Let’s Play Ireland is a whole of Government campaign led by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to promote the importance of play and to provide play resources for families during this time.
The campaign is supported by a web page on Gov.ie https://www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/lets-play-ireland/ and by the twitter hashtag #letsplayireland.
The aim of the initiative is to highlight the importance of play for children, particularly in the challenging time and to provide information and resources for families to support their children’s play.
The campaign will run throughout May and June in conjunction with the overall Government campaign on Wellbeing. Every Wednesday new resources will feature on the website across a range of themes including; Early Years, Playful Families, Storytelling; Playful Learning, Active Play, Creative Play and Play to Support Well Being.
This week new resources on playful families and playful parenting feature on the website. Thank you in particular to Dublin City Children and Young People Services Committee and Tusla for allowing us to share their resources on playful parenting.
The initiative is by no means intended to create another pressure for parents, rather the opposite, it intends to provide positive messages to parents about just allowing their children to play and supporting a positive environment for this. The website provides information on
• Why play?
• playing in a crisis,
• ideas for play,
• playful families,
• screen time as part of play and
• useful links and resources.
The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has worked with key experts across various sectors, Early Years, Education, Health, Local Authorities, Academic Partners in UCC and Mary Immaculate College, Creative Ireland, Tusla and others, in order to develop this resource.