Bath Area Play Project Playdays need your help!

“These Playdays alone have made our summer magical, I literally don't know what we will do next year, so gutted and saddened by the budget cuts. The best time a kid and parent can have, we loved it”

For more than 20 years, BAPP have been providing FREE Family Playdays across the Bath area. Each year, families tell us how much a life saver these days are, for those on low incomes or who struggle to even leave the house, having free play opportunities in their community where staff are non-judgemental and supportive, where children have the freedom to play in easily replicable activities, makes a world of difference at an often stressful time where schools are closed.

Our amazing playday play workers

The previous funding we have relied on to run our playdays has now been cut for our year round team, putting into jeopardy the future of our playdays. These have enabled 1000s of families to access free and inclusive high quality play sessions for many years including our well known National Playday.

We need to raise at least £30,000 each year to retain our team and be able to continue to run our playdays and play sessions in holidays, after school family play sessions and nurture play sessions in schools for those struggling.

Playdays provide and support the child's right to play in their own community and we are proud that we have been providing these since we started back in 1979. For the first 20 years, we ran Open Access play schemes but we moved out into parks following consultation with children and parents to enable us to support more children and families.

Our Family Playdays are held mostly during the summer school holidays and occasionally at Easter, and are for the whole family to attend together where parents and children can enjoy a range of outdoor play opportunities and activities facilitated by our amazing team of Playworkers and Family Support Workers.

Play opportunities usually include creative and messy play, physical and active play, opportunities for risky play (like cooking on a fire pit!), using a slackline, as well as exploring the environment and building dens. Play is often the only time that children are in control and our sessions support this by providing the space and resources, enabling children to explore and respond how they choose to with support available if needed.

Playdays can even have themes! A Space Day with a NASA obstacle course, rocketship building, and an alien shootout. A Pirate Day making grog in a mud kitchen, sword fighting practice, and making pirate hats, compasses, and telescopes. A Superhero Day making masks and caps and using paint guns to get creative on a huge scale. A Fantasy Day with dancing with ribbons, building a goblin village, and creating magic potions. You get the picture!

​More importantly, our Playdays allow the whole family to play together in an environment where there is support for both young people and parents. It is a vital lifeline for so many families who support a young person with a disability or additional needs, and in some cases is the only day out a family may enjoy together during the summer.

Bath Area Play Project are registered charity established in 1979. We support the child’s right to play and provide the community with a range of play opportunities for children of all ages and abilities, promoting and facilitating opportunities for children and young people to play and participate in positive activities. We promote the importance of self-directed play for child development and the rights of children.

Every Child has the Right to Play and we recognise the powerful impact and value that play has for children experiencing adverse experiences, using a therapeutic, trauma informed playful approach to supporting children to develop resilience. We recognise the importance of self-directed play for children’s development and facilitate a range of play based opportunities, often outdoors that support and enrich children’s wellbeing. As a child-centred organisation with a strong inclusive ethos, our staff advocate for, listen and respond to children’s voices embedding these principles using the power of play as a catalyst for positive change.

Our Playdays are vital for the families we support. Last year 5700 children and parents attended over the 4 weeks of Playdays, an average of 400 per playday, with over 1700 attending our National Playday. 100% of those families would recommend Playdays to friends, and said they came because: “It was in my community”, “Easy to access”, “Affordable” / “Free”, “Gets us out of the house”, “Helps us feel part of the community”, “We can’t afford/logistically harder to go on big trips"

More family feedback:

"He was never a trier – always shutting down and not wanting to give something a go. Your staff have been amazing at helping him try things at his own pace with lots of support and towards the end of the summer, we noticed that he is up for doing anything now. It has been fantastic to see how much he has grown”

“Playdays make such a difference to my mental health and therefore my ability to be there as a parent for my children. Just wish this was here everyday!”

"Thank you for being so engaging with my children and inspiring me to play better with them!”

“These paydays boosted my sons confidence, his social skills, I have never seen him so deeply engrossed and involved in constructive, dangerous, team play with total strangers. Fabulous for him to push his boundaries safely. Please, please, continue these.”

“For children under 5 there is already such a lack of activities in the BANES area during the summer holidays as all play groups don't run out of term time and they aren't old enough for holiday clubs, it makes my 3 year old feel involved and is a way to see her playgroup friends and give her a chance to be involved in activities she wouldn't usually do!”

"We have enjoyed them in rain, sun and wind over the years and loved every single one.”

So what can you do? So much goes into our Playdays, that without raising the money we are no longer receiving, they aren't viable. It costs roughly £2,000 to put on one playday, and £5,460 to put on our flagship National Playday.

We know our goal looks pretty huge! Thats why we've established some sub-goals, that allow us to run some Playdays, and build up to our big National Playday when we hit our funding goal! We also have some exciting stretch goals to be announced if we hit our target.

Every £3000 raised guarantees one Playday will go ahead.