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.
This section: Kids and young people, Sport, Walks, Cycling in Glasgow
Filed under: Kids and young people, Sport, Walks, Cycling in Glasgow
Related Pages
- Take 2: Flow at GFT
- Movement Park Superhero School at Glasgow BMX Centre
- Come along and try Pétanque – WestFest
- Robots and Oranges – Alan Windram
- WATER POLO DEMO at ARLINGTON BATHS CLUB
- Access Film Club – Pee Wee’s Big Adventure at GFT
- Take 2: Dog Man at GFT
- G20 Youth – Kilt Walk
- G20 Weekly Gardening Sessions
- Take 2 at GFT: School of Rock
- Take 2: Sonic the Hedgehog 3
- Spring Fling 2025 at ARC University of Glasgow
- Creating Awesome Community Spaces, Spring Fling University of Glasgow
- Where We Are From storytelling with Anna Lehr
- My Dog Max with Alan Dapré- Spring Fling – University of Glasgow
- CinemARC The Wild Robot
- Guided Bike Rides: Clydeside Cycle
- Paisley 10k Road Race and Fun Run – open to register
- Partick Film Festival Kids Drama Workshop with Halo Arts (FREE)
- Super/Man The Christopher Reeve Story
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.