Play and inequalities from 3-5 years
Play is a crucial part of childhood and a right enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Evidence supports the role of play in overcoming inequalities.
Quick links:
- What are health inequalities?
- Policy context
- What is play?
- Evidence of the impact of play
- How do inequalities impact on children's play?
- Identifying those at risk
- play@home trainer sessions
What are health inequalities?
The WHO defines health inequalities as "differences in health status or in the distribution of health determinants between different population groups."
For a general discussion of health inequalities and the early years, please see Inequalities in the early years.
Policy context
A child's right to play is enshrined in Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:
"Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities."
Activity in this area is consistent with commitments and priorities detailed in the Early Years Framework and the National Parenting Strategy, Equally Well, Achieving our Potential, a range of NHS Scotland's Quality Indicators and is relevant to Scotland's national practice model for child-centred services - Getting it Right for Every Child (all external links).
What is play?
"Play is a process that is freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated."
"The impluse to play is innate. Play is a biological and psychological necessity, and is fundamental to the healthy development and well being of individuals and communities."
Playwork Principles Scrutiny Group, Cardiff 2005.
Evidence on the impact of play
Play is an essential part of children's physical, cognitive and social development.
NHS Health Scotland have developed a Briefing on Play. This briefing paper aims to increase understanding and provides evidence about the benefits of play in children’s development. It covers the following:
• What is play
• Why play is important
• Barriers to play
• The play environment
• Promoting play
Increased physical activity in preschool children is associated with improved physical health status. There is some evidence to suggest that as they grow up, active children and young people are also less likely to smoke, or to use alcohol, get drunk or take illegal drugs (The Power of Play: An evidence Base (external link)).
See also, information on the benefits of active play in the sections on physical activity and child healthy weight.
How do inequalities impact on children's play?
Almost 1 in 6 children in Scotland have no access to safe places for outdoor play with children living in deprived areas being more affected than those in the least deprived areas (Findings of the Scottish Play Commission: Raising the Bar (external link)).
Meanwhile, an analysis of play areas in Glasgow in 2005 found that outdoor play areas in the most deprived neighbourhoods were of poorer quality than in the least deprived areas (Ellaway, A et at (2007) Nowhere to play?).
Disabled children from benefit dependent families, looked after children and children of asylum seekers are also more likely to experience restricted play opportunities (The Power of Play: An evidence base (external link)).
At 22 months, children from less advantaged backgrounds spent less time looking at books or being read to, reciting rhymes or singing, running or playing outdoors, painting or drawing, or recognising colours, shapes or numbers (Growing Up in Scotland: What do we know about play? (external link)).
Identifying those at risk
Because those at risk can be difficult to identify, it's important to link with other professionals who may know more about the family and their circumstances, e.g. carers, GPs, social workers, health visitors, nursery school and other childcare staff, and voluntary sector agencies.
A range of risk factors should be considered, including where the child lives in terms of socioeconomic status and whether or not they live in a deprived area, whether or not they are a looked-after child, parental health and wellbeing, disability and ethnicity.
For a fuller discussion of inequalities, see Inequalities in the early years.
A Pathway of Care for Vulnerable Families (0-3) (external link) sets out key contact points and interactions for those working with vulnerable families.
play@home is a book-based play and physical activity programme for children from birth to the age of five years. The books are given to parents to encourage them to use the activities with their children, to guide and inform them about child development. The activities include bathing and water play, loving touch and massage techniques, movement, communication, imagination and creativity.
play@home is a fun and enjoyable programme of activities that are related to age and stage of development, using simple ideas and easily found resources. Each activity clearly lists the precautions to take to support safe participation. It also lists some of the many benefits of the activities, including the development of body awareness, moving, communicating, socialising and building relationships.
The greatest benefit is the interaction between parent or carer and child.
play@home books
play@home is provided to every family in Scotland when their baby is born. The programme is delivered in three stages:
- the Baby book
- the Toddler book
- the Pre-school book
Pre-school book
The play@home Pre-school book (three to five years) is issued to children when they enrol for their ante pre-school education. Those children who have received Baby and Toddler books in areas that have been using play@home for at least three years will be eligible for the Pre-school book.
More information on each of the three play@home books is available in the play@home information leaflet (external link).
How to order play@home books
Additional copies of the play@home books are available from local libraries across Scotland. Copies are also available for professionals to access locally, but books should ideally be shared with parents rather than professionals holding their own personal copy.
For more information about ordering the play@home books please email nhs.healthscotland-playathome@nhs.net
play@home trainer sessions
A free, one day course has been developed to give you the skills to facilitate (or co-facilitate) a play@home session for colleagues.
The course is a practical way to support early years workers to develop a common understanding of the research and evidence that underpins health improvement, education and promotion of play and physical activity in the early years.
The training will help you to:
- link theory to practice
- understand where it fits with current policy
- think about how you can develop partnership approaches with colleagues
- consider health inequalities and how play@home can be adapted to meet the needs of individual families.
Participants from all sectors are welcome - e.g. health, local authority, education and family support, community or voluntary, and play.
There is no charge but attendees are expected to facilitate (or co-facilitate) at least two play@home training sessions for their colleagues. This would ideally be to a multi-sectoral audience but could also be to colleagues at team meetings or as part of an awareness raising programme.
For more information and details on how to book please contact:
Joyce Waugh
play@home training coordinator
nhs.HealthScotland-PlayAtHome@nhs.net
0131 536 5570
