Let’s play every day
The future of play is one where our neighbourhoods and communities support and enable tamariki, rangatahi and whānau to get out and play.
Play is important because it allows tamariki and whānau to experience fun, joy and laughter in a way that is important to them. It is also how they keep active and develop physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively.
As a society we’ve engineered physical activity out of our daily lives, and something has to change. Our children need the time, space and permission to have quality play experiences.
Hutt City Council’s Active in the Hutt team are removing barriers around the permission and space to play across Lower Hutt, with the development of the Open Spaces Play Map.
Launching during national Play Week (5 – 12 November), the Open Spaces Play Map encourages the community to explore their local neighbourhoods and get out and play every day.
Senior Community Recreation Programmer, Sam Dickie says “With the Open Spaces Play Map we can enable this exploration and offer opportunities for locals to spend more time outdoors and discover new ways to play with friends and whānau, utilising the greenspaces and outdoor areas that Lower Hutt has on offer”.
As part of launching the new Open Spaces Play Map, Active in the Hutt are running a competition to motivate communities to connect with their local spaces and places. The competition involves locating strategically places signs in order to claim a prize.
Celebrated each year, Play Week Aotearoa is led by Sport NZ with support from Regional Sports Trusts and Councils around New Zealand supporting the initiative and encouraging their communities to be active throughout Play Week and beyond.
The Wellington region are celebrating with Nuku Ora’s Back Door Tākaro with Ngā Atua. Shining a light on tākaro and its value to tamariki, whānau and communities across the Wellington region through mātauranga Māori, which will support tamariki to persevere, be adventurous, be joyful, relax, and lift or soothe their spirits.
Active in the Hutt is on a mission to improve wellbeing by getting communities active. The team leads and backbones a foundation of work advocating the importance of play while aiming to increase accessibility and opportunities for Lower Hutt’s tamariki, rangatahi and whānau to play.
By supporting and enabling play, community wellbeing is improved, social connectedness becomes more common place, which supports health and wellbeing and barriers to equity are removed. We all have a role in enabling play and you can be part of it too – let’s play every day!
For more information visit www.activeinthehutt.org.nz or follow ‘In The Hutt’ on Facebook.
Imagine if our neighbourhood spaces and places supported our tamariki and whānau to get outside, be active and play every day.