Every year, National Playday calls on everyone to celebrate and show why play is fundamental for children’s enjoyment of childhood.
This year’s theme title was Playing on a shoe String – Making every day an adventure.
The theme also focused on the everyday low-cost or no-cost play adventures that children can enjoy at home, in settings, and in our communities.
To celebrate Playday, NHS Lanarkshire’s Health Improvement Team worked with various NHS colleagues and local community groups to attend North Lanarkshire Council’s event at Summerlee.
Children and families were invited to come along and take part in lots of fun activities from friendly dinosaurs having their teeth brushed, bear hunts with the infamous Paddington Bear, Jenny and the Bear activities, Bookbug, imagination station and more.
The event was held on Wednesday 2 August at Summerlee Heritage Centre, where children, parents, carers, teddy bears, dinosaurs and fire engines arrived through the enormous iron gates at Summerlee.
NHS Lanarkshire’s Health Improvement team, made up of Health Improvement staff from topic and locality teams and led by Early Years Health Improvement Officer Margaret Clark, have been involved since 2011.
Margaret Clark, senior health promotion officer – Early Years Training and Improvement, NHS Lanarkshire, said: “We started with a dreich morning and heavy showers, but the sun did come out as the day progressed.
“We were thrilled to welcome so many families to our area of the event, where they could enjoy a special bear hunt with Paddington Bear, brush some friendly dinosaur’s teeth with the oral health team, guess the bear’s birthday with Quit Your Way’s Jenny and the Bear, lots of singing, rhymes and storytelling with BookBug and cut, paste and create masterpieces at the imagination station.
“We also created free packs that children were able to take home with them. We filled these with colouring in health activity sheets and pencils for any rainy days still to come during the holidays.
“It does your heart good to see and hear families and carers relaxed and enjoying a free day of fun activities together. A great free day of play was had by us all, within our Early Years section of the park, and despite the rain, we had a successful Playday in our fabulous new tented area.
“We are already looking forward to Playday 2024!”
Fiona McLean, health improvement senior – Quit Your Way, NHS Lanarkshire, added: “Myself and colleagues from the Quit Your Way team attended the event to promote our fun and engaging Jenny and the Bear initiative which raises awareness of the harms of second-hand smoke.
“We put up smoke-free signage to ensure it was a smoke-free event, and brought along plenty of fun activities and games too.
“We took Jenny and the Bear books, stickers and colouring in sheets. We also ran a competition to guess the bear’s birthday, with the lucky winner winning the teddy bear to take home.
“It was a great day out and we hope everyone who came along enjoyed it too!”
