Asda Milton Keynes’s Community Champion Suzanna Thorn hosted a BBC Children in Need fundraising event in store last Friday (Friday 17 November.)
The theme of the activities were centred around BBC Children in Need and Asda’s new campaign – ‘the Power of Play’, which champions the importance of play in child development and aims to inspire new ideas for play using everyday household items – and a little imagination!
Suzanna Thorn, explains: ““This is Asda’s 17th year as proud supporters of BBC Children in Need and I was delighted to host activities in Milton Keynes. We had lots of different games for adults and kids to get involved in, including tombola, Pudsey colouring in activity sheets and childhood favourite – noughts and crosses – as well as prizes up for grabs!
“The Community Board in store also had eight Playcards, free to customers, which showed them how to create easy and fun games, to play with their children, from everyday items found in the supermarket.
“From making musical instruments and building dens to creating a farm scene and space station – we had it covered!”
To coincide with the Power of Play campaign, new research gathered online by YouGov* on behalf of BBC Children in Need and Asda, has revealed playing on a computer, games console, tablet or mobile phone is the most popular way to play, followed by watching TV, according to both parents and children aged 6-12 years old.
More than half of parents (52%) said their children don’t play as much as they did when they were young and nearly three quarters of parents (73%) say they played more outside than their children. Although 55% of children say they prefer to play outside, over a third of parents (34%) said they felt that it was safer for their children to play indoors and 32% said that there is more for children to do indoors nowadays.
In the children’s poll, playing on a computer, tablet, games console or mobile phone came out on top as the most popular way to play, chosen by 84% of children, followed by watching TV, chosen by 73%.
BBC Children in Need’s Chief Executive, Simon Antrobus, said: “For some children, opportunities to play can be limited, and yet play is a fundamental building block in children’s development. Through the projects we fund, we’ve seen what a positive difference play makes to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people.
“Play can help children overcome challenges that they are facing, whilst also improving their confidence and self-esteem; increasing their physical activity; enabling them to build friendships; and helping them to develop social skills.”
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