What children say about play in Wales: 2025

Author: Dr David Dallimore
Date: October 2025

In this research report, 7,924 children and teenagers tell us about how satisfied they are about their opportunities to play in their local area. Written by Dr David Dallimore, What children say about play in Wales: 2025 presents a picture of children’s play satisfaction.

The report provides the opportunity for children and teenagers’ voices to be heard, highlighting:

• the importance of play in their lives
• what’s good and what’s not so good about the play opportunities in their local area
• how satisfied they are about when, how and where they can play.

To emphasise children’s voices throughout, it also features insightful quotes from children and teenagers of all ages from across Wales. Children overwhelmingly say that play is essential for their happiness, development and social life. The message from children is clear: they want more time, better spaces and greater freedom to play.

The majority of children value and enjoy their opportunities to play, but some groups of children stand-out in their reporting of low satisfaction with their play opportunities, including girls, disabled children and ethnic minority children.

This report has been created using data from local authorities’ Play Satisfaction Survey results. The survey is used by local authorities to consult with children and teenagers as part of their Play Sufficiency Assessments. Of the 22 local authorities, 16 were able to provide anonymised data in a format that could be used for this report. The report is supplemented by a qualitative analysis undertaken by Dr Michaela James and Dr Hope Jones from Swansea University.