Advocating the Child’s Right to Play – The Hong Kong Experience
Kathy WongP

layright Children’s Play Association (Playright) is a charity in
Hong Kong advocating for the “Child’s Right to Play.” Twenty-sevenyears ago, play was very low on most people’s agenda. Since 1987,
Playright has been working hard to help people in all sectors appreciate thevalue of play. With the desire to reshape and improve play resources, opportunities and environments for children, Playright developed various playprojects and service programs to raise community awareness. We are gladto see a growing recognition of the value of play, but are also aware of thechallenges that we still have to meet in the years to come.
In this article, I discuss the play conditions of children, including theirplay time, playmates, play resources, and play space in Hong Kong. I also
discuss the challenges and efforts to make changes for children. I hope thatsharing our experiences would help draw further thinking and efforts into
supporting children’s play.
It is Playright’s vision to build a society that respects, protects and fulfills the Child’s Right to Play, and where children can enjoy their childhood.

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Understanding Children’s Play
Play for play’s sake
What is play? Play is one of the ways we define childhood, and the natural
way to grow. It is a process that is freely chosen, personally directed andintrinsically motivated (Play Principles Scrutiny Group, 2005). All children
are born players. They have a natural inclination to play. They play all thetime and anywhere. They play for play’s sake, not for any other purpose oragenda. Play is essentially for and by children. It can be irrational and purposeless in the eyes of adults (Newstead, 2011).
Play with values
To make sense about children’s play, the nature and values of play havebeen widely studied and promoted. Play benefits children’s social, physical,intellectual, creative and emotional development. Play can enhance adaptive capabilities and resilience (Russell & Lester, 2009). Play is an essential
component of children’s development. It is a fundamental and vital dimension of the pleasure of childhood. It has been raised that the persistent absence of play will have harmful effects on children.
Play as a child’s right
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (crc) has
recognized play as a discrete element in Article 31, requiring concerted efforts to support children’s play (Committee on the Right of the Child, 1989).
Play is affected by the socio-economic environment, cultural practices andsocietal values. Policies and practices in health care, education, welfare,leisure and even town planning also affect play opportunities and environments for children (Wong, 2007).
Children’s Play Time
More structured learning activities and less free time to play
There has been a growing group of well-intended parents making agroup of over-scheduled children. Other than normal schooling, it is notuncommon to find children heavily engaged with extra-curricular activities(eca) or interest classes. The Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong
Kong reported that over 45 percent of Primary 4 to 6 children join four to six

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sessions of eca per week. Over 22 percent of the children attend seven sessions a week (The Hong Kong Economic Times, 2011). A study conducted by
the University of Hong Kong found that many children’s only free time givenby parents was on Sunday morning (Ming Pao Daily, 2009, September 26).
Even pre-school children’s free time is already strained by attending
interest classes and playgroups. The playgroup and learning center business has been gradually flourishing in the past two decades. Parents happily engage their children in these activities hoping that their children will
have a head start over others. The introduction of the Pre-School Education
Voucher Scheme has unexpectedly provided support to push this trend further. Some parents have started to enroll their children in two kindergartens, giving children less free time to play.
Children’s Playmates
More solitary activity and less social play
How much time do our children play with others? Playright’s study in2008 found that children do not play with their neighboring peers. Of those
who play with neighboring children, 14.2 percent spent less than two hours
a week on this. What is more, the time children spent on TV and computer games is 11.6 hours a week (Tang, 2008a). Playmates in one’s living
environment are crucial for children’s holistic development. Play can be an
important medium for establishing peer friendships, which is important formental health (Russell & Lester, 2009). Is our community planning supportive enough for children playing together?
Work and study patterns affecting family play
What about children and their parents? Play is an important mediumfor establishing attachments to adults, and for emotional regulation. The
relatively safe context within family play is essential for building positive
family relationships and emotional states. It was found that half of Hong
Kong’s families, however, spent less than six hours a week to play with children, and over 17 percent of parents did not have any time to play with theirchildren. Over 60 percent of parents found this inadequate (Tang, 2008b).
More than 60 percent of the parents stated that long working hours are theprimary reason that keeps them from playing with their children and longstudy time is the second important reason.

