Children, please teach us how to Play...

Although an Indoor Play Supplier Comparison website, the broader purpose of Share & ComparePlay.com is to help transform the Play Experience for Children whilst enabling businesses to profitably meet the needs of Families.

As part of this broader role, we hope to lead the Industry towards a more innovative approach to the Design and Provision of Indoor Play Equipment.

In recent weeks, we have started this Evolution in Play with a Competition that is outlined in the Press Release below.

As you can see from the above Photographs, the “Industry Figures” have already met and we will be releasing more details in the next few weeks; needless to say, significant change was on the agenda and ideas were plentiful.

One small change that was decided as part of this Open Collaboration was to change the name of the Competition to “When I Play, I Want…”, an open invitation to Children to tell us what they want when Playing.

If you would like to get involved or have any contribution to make, please let us know, we would love to hear from you.

The Share & Compare Play Team.


Press Release

Background

In a recent interview with ShareAndComparePlay.com, Rupert Oliver said that he was saddened by the lack of innovation in Soft Play since he founded the industry in the 1970’s. In his opinion, commercialisation has stifled creativity and restricted the potential of play, he wished for a return to children being at the centre of play design.

Similarly, as we recently watched three children build their own play area using only grass, ducting tape and a cardboard box, we realised that the Indoor Play Industry frequently misses the opportunity to provide environments where children create their own play experience that complements Soft Play equipment designed by adults.

Free Play

Inspired by these events, we conducted initial research and discovered support for so-called ‘Free Play’; http://tinyurl.com/mfo645 this excerpt from an article published in the Scientific American Magazine is an example of our findings:

“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”

Not only is Free Play an important part of a Child’s development, it represents one of the most exciting opportunities for the play industry. If we can learn to observe, learn and subsequently Design Play Experiences based on the natural inclination of children to explore and play without restriction, we will benefit not only as a society but as businesses meeting latent needs.

Rupert’s comments combined with several months of research caused our team to ask what role we could play in bringing “Child Focussed Design” back to the fore; we are pleased to say that “When I Grow-up, I Want To Be…” is the resulting Play Design Competition.

We hope that in naming the competition we have captured the sense of possibility inherent in children. We are often taken aback by the scale of the ambition or the way in which “What they want to be” changes on a regular basis; maybe after this we will have a few more children saying “I Want to be, a Play Designer.”


The Competition

Launching in August, “When I Grow-up, I Want To Be…” is an open invitation to Children to use their innate creativity and imagination to Design the Play Experiences of tomorrow with a promise that as an industry we will listen and learn.

Using Social Media, Children, Parents, Schools and Indoor Play Centres will be invited to use videos, drawings, photographs and prototypes to communicate what their dream play area would look like. Unrestricted by convention, economic feasibility or what is possible (previous answers include “Rocket boots”), the ideas we hope will inspire businesses and individuals to create play experiences that reflect the needs of future generations.

The launch event will see Industry figures designing their ideal play area and sharing ideas online; the real experts (Children) will then be given six months to change the future of the Play industry and numerous events will take place during this process.

In January, a Panel of Experts (including Rupert Oliver http://tinyurl.com/dbqtf7) will shortlist up to twenty entries and the Play Community will be invited to vote for their favourite entries and decide the winning entry.

Prizes will be awarded for the first three entries with the Design with the most votes winning a prize of £1,000.

Participation

This is an invitation to Play Operators, Suppliers, Parents and Schools to participate by listening to children when they tell us how we can provide play experiences that challenge, inspire and prepare them for a world significantly different to that in which Soft Play was born.

For example, Play Operators are invited to sign-up to promote the Competition with their customers and run activity clubs. In return, they will be listed as Partner of the competition (and be recognised as a Company interested in creating better play experiences) and be given the chance to learn how to prepare their businesses for the future.

Details for the competition will be listed shortly at http://www.shareandcompareplay.com and regular updates will be provided via Twitter @shareandcompare, http://www.youtube.com/user/shareandcompareplay and http://www.facebook.com/pages/wwwshareandcompareplaycom/38182708219

We hope you that you choose to participate in whatever way you can, please register your interest at ShareAndComparePlay.com to keep updated.

We are open to all ideas and suggestions regarding all aspects of this competition and are looking for Corporate Sponsors and Partners who will benefit in several unique ways; please contact PaulSmith@Shareandcompareplay.com for more information.

ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.

Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us at contact@shareandcompareplay.com

Beware: The Pitfalls of Prescribing Play for Fitness

In 1999, I Co-founded a Children’s Fitness Company called Kidco Fitness (now Shokk http://www.shokk.co.uk/, I am no longer involved in the Company or have any shareholding) with the aim of getting Children Active to counteract the impact of “Childhood Obesity”.

Kidco was one of the first organisations to install Children’s Fitness Equipment in the UK and consequently it caused much discussion about the use of such equipment and the issue of “Childhood Obesity” which was just beginning to be identified as a concern.

(As an aside, I am increasingly concerned at the labels that we as a society attach to generalise difficulties experienced by Children; surely, “Childhood Obesity” must be one of the worst labels because of what it causes in the School Play Ground. I use it in this Blog as it is a recognisable response to recent Press coverage).

In the twelve years that I have been involved in the Indoor Play Industry / Children’s Fitness Market, I have watched with concern at the rise of “Childhood Obesity” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6073239/Record-numbers-in-hospital-for-obesity.html and often given thought and research resource to try and establish what role Play could play in helping to find a natural alternative or complementary solution to taking Children to the Gym.

More recently, I have watched with curiosity as the PPA have said that “Fitness Prescriptions should include Play” and that "playing...should be an essential part of the activity programmes prescribed to child patients" http://www.playproviders.org.uk/module/news/display/newsdisplay.aspx?news=86 in an effort to persuade the Government to subsidise entry to Indoor Play Centres.

Whilst in general terms I support funded access to all Play Facilities (the majority of Play Centres are not members of the PPA and in most cases still offer an equally good service), I believe there are many commercial models that support this objective and we have talked for years about the possibilities of Indoor Play Centres being Free at certain times, we now have evidence that this is commercially viable.

However, my specific concern with the promotion of this policy is that by “Prescribing Play,” we remove the natural inclination and need of Children to engage in “Free Play” http://shareandcompareplay.blogspot.com/2009/06/free-play-for-indoor-play-inspired-by.html that is so important to their overall Wellbeing. In the longer term, this may mean that we potentially replace one problem relating to Physical Health with an even more damaging one relating to issues of Low Self-Esteem, Anxiety and other Mental Health issues.

An article that I often quote because of the Scientific exploration of Children’s Play, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-serious-need-for-play seems to highlight this concern regarding the impact of lack of “Free Play”:

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

“A play-deprived childhood disrupts normal social, emotional and cognitive development in humans and animals…limiting free play in kids may result in a generation of anxious, unhappy and socially maladjusted adults. The consequence of a life that is seriously play-deprived is serious stuff…”

Furthermore, if play operators wish to be “prescribed” as a solution to “childhood obesity”, are we ready as an industry to sacrifice being known as a leisure activity (I like to think of Play as “activity without purpose”) and would it be correct for Government or Doctors to prescribe Indoor Play Centres as a solution when the majority are Leisure Attractions and therefore sell chips, crisps, chocolate and other 'non healthy' foods which themselves are a significant cause of Obesity?

It is fair to say that no one person or organisation knows the answers to these and many other complex questions; therefore, all we can do is work together to explore all opportunities in an effort to find the best possible way to help Children live the “Childhood of their Dreams” that will serve them well as Adults.

ShareAndComparePlay.com http://www.shareandcompareplay.com continues to live with the purpose of providing an effective platform for Children to live their Dreams, our forthcoming competition is one example of the contribution we are making; we are happy to partner and support with any Individual or Organisation that shares a similar purpose.

May I suggest we open the conversation with a holistic and child centred approach to the design of play experiences?

In terms of a starting point, can I suggest we move from talking about “Childhood Obesity” to focusing on “Children Wellness” (i.e. Design for Physical, Cognitive, Emotional, Social and even Sense focussed Play Experiences), from the “Prescription of Play” to greater provision of facilities and activities that enable “Free Play”; perhaps then we will create a commercially viable industry whether or not it benefits from Government Funding.

If the result of such an approach is that some Children’s Leisure / Play Facilities are designed specifically with a focus on Children Wellness as part of a diverse offering then I would see that as revolutionary; however, this would mean significant rather than cosmetic change although I imagine the results would be more than worthwhile for all concerned.

ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.

Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us at contact@shareandcompareplay.com