Allowing children to play together should be a bigger priority than catching up on school work We now need a new public health message: children's play must not only be permitted, but positively encouraged, as soon as possible 15 February 2021 • 11:30am 'If we want children to develop and thrive they have to be able to play with each other' Credit: Getty Images The opening paragraph of a report by Play England, optimistically entitled “Play after Lockdown” could not be clearer: “One of the most toxic effects to come out of the current pandemic is the destructive impact it has had on children’s play; the spaces they play in, the degree of freedom they experience and their ability to choose what they do and how they do it.”