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Children’s Play ResourcesMore toys but less playChildren play with whatever they can find - often with nothing. Anyplay tools, may it be toys or common household materials such as cardboard boxes or toilet rolls, may enrich the possibilities in the play process ifchildren find it worth playing with. However, the play ability of children has
been gradually weakened in an affluent society, like Hong Kong. Some children have “learned” to use play tools in the “right” way, can only use themwhen given instructions, or have even lost all interest to “play”. They areplaying less, not because of lack of resources, but because their play ideas
are belittled.
Limited access
For some children in extreme situations, such as illness, disability andpoverty, lack of access to play resources, facilities, and opportunities can be
an issue. The Forthright Caucus studied the summer program enrollmentof children from low income families. About 95 percent of the interviewed
parents find that summer programs are the basic needs of children, but 53
percent cannot arrange it for their children because of financial difficulties(Cheung, 2011). Besides, children suffering from illness or disability alsoneed to play, but their play resources are often limited by the facilities available and attitude of adults around them. For instance, there are still very few
public hospitals in Hong Kong that have a Hospital Play Program despite
more than twenty years of Playright’s advocacy and support.
Children’s Play SpaceLess outdoor and environmental playChildren play wherever they find themselves. However, many only playat home when actually preferring playgrounds (Yip, 1999). Parents were notaware of children’s need to play outdoors. They also under-estimated thevalue of outdoor play in preventing obesity and promoting physical health,and thus made little or no effort to meet this need.

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Calling for inclusive playgrounds development
Playright’s earliest activities in 1989 focused very practically on Hong
Kong’s lack of inclusive playgrounds (Playright, 2008). Two decades later,
we have to ask again, do ALL children enjoy quality play opportunities? The
study of Wan (2009) found that 95 percent of parents of children with special needs think that their children need or very much need to play. Over 90
percent think that play is important or very important to their children’s development. However, close to 80 percent think that the public playgrounds
are inadequate or very inadequate, while close to 50 percent expressed difficulties in using public playgrounds (Wan, 2009).
To further understand the views of playground stakeholders towards
the development of public playgrounds, Playright carried out a study in2010. It was found that the most urgent agendas for playground improvement are about design and types of play facilities. About 98 percent of therespondents agreed or totally agreed that Hong Kong community’s attention and awareness of the value of playground on children’s development
needed to be raised. The respondents considered that the most importantways to promote inclusive playgrounds were by developing guidelines fordesign, research work, and information access (Yuen, 2010).
Playright’s Strategies to Make Change on Children’s PlayTo make Hong Kong a place where children can benefit from playing aspart of their everyday lives, we need a wider perspective. Our mission is toadvocate play and seek societal commitment to meet the play needs of every
child at policy, planning and provision level. How?
1. by creating play opportunities at different settings to demonstrate
the value of play;
2. by promoting good practice and empowering adults to develop appropriate play provisions as well as play-friendly environment forchildren;
3. by inspiring a play-accepting culture in community.
Creating play opportunities
For children in families, the hsbc Playright PlayScope (PlayScope) is adeliberate effort by Playright to strengthen the creative use of play resources
and inspire play ideas for parents. PlayScope is also our first social enter-44

