How important is play?

6 Minute English

BBC

Language Learning, Education

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We all remember playgrounds when we were children – slides, swings, climbing frames. But have you heard of the new playgrounds which are designed to include things that others might consider junk... like old tyres and wooden pallets! Pippa and Phil discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:05.5	Do you know someone who is starting to learn English?
0:10.0	We have a new easy video series just for them, the London Letter Challenge.
0:17.1	Three teams race around London to find eight letters, which will take them to the winning crowns.
0:24.2	Watch the series on our websites now, BBClearningEnglish.com.
0:32.0	Six-minute English from BBC learningenglish.com.
0:39.3	Hello, this is Six-Minute English from BBC learning English.com. Hello, this is Six Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Pippa.
0:43.9	And I'm Phil. What was your favourite game when you were a child, Pippa?
0:47.8	I think my favourite game was skipping with a skipping rope. How about you?
0:52.9	Well, I could never skip, so I think I just preferred playing football.
0:56.9	Ah, well, that's a good game to play in the playground.
0:59.6	80 years ago, it was quite common for children in Britain's cities to play in bomb sites,
1:05.5	the ruins of houses which had been destroyed in World War II.
1:09.8	Today, the idea is back in fashion,
1:12.5	with kids playing not in bomb sites, but in junk playgrounds,
1:16.7	also called adventure playgrounds.
1:18.9	In contrast to pre-made playgrounds where swings and slides are fixed in place,
1:23.7	adventure playgrounds provide pieces of building materials
1:26.6	for kids to build things themselves.
1:29.4	Reporter William Kramer went to see one such playground in Wrexham, North Wales, for BBC
1:35.0	World Service Programme, People Fixing the World. At first glance, the land is little more than a junkyard.
1:41.6	There are stacks of used wooden pallets and big reels for holding wires.
	...

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