Play Scotland, in association with IPA Scotland, organised the Greener Understanding of Article 31: Litter Pick & Play Project.

The project asked groups across Scotland and around the world to get involved organising Litter Pick & Play sessions in their local area. The project aimed to empower children and young people to stand up for their right to clean and safe places to play and to encourage adults to uphold the responsibility to provide them.

 

Where did the idea come from?

What we did

We created a toolkit to guide groups step by step how to plan their event. 

 

This included tips on how to make it playful, such as 

Create a scavenger hunt – make a list of different types of rubbish and tick them off as you find it. Why not display it as pictures instead of words so everyone can see what they are looking for? Try our template worksheet or make your own!

 

We planned a litter pick and play in Edinburgh to make a how to film.

 

We partnered with Keep Scotland Beautiful to share our message and we presented at a live lesson to over 40 schools. 

 

We ran 3 online “How to Get Involved Events” for 20 practitioners working with over 900 children.  

100% of participants would recommend the event and one said “full of information and inspiration” “Jenny was so enthusiastic” 

Case Study: Graceful Oaks Nursery & Primary School, Ibadan, Nigeria

We cleaned up our school and the local area. In attendance we had 12 children and 10 adults. A total number of six waste bags were collected. We talked to the children about their rights to play according to section 31 of the rights of a child. After cleaning, we had time to play and had little refreshments in a clean environment. We played local and traditional games like Ayoayo. I am so grateful for this awesome time with the adults and children, who made our school environment clean. The children said “We have the right to play, and we don’t have to wait for anybody to tell us to play, I am happy we had a good experience picking litter”, “I felt so good to be able to clean my environment and to be able to play in a clean place, I am feeling very excited to play here”

Case Study: Gateway Harbour, Tonawanda, New York

We collected 20 bags of trash

We of course played while cleaning!

We played the Floor is Lava, Garbage Bucket Relay, and Garbage Tag. The children created gorgeous coloured paths along the stonework. We all laughed, played, and took care of the earth.

Taking part in the litter pick sparked the desire to use the space in many children. Specifically, they saw a man fishing, so they decided they wanted to fish!

We had politicians, city employees, community groups, and residents all taking part. People just walking by stopped to join in. We look forward to doing it again!

Case Study: Newmains Primary, Renfrew, Scotland

We cleaned up our local space. We had 10 adults supporting 23 children to make the space safe for play. We spent an hour picking rubbish and collected 10 bags of rubbish.

“I thought this would be long enough for a P2.1 class, however they were so engrossed in the task we could have had more time.”

We got help from Renfrewshire ‘Team Up To Clean Up’. A member of ‘Team Up to Clean Up’ came into school and spoke to the children about litter. They also gave us litter picking equipment to use.

It was a great activity to take part in community involvement and highlighting the importance of looking after our community spaces.

The children said: “It is sad that we work so hard and it still gets littered. We want to keep it tidy. We don’t want our playground to be dirty. Litter isn’t good for the animals so we should try to keep it clean. People should stop spitting out chewing gum. We don’t want the playground filled with rubbish. I liked picking up the rubbish.”

Children’s rights & the Environment

Playing in natural environments positively impacts on children’s sense of well-being, fitness levels, resilience, cognitive functioning and motor ability (Bird 2007; Pretty et al 2007, Lester and Russell 2008, Muñoz, S.-A. 2009, Keniger et al 2013, Gill, 2014, Söderström et al 2013).

By playing in nature, children come to understand, appreciate and care for the natural world – it encourages “stewardship for the earth.” (IPA World, 2016)  

Children across the world are determined, resourceful, and creative when finding opportunities for play. However, many children face significant barriers in realising their right to play (IPA World, 2016). 

The global climate crisis is having a huge impact on play. The pollution of air, water, and space is increasing and this affects the safety of children at play. In emergency situations following natural disasters and other crisis, play is often given lower priority than the provision of food, shelter and medicines. However, play is one of the ways that children cope with a crisis in any context. Play hones innate skills and helps children to come to terms with what has happened (Fearn and Howard, 2012).

Everyday environments also impact play. Planning decisions on pavement widths, provision of outdoor space, rubbish removal, and even “No Ball Games” signs can have huge impacts on the quality and quantity of play available to children.

Children are likely to be disproportionately affected by environmental constraints on their enjoyment of their right to play if they live in:

• Poor or hazardous environments
• Poverty
• Situations of conflict or humanitarian disaster
• Rural communities
• In street situations

Or if they are:

• Asylum-seekers and refugees
• Disabled
• Chronically hospitalised children 
• Migrants or internally displaced

(IPA World, 2016).