ParkLives: Traditional Games in decline – Activities for Kids in Glasgow Parks

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ParkLives: Traditional Games in decline – Activities for Kids in Glasgow Parks

Over half of parents in Glasgow struggle to find activities the whole family enjoys doing together

Hide and seek voted the city’s favourite childhood game but other traditional games like rounders, skipping and hopscotch have experienced sharp declines in popularity

ParkLives is encouraging families to get down to their local park this summer and revive Mum and Dad’s favourite childhood games

New research from free activity programme ParkLives has found that over half of parents and grandparents in Glasgow (56%) struggle to find activities that the whole family enjoys doing together.

ParkLives, which is being delivered by Glasgow Life in partnership with Coca-Cola Great Britain, also revealed that a number of popular games such as rounders, hopscotch, skipping and ‘What’s the time, Mr Wolf?’ have fallen out of fashion with children today. Almost half (45%) of adults took part in these outdoor games every day growing up, but under a quarter (26%) of their children or grandchildren currently do so.

Rounders, which was played by three quarters of adults when they were children, is now played by only a third of Glasgow’s children (77% and 32% respectively).

Hide and seek is one game that has stood the test of time – nine out of 10 (85%) adults played it growing up, and today almost two thirds (62%) of children still play it.

As nine out of ten parents and grandparents (91%) in Glasgow say they wish their family had the opportunity to play outdoors together more, ParkLives is calling on families to bring back nostalgic games to get the whole family outdoors and enjoying their local parks and green spaces.

Launched in Glasgow earlier this year, ParkLives is putting on hundreds of free and fun activities in local parks and green spaces.

Dr Amanda Gummer, expert on play and development and founder of Fundamentally Children: “Free, inclusive family activities promote attachment, create memories and help children learn that the best things in life really are free. The beauty of these games is that they can be played at any age and any ability so are accessible to all the family. It’s great to see an initiative like ParkLives that will see children and parents alike rediscover the benefits of real family fun.”

With 17 activity types to try entirely free of charge, the ParkLives programme offers a host of sessions including Rugby, Giant Twister and Park Golf. Sessions, which are typically an hour long and all led by a local trained activity leader, are being held between 10am and 8pm every day across 5 community parks and 5 local golf courses.

A full timetable – including a postcode park finder – can be found at www.parklives.com where people can also register and book to attend sessions.