This section brings together the resources published and commissioned by Play England, as well as the information from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), to support the playbuilder and play pathfinder programme.
The government has commissioned Play England, as the national delivery partner for the Play Strategy programme. The strategy, published in December 2008, was built on the responses to Fair Play: A consultation on the play strategy and reflects the views of the children, families and professionals that responded.
Play England has produced two documents summarising the main commitments announced in the government’s Play Strategy for England. Play England will publish the guidance, Embedding the Play Strategy, in October 2009.
Read more about the Play Strategy.
Play England’s ground-breaking document, Design for Play: A guide to creating successful play spaces, has been published by the government to underpin its playbuilder capital funding programme.
This guide is intended to help those involved in commissioning and designing places for play to put play value at the heart of provision.
It is intended to support good practice in the development and improvement of public play space. It is not intended as a strict set of criteria for the capital programme, but to present guiding principles, suggested approaches, and to inspire innovative and creative ideas.
Read more about Design for Play.
The Children's Play Information Service has a database of over 70 play space designers and landscape architects, and more are being added every week.
Contact CPIS for an up-to-date list.
Play England has commissioned KIDS to provide advice and guidance to play pathfinders and playbuilders on promoting inclusive play and accessible play space design.
KIDS work will have a particular emphasis on promoting inclusive play and accessible design within universal provision, as well as ensuring that inclusive practice is embedded within core knowledge and skills of the parts of local authorities responsible for developing play spaces. Resources provided by KIDS include;
Read more about the support and resources available from KIDS.
Play England has produced a briefing on adventure playgrounds setting out the main principles and essential elements of this unique form of play provision, as defined within the play pathfinder programme.
Read more about adventure playgrounds.
We have also produced a short film, Playground Voices, which features children talking about what makes their adventure playgrounds special.
Watch the Playground Voices film.
There are many more Play England resources available. These include:
For more information on further available resources, please visit our resources page.
Play England is part of NCB and is supported by the Big Lottery Fund
