YORK is paving the way for children to play happily in the street again.

Children who might have spent Saturday afternoon sitting in front of a video game or watching TV enjoyed hours of healthy outdoor activity by converging on The Groves in York to celebrate Playday.

Parents turned out in force to watch their children build dens, play with water, run in a good old-fashioned sack or egg and spoon race – or just get messy.

Saturday’s event was targeted at primary age youngsters – but organisers were delighted to see pre-schoolers and teenagers also come out to join in the fun.

Coun Janet Locker, City of York Council’s education chief, underlined there was no need for health and safety to get in the way of children’s enjoyment of the Great Outdoors.

She said: “I always find if you let children get on with it they know what they can and can’t do safely. There is not much harm they can come to in a sack race apart from falling over – and that’s all part of learning how to get on with life.”

Parent Alyson Christy said: “I thought it was fabulous. There were so many things down there that the children could do and they thought it was absolutely great.

“You have to keep an eye on them sometimes, but I think it is so important for children to play outside.”

Mark Gladwin, one of the organisers, said: “There is a lot of wringing of hands about how children do not play out as much as they used to. So this was intended as an antidote to all that.”

A variety of organisations teamed up to stage the Big York Playday 2013, which included go-karting, space hopper races, and cave painting on large canvases on the street.

There was full beach or sand play, water features for both play and scientific experiments, and part of Brownlow Street was closed to traffic for the event, which ran from 1pm to 6pm, backed by York Council and Door 84 Youth Centre.

Other activities included penalty shoot-outs, boccia, arts and crafts, banner making, dressing up, street theatre, parachute games, and a children’s corner for the under-fives.

The long-term aim is to encourage children to play out more, and their parents to let them – amid growing concerns about the decline in children’s outdoor play, and the harmful effects of this on health and well-being.

The official national date for Playday was Wednesday, but the York event was held on Saturday because local experience showed a weekend would attract a better turnout.