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cprise to support family play. Through our versatile play space, play series andtoy library service, families with young children can experience the many
possibilities of playing. Furthermore, we have lately developed the Playful
Parents Academy to empower the parents to play with their children.
For children in the community, Playright has been running the Play
Mobile Project since 2005. We penetrate every community, turning vacantspaces into playgrounds that offer children new outdoor play experiences.
The Play Mobile is also invited to kindergartens and special schools. It isencouraging to see the increased understanding on the problem of excessive sedentary and indoor activity, and that outdoor physical activities forchildren are becoming more popular. Recently, we further develop thePlayborhood project that provides regular play opportunities at selected
residential open spaces. We hope to actively engage local residents and partners, as well as to develop a sustainable service model.
For children in the city, Playright has launched environmental play since2009. It focuses on opportunities for children to play freely with natural elements, in and around natural spaces. The start of environmental play is
not without difficulties, as children resist getting dirty, have fear of wildlife,and parents worry about risk-taking. However, these difficulties are soon
resolved once everyone becomes more experienced. Our family day outings
to the countryside, community play days at public parks, and Forest Schoolfor kindergartens are very well received.
For children in hospital, we have the Hospital Play Services since 1994,
helping children to reduce anxiety due to their illnesses and treatments
at hospital. Through the play service, provided by trained Hospital PlaySpecialists, the children cope better with medical procedures and develop
more positive feelings towards sickness and hospitalization. We are now
providing the services in three public hospitals and plan to extend our reachto serve more children in need.
For children having special needs, such as physically or mentally disabling conditions or being at risk of or experiencing significant deprivationin other ways, we provide special help and resources. Often such children
are denied their chance to truly play because play is merely regarded as atool to achieve training needs, rather than an opportunity to enjoy real play.
Playright thus collaborates with different special schools to develop theplayful classroom project. We also develop a Pop Up Playground projectAdvocating the Child’s Right to Play — The Hong Kong Experience45

in deprived districts in Hong Kong, and play services in primary schools inHefei, Anhui Province in Mainland China.
Promoting good practice for play
Creating play opportunities for children is important, but equally important is to support adults that have influence on children’s play. It is aboutknowledge sharing and partnership. As a member of the International PlayAssociation, Playright has gained access to international practices and standards. We are blessed to be able to act locally and think globally. At present, Playright has developed three professional hubs and offered workshops
and training courses to support the development of children’s play in HongKong.
On Play and Playwork , we have developed and offered the followingcourses:• Playwork Induction Course;• Foundation Certificate in Play and Playwork Course;• Certificate in Playwork Course (partnered with Common Threadsof UK); and• Playwork Diploma Course (partnered with Common Threads ofUK).

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On Play Environments, we have organized the following courses:• National Recreation and Park Association (npra) Certified
Playground Safety Inspector Course & Exam (partnered withInternational Playground Safety Institute (ipsi) of usa);• Playground Maintenance Course (partnered with ipsi of usa); and• Playground Safety Induction Course.

On Hospital Play, we have collaborated with the University of Hong
Kong - School of Professional and Continuing Education (hku space), toprovide the Certificate in Theory and Practice of Hospital Play.
Of all the three professional hubs, we also offer tailor-made training
or workshops for different professional groups. We organize conferences
and symposiums to facilitate play knowledge sharing. The latest ones are
the “play for all” Symposium and “Designing play spaces for children oftoday”.
To empower adults to develop appropriate play provisions and playfriendly environments for children, our Play Environment Consultancy
Services, Playground Safety Inspection Service, and many research projects,etc. have played an important role in promoting safe and inclusive play facilities to international standards. We hope that more and more Hong Kong

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children, whatever their age, ability, background or ethnicity, can play freely
and happily in an environment well suited to their needs.
Inspiring a play-accepting culture
Each child has the right to play, and we argue passionately for this fundamental entitlement to be supported and protected on all fronts. At the international level, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child(uncrc) adopted General Comment no.17, on Article 31 in February 2013.
This provides us with a strong instrument to promote, protect and fulfill
this essential right, which is often neglected. It is an opportune time for us
to renew our efforts together for the promotion of play for all children at all
times in all places using the General Comment no. 17 of uncrc as the basis.
At the local level, our advocacy effort grows even stronger through advocacy campaign and partnership. On 17 November 2013, tens of thousandsof children were accompanied by parents to join Playright’s Cheer for Playevent at Chater Road, Central of Hong Kong. This date was chosen to celebrate the Rights of Children in November 1989. The campaign also aims
at inspiring mindset change and letting adults hear the voice of children. It
has been Playright’s annual flagship event to raise public awareness on theimportance of play.

