ABSTRACT
Much of children’s and young people’s play involves physical activity, such as chasing games (Barron, 2011) and climbing (Smith, 2010). Nevertheless, physical activity play has to-date largely been ignored in studies of physical activity in children relevant to the prevention and treatment of childhood overweight and obesity. Existing Irish national research (Woods et al., 2010), as well as international research (Summerbell et al., 2005) on physical activity in young people, recommends increased time in physical activity sessions such as physical education in school settings and/or sports inside and outside of schools. However, not all children engage in organized sports. The research to date has ignored the role of physical activity play, which all children do engage in to varying degrees. As Meire (2007) points out, play does not occur in a vacuum, it happens ‘somewhere’ in a physical, social and cultural context. This paper focuses on children’s play places and physical play activities, which occur in the outdoor play spaces of the housing estate.
