#ThisIsReal

Adventure play is alive and well!

#ThisIsReal

Adventure play is alive and well!

#ThisIsReal

Adventure play is alive and well!

#ThisIsReal

Adventure play is alive and well!

#ThisIsReal

Adventure play is alive and well!

#ThisIsReal

Adventure play is alive and well!

#ThisIsReal

Adventure play is alive and well!

#ThisIsReal

In the Summer of 2015 adventure playgrounds were in the news… as an art form! (Glasgow – Turner prize) we felt that we needed to remind people that children were alive and well playing in adventure playgrounds and the #ThisIsReal campaign was born.

The idea has been to show that adventure play is alive and well and offers opportunities for sharing what children’s play can really look like (shocking fact: there are no pictures of screen play).

The campaign has been running since summer 2015. It was developed as a small pilot idea and has grown with many fantastic images and videos. Now people can see that adventure playgrounds are not just in black and white photos from the 1970’s but are real and kicking in the 21st century. Providing places where children from some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country play.

Islington has 12 adventure playgrounds in a borough with the 2nd least public green space in London. Islington Play Association has supported and fought for these places since the early 1970’s. The council has paid for these places even when they had to make huge cuts elsewhere. This is because they are real places where real children play 5 days a week all year round.