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Building effective partnerships have maximized the impact of advocacy
campaigns to lead changes to a wider community. For the past years, wehave partnered with Disneyland Hong Kong to advocate for the Community
Built Playground development. The impact has soon grown from a two-day
play event to partnering with a government department in providing thesame play experiences to a wider group of parents.
The partnership with unicef hk in advocating Inclusive Playgrounddevelopment in Hong Kong is also worth mentioning. The campaign has
extended from a research project to the present education and design competition campaign that engaged major playground-related professionalgroups. We have yet to see the actual impact, but are glad to see a wider
acceptance on children’s play.
Conclusion
As a leading play advocate, Playright has continuously tried to change society’s indifference to the importance of play and has genuinely placed thebest interests of the child first. We are glad to see that play is a much morepervasive community issue now compared to the situation twenty-sevenyears ago. However, barriers to play still exist. Policies on planning, open
space, housing and traffic, hospitals, schools and childcare have a direct effect on opportunities to play. We have to work hard collaboratively to foster
environments and attitudes that support children’s play.
When we value play, we value children. Let us put children’s play on
the agenda, and recognize that having time, resources and good places forplay are of paramount importance to children, their families and our entire
community.
References
Cheung, C. H. F. 2011. “How should the children spend their summer vacation?” (inChinese). Sing Tao Dally, 13 July 2011.
Committee on the Rights of the Child. 1989. United Nations Convention on theRights of the Child. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights. Retrieved from www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm.
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 2011. Press release of Leisure and Cultural
Services Department on February 2011: Inclusive play equipment for enjoyment by all children. Retrieved from www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201102/06/
P201102020179.htm.

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Ming Pao Daily. 2009. “40% children felt stress with extra-curricula activities.” Ming
Pao Daily, 26 September 2009.
Newstead, S. 2011. The Buskers Guide to Playwork. 2nd edition. Eastleigh: Common
Threads Publications Ltd.
Playright. 2008. Playright’s 20th anniversary: Say yes to play! Hong Kong: PlayrightChildren’s Play Association.
Playwork Principles Scrutiny Group. 2005. The Playwork Principles. Retrieved fromwww.playwales.org.uk.
Russell, W., & Lester, S. 2009. Children’s Right to Play: An Examination of theImportance of Play in the Lives of Children Worldwide (summary) International
Play Association: Promoting the Child’s Right to Play.
Tang, H. W. 2008a. Survey Report on Hong Kong Parents’ View towards the Patternof their Children’s Solitary Playtime and Playtime with Playmates. Hong Kong:Playright Children’s Play Association.
Tang, H. W. 2008b. Survey Report on Parents’ View towards the Pattern of Parentchild Playtime. Hong Kong : Playright Children’s Play Association.
The Hong Kong Economic Times. 2011. “Too many extra-curricular for children.” (InChinese). The Hong Kong Economic Times, 11 April 2011.
Wan, H. S. 2009. Report on Views of Parents of Disabled Children as to Play
Requirements and Challenges arising from Play. Hong Kong: Playright Children’sPlay Association & Rehabilitation Alliance of Hong Kong.
Wong, K. 2007. “Play in a teening city: the Hong Kong Case.” In Tom Janbar and Jan
Van Gils, Editors, Several perspectives on Children’s Play: Scientific Reflections
for Practitioners. Antwerp: Garant Publishers.
Yip, C. 1999. Report on Study on Play Pattern of Hong Kong Primary School Children.
Hong Kong: Playright Children’s Play Association.
Yuen, H. C. 2010. Report on Views of Playground Stakeholders Towards theDevelopment of Public Playgrounds and the Concept of Play Inclusion in HongKong. Hong Kong : Playright Children’s Play Association.