Playday 2026
The Playday 2026 theme is Play: here, there, everywhere. It celebrates playful moments, everyday adventures and children’s ability to play their way around welcoming neighbourhoods. But what does it take to make play genuinely possible everywhere?
In the spirit of Playday, here is a playful take to a serious question.
P is for planning to enable play
Shaping homes, streets and neighbourhoods so that playful moments, exploration and growing independence are part of everyday life.
L is for landscapes that invite curiosity
Interesting, varied places can give children freedom to explore, imagine and decide how they want to play.
A is for access for all
All children, of different ages and abilities, should be able to reach, enter and enjoy spaces where they feel welcome and included.
Y is for your neighbourhood
Every child should be able to move through their neighbourhood in safety and with confidence, find things to do and discover, meet other children, and feel that they belong there.
D is for doorsteps
Play so often begins close to home, on doorsteps and in the spaces around them, where children can chalk, chat, scoot, invent games and find out who else is outside.
A is for adventures in nature
A tree, a puddle, a patch of long grass or line of ants can turn an ordinary moment or journey into an imaginative adventure.
Y is for young people heard
Children and young people are experts in their own lives and places. Their rights, needs and voices should help shape the neighbourhoods they use every day.
None of this means turning every space into a playground. It means creating places that leave room for children: for curiosity, sociability, movement, imagination and growing independence.
This Playday, the recordings from the Curious Cities Assembly offer more ideas about creating cities through children’s eyes, while the TCPA’s Local Plan plug-in resources provide practical support for reflecting children and young people’s rights, needs and voices in planning policy.
