Over 200 Families Supported Through Explore the Outdoors at Cardiff Play Day

Our team was proud to join Cardiff Children's Services at Cardiff's Play Day event last week, celebrating the power of play and helping families discover new ways to stay active outdoors throughout the summer.

The event provided a fantastic opportunity to launch and promote our new Explore the Outdoors resource, designed to give families simple, accessible ideas for enjoying outdoor spaces together.

To support this, we prepared 150 activity bags containing free equipment, a printed copy of the Explore the Outdoors booklet and information about our summer camps, Sporting Libraries and Place-Based Team. The demand was so high that all 150 bags were distributed before the end of the event, prompting the team to quickly assemble an additional 50 bags to ensure more families could benefit from the resource.

In total, more than 200 families received resources and equipment to help them continue playing, exploring and being active beyond the event itself.

Positive Feedback from Families

One of the most valuable aspects of the day was speaking directly with parents and carers about their experiences of outdoor play.

Many families told us they often struggle to find ideas and opportunities to support their children in being active outdoors, highlighting the need for simple, practical resources that can be used during everyday family activities.

The feedback on the new booklet was overwhelmingly positive, with one parent commenting:

"This is perfect for when we go camping next week."

Hearing how families plan to use the resource in real-life situations reinforced the importance of making outdoor play accessible, enjoyable and easy to incorporate into daily life.

Bringing Activities to Life

Throughout the event, families were able to explore a variety of activities at their own pace.

These included:

• Activities featured within the Explore the Outdoors booklet.

• Examples of equipment available to borrow through our Sporting Libraries programme.

• Additional play and physical activity equipment for children to explore and enjoy.

• Opportunities to speak with staff about local opportunities available through our Place-Based Team.

•The activities helped families see first-hand how simple equipment and creative ideas can encourage children to be active, curious and engaged with the outdoors.

Looking Ahead

The success of Cardiff Play Day demonstrates the appetite among families for practical support that encourages outdoor play and physical activity.

We would like to thank Cardiff Children's Services for the opportunity to be part of such a positive event and everyone who visited our stall throughout the day.

We look forward to continuing to support children, young people and families across Cardiff through our Explore the Outdoors resource, Sporting Libraries, summer programmes and community-based activities.