Oban Play Map

Our oral history project on post-war childhood in Oban gave us great stories about children playing freely outside. It made us wonder: where do children play now, and what do they do? We went to the community to find out, and the result is our Oban Play Map – created with local families.

For our research, we interviewed children at Rockfield Primary School and Schools Out Oban. This is some of what they said about outdoor play.

More Ideas for Play

Send us your ideas and we’ll add them to the list!

Take a picnic
Have a race
Bring a ball
Ride your bike
Play tig
Make your own scavenger hunt, with checklist
Play hide and seek
Bring a few toys from home to hide and surprise with
Head out with a goal: Walk to a loch, a castle, a view
Mini-goals: we’re almost to the bridge!
Poohsticks
Look for dinosaur eggs (stones) and put them in a safe place. On the way back, see if they’ve hatched!
Get inspired by books: Go on a bear hut. Look, Stick Man!
Rainbow safari – find something of every colour
Climb trees and rocks
Hey, is that a tree trunk or an elephant?
Build a den or make a house
Cook a meal with stones and leaves
Make magic potions with grass and dirt
Collect stones and sticks, then paint and glue them into creatures at home
Make up a story about what you found
Bring paint, pencils, crayons, chalk, paper
Turn sticks and stones into musical instruments
Jump in puddles
Look for airplanes
Jump in a pile of leaves
Find signs of spring
Learn to identify birds, flowers and leaves
Throw stones into the sea
Build a sand castle, sand worksite, sand kitchen, sand city, sand train station…
Bring diggers, cars, trains from home and try them on the beach
Explore caves and tide pools: Anemones? Hermit crabs?
Are you brave enough to take a dip in the cold water?
Fly a (homemade?) kite
Go fishing
Look under a rock
Count it, sort it, draw it, write it down
Make a movie, put on a show
Geocache
Ask questions, then look up the answers at home
Check out a book at the library about what you’re learning outside
Stop to watch a construction site
Talk about what you see: Why is that shopping trolley in the river? Why is that heron so still?
It’s raining? Put bubble liquid in puddles to make bubbly puddles
Add powdered chalk paint to make coloured puddles
Spin your umbrellas and sing
Have a hot chocolate when you get home