Nottingham Games

Nottingham Games is a two-year research project about the games that children play, in their playgrounds at school and elsewhere. The project is founded on the principle of ‘children as researchers’ which has been a key feature of a number of investigations in Nottingham where children have determined the area of interest and conducted the research with the support of creative practitioners, teachers and academics. Projects involving children as researchers have also included access and closeness to nature and its impact on children’s health and well-being.

Children as researchers is seen as a natural development of Nottingham’s rights-based approach to consultation with children over topics that matter to them, their voice and opinions as expressed through other elements of our Child Friendly City Initiative such as Primary Parliament, Voice Boxes and surveys.

Following a case study with an inner-city primary school which was celebrating the 40th anniversary of the publication of a compendium of their school-based games, and the discussion on the topic of play and games at the city’s Primary Parliament, funds were raised to expand the research across a wider range of Nottingham schools.  From September 2024, twelve schools took part and recruited teams of children to conduct the research.  Over 120 different games were identified and collated into an illustrated book, What We Play, and two videos (see below). Findings include:

• The benefits and challenges of supporting children as researchers to lead on social science investigations.
• The lessons that schools have derived from more strategic planning for the time that children spend in the playground and at play, including the design of spaces and the provision of resources and materials.
• The benefits for social co-operation and sharing of knowledge through intergenerational research and conversations, including across diverse traditions and cultures.
• The wider implications for the provision for play in the civic and public realm, including city planning and consultation with children within the rights-based approach and children’s voice.

Next stages for the project, again with adherence to the principles of children as researchers, include the role of design for play within specific development programmes in the city (Pride of Place), opportunities for the provision of space for adventure playgrounds, and further research into games from other cultures and traditions.

Adults are regularly concerned about the nature of children’s recreational time and the games that they play, the influence of the internet and social media on their play time and other factors in their growth including their health, well-being, obesity and exercise, intellectual and imaginative development, competitive inclinations and obsessions. When enabled to research their own behaviours and recreational opportunities, children are just as creative, resilient, collaborative, imaginative and curious as they have ever been.

Learn more: https://challengenottingham.co.uk/nottingham-games