ABSTRACT
Health is a multifaceted concept that belongs to the individual, reflecting societal endeavors to optimize the factors that contribute to its construction. Health is enshrined within a rights-based approach to childhood with Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and General Comment 15, laying the foundations for a life course approach to health. The Ottawa Charter in 1986 changed the conceptualization of health and actively promoted play as a key component of what it means to be healthy, nudging society toward a more playful approach to health. When children work collaboratively with organizations such as the Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health (RCPCH), key factors such as sleep, staying calm, eating well, and being active can be explored together. However, ‘playing for health’ needs to refrain from being a purpose-orientated activity used to counter global health issues such as the obesity agenda. Instead, actively facilitating the underlying characteristics of play such as pleasure, enjoyment, creativity, risk, and challenge is a more potent strategy for fulfilling children’s aspiration to ‘be healthy’ in modern Britain.
