The RSA (Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) has today launched the Playful Green Planet Network. This bold new initiative will roll out nature-based play and outdoor learning across the UK.
The network builds on pilots launched in Dundee and Hull last year, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund (Climate Action Fund) and delivered in partnership with the Eden Project and Bath Spa University.
It will aim to foster a national movement that empowers communities to transform underutilised green spaces into imaginative playrooms and outdoor classrooms tailored for and with local children.
Initiatives like Playful Green Planet are important. Research tells us that:
The network will draw on the learnings from the pilots, which have achieved successes, including:
The network launches with two additional Playful Green Planet stewards:
These stewards will receive RSA support, including access to best practice, peer learning, a collective impact approach and the exchange of ideas and innovations with leading experts around the country.
Over time, the RSA aims to build this network by welcoming new stewards every quarter, focusing on regions such as Belfast, Glasgow, Cardiff, Birmingham, and Liverpool.
Jo Choukeir, Director of Design and Innovation at the RSA, said: “The Playful Green Planet Network embodies our mission to create a regenerative future for all. We’ve seen through our pilots how outdoor play in co-created green spaces can spark connection and care for nature in children, improve their development, wellbeing and creativity, and strengthen entire communities. This network is about spreading that impact community by community, space by space. We are very excited to see this movement grow in the months and years ahead. Join us now as we work towards a future where all children are at the heart of regenerating nature in the places they’re growing up in.”
The RSA is calling for more organisations working with children aged 0-11 in nature-poor areas to apply to become Playful Green Planet stewards, and to bring this national movement to their community and bring nature-based play, and all of the benefits that come with it, to neighbourhoods around the country.
They can do so by visiting the home of the Playful Green Planet network on the RSA’s website.
The RSA is also inviting individuals within our Fellowship and beyond to become Playful Green Planet champions, supporting our stewards by lending expertise in play, policy, education, ecology, and design to roll out Playful Green Planet across the country.
Video assets can be found here.
For further information or interview requests with any RSA representatives, please contact the RSA Media Officer, dom.mcgovern@rsa.org.uk.
We are the RSA, the royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce. We are a social impact charity that has been at the forefront of social change for more than 270 years. Through our Design for Life mission, we turn world-leading ideas into world-changing actions. We’re committed to a world where everyone can fulfil their potential and contribute to more resilient, rebalanced, and regenerative futures. Central to all our work is our global network of over 31,000 Fellows, who work collectively to enable people, places and the planet to flourish in harmony.
We invite you to be part of this mission by joining our Fellowship community. Together, we’ll unite people and ideas in collective action to unlock opportunities and regenerate our world.
