Scottish Parents' Survey 2021 - children and young people's play: results

3. Locations of children’s play in local area during last year

Parents were asked about the types of locations that their children played outside during the last year.

Of the parents whose children did play outside in the last year, the vast majority (91%) reported that their child had played in either their own garden or someone else’s during the past year. Other common locations were local open spaces (87%), play parks (79%) and, to a lesser extent, local streets (45%). Other locations were each selected by less than four per cent of parents. Figure 3.1 shows the responses to this question.

Unweighted Base: 964 (parents of children who have ever played outdoors in last year)^[4]

Parents of older children (aged 12-17) were less likely to report that their children played in gardens or play parks than parents of children in the 0-4 and 5-11 age groups. There were no meaningful differences by age for other locations.

Children from some households were, however, less likely to play in ‘other types of local open spaces like sports fields, skate parks, woods, grassy parks or beaches’:

• Parents with household incomes below £26,000 were less likely to report that their children had played in these spaces than parents with household incomes above £32,000 (69% of parents compared with between 89% and 95% of parents in higher household income brackets).
• Parents from the most deprived areas were less likely to report that their children had played in these spaces than parents from less deprived areas (75% of parents in SIMD 1 compared with between 91% and 94% of parents in SIMD 3 to 5).
• Parents with qualifications below degree level were less likely to report that their children had played in these spaces than parents educated to degree level or above (84% compared with 91%).