Playful Green Planet is an ambitious intervention to transform how children foster a connection to nature and community through outdoor creative play. 

Enabled and co-created by a movement of local citizens and coalitions, Playful Green Planet transforms unused green spaces into ecologically thriving outdoor playrooms and classrooms that grow children’s capabilities for climate action and social activism.

Why is outdoor playful learning important?

Nature-immersed creative play is important to children’s development and wellbeing and grows children’s climate action, social activism interests and capabilities.

Despite this, children increasingly lack connection to nature, especially in cities. This is further influenced by factors including race, disability and socioeconomic status.

Here are some UK statistics that indicate the extent of the crisis:

• Three-quarters of children spend less time outdoors than prison inmates.
• More than one in ten children (12%) do not visit a natural environment annually.
• Less than 10% of children have access to play in wild spaces compared to 40% a generation ago.
• Four out of five children (80%) lack a connection to nature, according to the UK's RSPB.

Pockets of innovation exist, and there is an appetite for change, but some groups and geographical areas are left out. Within our existing education system, specialists in playful learning struggle to consistently and equitably provide resources and spaces to activate children’s connection to nature.

Why support Playful Green Planet?

Our vision is to achieve the following:

• For children: a generation of future changemakers with the capabilities and commitment to protect and regenerate their communities and the natural world.
• For communities: early year settings, school and community cultures that foster nature and social connectedness.
• For nature: unlocking the latent potential of green spaces to deliver positive ecological gains.
• For policy and practice: evidence, influencing and an adaptable and scalable place-based and community-based intervention model that leads to systemic change.

Our approach is unique in the following ways:

• Targeted: focus on urban places where nature-based creative play is limited or difficult to facilitate (places with high deprivation and low access to nature).
• Place-based: a place-based approach, supporting local people, groups and institutions (local councils, schools, purpose-led businesses, housing associations, civil society organisations, etc) to use latent green spaces within walking proximity to early years settings, primary schools and community centres.
• Co-created: working with children, families, educators, and communities. Playful Green Planet stewards co-designed and co-produced playful spaces and experiences that met the ambitions of the local community.
• Promoting play: nature-immersed playful learning experiences that unlock children’s imaginations and grow their citizenship in service of people, places and planet.
• For everyone: supporting nature-based creative play experiences that are

  accessible, equitable and inclusive for all children, their families and communities.

• Sustainable: Playful Green Planet stewards are offered tailored support, including training and advice on fundraising and financial sustainability, and are invested in seeing Playful Green Planet initiatives flourish for many years.
• Nested impact: working towards nested outcomes for children, the community, and nature. So Playful Green Planet delivers outcomes that are good for children’s agency and wellbeing, for community connection and capital, and environmental regeneration.

Playful Green Planet funders

Thanks to funding from The National Lottery's Community Fund, we have launched the first pilots of Playful Green Planet in partnership with the Eden Project and Bath Spa University.

Read our press release to find out about the first pilots in Dundee and Hull that will help transform green spaces in those towns.