Bring Your Street to Life: Organising a Play Street in Your Neighbourhood
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Remember when children played outside until the streetlights came on? When your road felt like it belonged to the whole community, not just the cars passing through? That's the spirit behind Playing out - a national campaign — and we'd love to help you bring it to your doorstep.
What Is a Play Street? A Play Street is a short, temporary road closure organised by neighbours, creating a safe space for children to play freely outside their own front doors. There's no complicated kit, no professional events team, and no big budget needed. Just a street, some willing neighbours, and the simple belief that children deserve space to play. Temporary Play Streets are neighbour-led, which means the power is entirely in your hands. You choose the days, the times, and what happens. The street becomes yours for a few hours — and the results can be quietly wonderful. |
Why It Matters
Children today have far less freedom to play outside than previous generations. Traffic, busy schedules, high costs of many kids activities and a culture of caution have all changed what play looks like. Play Streets gently push back against that.
The benefits go beyond just keeping kids entertained. Play Streets improve children's physical health and wellbeing, support social development, and help adults get to know the people they live next to — often for the very first time. Streets that play together tend to look out for each other. It's community-building in the most natural, human way imaginable.
Play Streets have already made a real difference across the UK. Over 1,650 street communities have played out in more than 100 different local authority areas — a movement that started with one street in Bristol and has quietly grown into something remarkable. See the national campaign here: https://playingout.net/play-streets
We Can Help You Get Started
At Hillfields Community Garden, we're proud to support the Playing Out movement and to help our local community give this a go. We have a road closure kit available to rent for free — so the practical side of things is taken care of.
All you need to do is organise it.
How to Organise Your Play Street: 4 Simple Steps
The Playing Out website walks you through everything in their brilliant Playing Out in Four Simple Steps guide, but here's the shape of it:
Step 1 — Talk to your neighbours. Start a conversation. Knock on doors, have a chat, maybe put a leaflet through a few letterboxes. The aim is to gauge interest and make sure everyone feels included from the start — residents without children very much included.
Step 2 — Get permission and support. Once you have enough enthusiasm, you apply to the council to close the road for a session. You'll also need a small team of volunteers to steward on the day. Playing Out has templates for everything you need — consultation letters, sign-up sheets, the lot.
Step 3 — Tell everyone. With permission granted, spread the word! Posters, flyers, a knock on the door. Make sure everyone knows when the street will be closed, what the car access rules are, and that parents are responsible for their own children on the day. You'll also need the right road closed signs and barriers — which is where we come in (more on that below).
Step 4 — Play out! Brief your stewards, put up the signs, and then... let it happen. Children will find their own fun. Adults will find their own conversations. It's usually even better than you imagined.
Borrow Our Road Closure Kit — For Free
We know that sourcing the official 'road closed' signs and barriers can feel like a barrier in itself. That's why we're making it easy: you can rent our road closure kit from us completely free of charge.
The kit is completely free to borrow, although donations are always warmly welcomed. Any contribution helps support the work of our charity and enables us to continue offering projects and resources that benefit our local community.
Get in touch and we'll sort out the details with you.
Ready to Give It a Go?
Whether you're ready to jump in or just want to ask a few questions first, we'd love to hear from you. Drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll help you take the first step.
And for the full guide to getting your Play Street off the ground, head over to the Playing Out website: Playing Out in Four Simple Steps.
Your street is waiting.
Children today have far less freedom to play outside than previous generations. Traffic, busy schedules, high costs of many kids activities and a culture of caution have all changed what play looks like. Play Streets gently push back against that.
The benefits go beyond just keeping kids entertained. Play Streets improve children's physical health and wellbeing, support social development, and help adults get to know the people they live next to — often for the very first time. Streets that play together tend to look out for each other. It's community-building in the most natural, human way imaginable.
Play Streets have already made a real difference across the UK. Over 1,650 street communities have played out in more than 100 different local authority areas — a movement that started with one street in Bristol and has quietly grown into something remarkable. See the national campaign here: https://playingout.net/play-streets
We Can Help You Get Started
At Hillfields Community Garden, we're proud to support the Playing Out movement and to help our local community give this a go. We have a road closure kit available to rent for free — so the practical side of things is taken care of.
All you need to do is organise it.
How to Organise Your Play Street: 4 Simple Steps
The Playing Out website walks you through everything in their brilliant Playing Out in Four Simple Steps guide, but here's the shape of it:
Step 1 — Talk to your neighbours. Start a conversation. Knock on doors, have a chat, maybe put a leaflet through a few letterboxes. The aim is to gauge interest and make sure everyone feels included from the start — residents without children very much included.
Step 2 — Get permission and support. Once you have enough enthusiasm, you apply to the council to close the road for a session. You'll also need a small team of volunteers to steward on the day. Playing Out has templates for everything you need — consultation letters, sign-up sheets, the lot.
Step 3 — Tell everyone. With permission granted, spread the word! Posters, flyers, a knock on the door. Make sure everyone knows when the street will be closed, what the car access rules are, and that parents are responsible for their own children on the day. You'll also need the right road closed signs and barriers — which is where we come in (more on that below).
Step 4 — Play out! Brief your stewards, put up the signs, and then... let it happen. Children will find their own fun. Adults will find their own conversations. It's usually even better than you imagined.
Borrow Our Road Closure Kit — For Free
We know that sourcing the official 'road closed' signs and barriers can feel like a barrier in itself. That's why we're making it easy: you can rent our road closure kit from us completely free of charge.
The kit is completely free to borrow, although donations are always warmly welcomed. Any contribution helps support the work of our charity and enables us to continue offering projects and resources that benefit our local community.
Get in touch and we'll sort out the details with you.
Ready to Give It a Go?
Whether you're ready to jump in or just want to ask a few questions first, we'd love to hear from you. Drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll help you take the first step.
And for the full guide to getting your Play Street off the ground, head over to the Playing Out website: Playing Out in Four Simple Steps.
Your street is waiting.
