GIANT cotton reels, towers of wooden pallets, rope, wheels, broken bikes and cardboard boxes – these are just some of the everyday objects transformed into magical creations by youngsters across Leeds.
The goodies are tucked away in a play treasure trove in Beeston, at the headquarters of the Leeds Play Network, until they are brought out for use in its outreach schemes.
Children of all ages are invited to make super-sized dens, soapbox cars, fl
ags, anything their imagination can dream up, by the charity's play workers who transport the items to their communities, making school holidays more interesting.
Experience
And this is the kind of experience children want more of, according to the city's play tsar Frank O'Malley, business co-ordinator for Leeds Play Network.
The charity was taken on by the council in March last year to manage its play campaign.
He said children enjoyed themselves far more when they could move objects around, feel different materials, and create their own constructions, rather than just climbing around on fixed equipment.
"I think they need to be able to move things around – they want loose parts.
"They want to be able to manipulate
the environment they are in."An award-winning playground in east London features spaces for gardening, building camps, playing in water and even lighting fires. It encourages play in bad weather and rolling in the dirt.
Mr O'Malley said it was the kind of re-think needed – a move away from building sterile playgrounds so overwhelmed by health
and safety regulations they were boring to play in.
He said simply creating more playgrounds was not the solution, as issues like lowering speed limits and creating more pedestrian crossings were also important when it came to making play more accessible.
The Government's Children's Plan sets out proposals to build 30 hi-tech supervised adventure playgrounds around the country.
They are aimed at encouraging children to take risks and get dirty.
Ownership
Mr O'Malley said ideally adventure playgrounds were built by local children with play workers, to give them a real sense of ownership when it was finished and help them develop important life skills.
He said they were much more fun than ordinary playgrounds for youngsters of all ages, and the community involvement meant they would keep playing there for much longer and they were less likely to be vandalised.
The "no ball games" culture has been blamed for stopping children having fun outside and Mr O'Malley said it was time to reverse that trend.
He said: "I would like to see a policy that said every 'no ball games' sign has to be reviewed every two years and if there's a just reason for it being there than it can stay there but if the reason has moved on, take the sign down."
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