Cardiff Youth Council helps shape how the city talks about play
Cardiff is taking its next step towards becoming a more child-friendly city, with young people helping to shape how the Vision for Play is communicated to communities across the capital.
In a recent engagement session, Cardiff Youth Council (CYC) worked with officers to explore how the Vision for Play can be shared more effectively with a wide range of audiences — from children and families to professionals and decision-makers. The session focused on how to promote, protect and respect every child’s right to play across the city.
Young people took on the role of different audiences, considering how each group would want to hear about play. These included local authority officers, third and voluntary sector providers, children of different ages, and parents and caregivers.
The exercise generated a wide range of ideas, highlighting that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to communication. Instead, participants emphasised the importance of tailoring messages to different audiences — recognising that children, families, and professionals all engage with information about play in different ways.
This insight will directly inform the ongoing development of Cardiff’s Vision for Play, ensuring it is not only ambitious in its aims, but accessible, engaging and meaningful to those it is designed to support.
The Vision for Play will continue to be drafted, consulted on and promoted throughout 2026, with further opportunities for children, young people, partners and communities to shape its direction.
Celebrating play across Cardiff this summer
This latest work comes as Cardiff prepares to celebrate a summer of play, with events and campaigns highlighting the importance of children’s right to play.
National Playday 2026
National Playday — the UK’s annual celebration of children’s right to play — will take place on Wednesday 5 August 2026, bringing together communities across the country to champion the importance of play in children’s lives. In Cardiff, celebrations will begin early, with a free community event hosted by Cardiff Children’s Play Services on:
· Wednesday 29 July 2026
· 13:00 – 16:00
· Trelai Park, Ely
Families can expect a wide range of fun, inclusive activities including games, sports, t-shirt making, a silent disco, youth services, den building and more. The event will also connect families with local services and community support.
Playday is celebrated each year across the UK as both a day of fun and a national campaign to highlight the importance of play for children’s health, wellbeing and development.
Additional events and activities will take place across the week leading up to Playday, reinforcing a key message: children need time, space and permission to play all year round, not just on one day.
International Day of Play – 11 June
Earlier in the summer, organisations across Wales will also mark the International Day of Play on 11 June, a global initiative recognising the vital role of play in every child’s life. This year, Play Wales — alongside the International Play Association (IPA) network — is encouraging schools to take part in the “Play 31 Challenge”, giving children an additional 31 minutes of play during the school day.
Inspired by Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the campaign highlights the fundamental right of every child to rest, relax and play, and calls for greater recognition of play within education and wider society.
A city-wide commitment to children’s right to play
Across these initiatives, Cardiff’s Vision for Play is helping to bring together partners, communities and young people around a shared ambition: to create a city where all children can enjoy rich, everyday opportunities to play.
The recent involvement of Cardiff Youth Council reinforces a central principle — that children and young people must be at the heart of shaping not only what the city delivers, but how it communicates and champions their rights.
As work continues throughout 2026, Cardiff’s approach demonstrates a growing commitment to embedding play across policy, practice and everyday life — ensuring that every child has the chance to play, belong and thrive.