action; please let us know your thoughts so that we can continue the discussion.

Shareandcompareplay.com is the Indoor Soft Play Comparison website.
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A Soft Play inspectors work is never done!

It’s been all too long since my last blog. The problem has not been an absence of inspections to report on – quite the opposite. It’s been one job after the other and trying to squeeze in enough office time in between to write up all the reports. Something had to give hence the silence. It’s quite interesting to do an overview of a busy period like this. Altogether there have been 12 inspections of which 5 have been annuals and 7 post-installations. There were 9 new or established Play Centres to visit, 2 new Leisure Centre facilities and 1 new facility in a Special School. And taken overall there have been 6 different suppliers. Geographically it was another case of travelling all points of the compass, from Durham down to south of the Thames and from the Norfolk coast across the Irish Sea to Counties Louth and Meath.

Monday: Up the A1 North to the lovely county of Durham and a well-established Play Centre’s Annual Inspection. Always a pleasure to go there and always a warm welcome.

Wednesday: If I tell you I have been trying to work out a route to avoid the congestion charge you’ll know where next – London! Two large and busy Play Centres both heaving with customers. A long day and strenuous work with much driving. Climbing around two large play frames is one thing. Going through all the necessary safety operations with the manager is another and all have to be looked at within the wide scope of an annual inspection. Exhausting!

Thursday: A job nearer home – Birmingham and a towering new five-storey play frame to inspect. Installation team still on site so the few findings can be immediately addressed. I like that.

Friday: To the East Midlands for another annual. Went there last over two years ago and it’s always interesting to see if changes have been made.

Tuesday: Down the M5 today and to a Special School in fashionable Cheltenham. Very proud of their new school being built alongside the old one and thrilled to have a brand new soft play room to explore. As a former teacher I always accepted the essential role of play in education and it’s good to chat with those still in that worthy profession.

Thursday: To North London and a new indoor play facility in a Leisure Centre. After the strain of the last few weeks decided to combine the trip with a short cultural break with Veronica. Chelsea Flower Show was just so impressive and equally so in a totally different way was the West End production of Waiting for Godot. Never did understand the plot but what superb character-acting and stage-craft from Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart! Awesome!

Tuesday: Back down to earth and another new Leisure Centre soft play facility to inspect, this time situated right on the breezy sea front in North Norfolk. I couldn’t resist a large tub of salt-fresh sea-food salad after the job! You’ve earned it I said to myself. And so I had.

Wednesday: Now it could be argued that the last thing a person of my advanced years needs after a long journey to Norfolk is a 4-00 a.m. start the following day to catch the East Midlands to Dublin flight. I wouldn’t dissent from that but it had to be done. Two post-installations later and a late flight back, my bed beckons!

Friday: Not sure where Thursday went – I think I slept through it! But no rest today – off to Dorset for yet another post-installation. Roll on the weekend and our final jazz concert of the current season.

Monday: With the strains of an 18 piece jazz band still ringing in my ears it’s off to Yorkshire for one more annual this time triggered by a small child’s accident. Fortunately the injury was not too serious but all accident investigations are distressing and all need to be taken very seriously.

Nick Balmforth is an inspector of Soft Play areas and is renowned for his expertise and knowledge of creating and operating safe Indoor Play areas. This blog is an excerpt of his diary which he shares with the Shareandcompareplay.com community in the hope that regular communication and insight will benefit the industry and raise standards.

"Free Play" for Indoor Play; inspired by Scott, George and Charlie!

At http://www.shareandcompareplay.com, we continue to research how Indoor Play areas are designed.

Our hypothesis is that potentially significant opportunities are being missed by play suppliers and operators to provide the best possible play experience and to benefit commercially as a result.

One particular aspect of our research leads us to believe that there may not be enough “free play” within most indoor play areas. Watching our neighbour’s children playing during the weekend provided further insight for those interested in designing the play experiences of tomorrow.

In summary, the camouflaged ‘box’ you see above is the end result of two hours of unstructured play between three friends, all under 9 years of age. This started as a box, progressed to being a kennel and ended as a camouflaged hideout (who knows what else it was during the process?).

Each of our neighbours children are fortunate to be surrounded by friends and family who willingly spend time with their children in whatever way entertains. However, perhaps the best play experience is derived when the children are free to invent their own improvised play experience in ways that adults cannot imagine.

Our earlier blog, http://tinyurl.com/da48sz referred to a Scientific study published in the Scientific American Magazine that stated the following:

“Data suggests that a lack of opportunities for unstructured, imaginative play can keep children from growing into happy, well-adjusted adults. “Free play,” as scientists call it, is critical for becoming socially adept, coping with stress and building cognitive skills such as problem solving”

Free Play seems to be what children do naturally when they are given time and space to explore. In recent weeks, I have also seen a brother a sister play for over fifteen minutes with only two sticks as they mocked a fight, any school playground will reveal the same experience repeated with the most basic of items.

It is this kind of “free play” that offers the most exciting possibilities for play suppliers and operators; if we Design based on the natural inclination of children to explore and play without frontiers then not only will we be meeting our responsibility to provide the best possible play experience, we also benefit from this untapped business opportunity.

Finally, this view was re-enforced during a recent conversation with Ian Kearney of Cheeky Monkeys; a successful play centre operator for many years. Ian recently told me that a small plastic house (available from Toys ‘R’ Us for a few pounds) that he recently added was one of his most popular play elements (he also provides a stage for singing and other creative play activities) because Children liked to interact and mirror what their parents do.

In summary, there are perhaps a few things to consider for prospective play operators:

• If you are opening a play area, consider reducing the amount of Soft Play equipment by at least 10% and instead designate a space as a ‘free play’ area
• Provide a variety of loose “play equipment” (a cardboard box seems to be a great start), leave the children to decide what to do with the space and encourage its reinvention every few days
• Designate a wall where children can draw and create, leaving their mark seems to be particularly important
• Observe children at play (away from a Soft Play centre) and see what they naturally do; seek to provide a play experiences that challenges them in these activities

These are just a few ideas to encourage further thought with regard to the design of Indoor Play areas because Soft Play Equipment alone will no longer suffice.

We will be sharing our research and action plan with you in the next few weeks; in the meantime, please share your stories and experiences by commenting on this blog.

PS. Thanks to Scott, George and Charlie

PPS. A straw poll of parents revealed they will pay for a “free play” area because someone else will be cleaning up the mess!!

Shareandcompareplay.com is the Indoor Soft Play Comparison website.
Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe by e-mailing us at contact@shareandcompareplay.com