Welcome to the Play Street at the 2026 Dream Big South Yorkshire Year of the Child Summit!
This temporary, public play space is the perfect space to let imaginations loose, really dream into what a brighter future for all children and young people could look and feel like and to feel how great spaces for children are great spaces for communities more widely.
As well as space to play, unwind, think and dream, Christina Tatham from the University of Sheffield and Sarah Wilson from Sheffield Play Partnership will be opening up conversations about the importatance of play for children and young people and how we can work together to make sure all children have access to rich opportunities to play throughout their childhoods.
Did you know children have a right to PLAY?
…as well as leisure, rest and culture?
This right is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
BUT
In England, time and space to play is under threat and not all children have access to rich play opportunities
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15% of staffed adventure playgrounds for school age children closed between 2018 and 2022 (Grant, 2022)
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There are disparities in the number and quality of play spaces available across local areas (API, 2022)
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In some areas there are 5x more children per playground than others with deprived communities having fewer, smaller and more distant play spaces Brindley et al., 2025)
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Over 2 million children don’t have access to a place to play where they live and 6 million children do not live within a ten-minute walk of a local park “with the most deprived areas of the country the most badly affected.” (Fields in Trust, 2024)
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Children have less freedom than their parents or grandparents did (Financial Times 2025)
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Since 1995 total break times in schools across the whole week have been cut by up to 45 minutes for younger children and over 65 minutes for secondary pupils (BPS)
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Compared with other countries, the UK sits in the bottom third for children’s wellbeing, with some of the lowest levels of teenage life satisfaction internationally (UNICEF 2025)
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Only 49.1% of children do the recommended average of 60 minutes or more a day physical activity per day (Active Lives, 2025)
We want to restore children’s right to play in South Yorkshire. Lets do this together!
We want to support children’s play opportunities by creating the conditions for play wherever children are while also working at a political level to shout about the importance of play.
We would love for you to join us. Together we can start a movement.
What you can do:
– Come and have a chat about how your work and interests overlap and intersect with children’s play – because children will play anywhere given the chance. How could you support children to play more?
– Join a conversation about how The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act (2026) means the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has more power to develop strategies and action plans to support the needs of residents in South Yorkshire – including children. How could we act as advocates to make sure play is prioritised, and make sure that all children across South Yorkshire get the chance to play?
– Sign up to the #PlayfulSouthYorkshire e-newsletter below to keep the conversation going
We would love to build a regional campaign to support children’s right to play. Are you in?
Join the campaign. Join the mailing list.
#Playful South Yorkshire
Christina Tatham - Sheffield University
Christina’s research engages with marginalised communities to challenge traditional, developmentalist perspectives of childhood. She uses playful, visual, creative research methods to foreground views of children in matters that affect their lived experiences. She is actively working to understand the intersections between play policy and opportunities for play in homes, on doorsteps, in communities, schools and beyond.
Sarah Wilson - Sheffield Play Partnership
Sarah supports a growing city-wide network of play organisations, advocates and generally playful people in Sheffield who are working together to create and improve opportunities for children and young people to play
