Get people on board - you can’t do this alone!

Make sure at least one or two other parents, neighbours or family is signed up to help out. It’s always good to have a second pair of hands to help, so talk to your friends and neighbours to see who’s interested. You can share our Guidebook with everyone so they know just how easy this idea is to do.

Call into your neighbours to let them know your idea. You could set up an online message group to decide which day and time would work best. Once that’s agreed, keep messages to a minimum online and set up a smaller core team to run the event.

Designate a play space on your street. Make sure it’s reasonably traffic free, with few access points and will be welcoming to everyone.

Set your dates, confirm people’s roles and move on to step 2 :)

Register your Playful Street

Register your Playful Street here on the Changex platform . This means you'll have your very own event page that you can share with neighbours and friends, you can use it to organise ahead of your event, spread the word and share photos of the day. You can get lots more tips and advice at any time over on aplayfulcity.com and keep up to date with what's happening all over the country on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Opening your street to play with help from your neighbours, local Guards and/or local Council.

By running your Playful Street you’ll be encouraging everyone to respect our streets like we would our homes and ensure everyone feels welcome. Try to generate a sense of shared responsibility for making sure the sessions are safe.

For your very first Playful Street preparation really is key but, once you do it once it's childsplay! There are a number of practical ways to create a safe and fun space for children to play out on their streets, all of which you can check out in our Guidebook.

Tell everyone - sure it’ll be no craic at all if no one knows about it

Here are some suggestions:

• Call into your neighbours to let them know about your Playful Street. Bring a flyer.
• Social media is a great way to share info and get people excited about your Playful Street.
• Let your inner artist out and design your own invitations! Encourage children to help out with this
• We all have a neighbour who knows everyone - make sure they know about your Playful Street too!
• Poster & flyer your street and all the local schools, businesses, creches etc.
• Let the kids on the street know, they’ll tell their parents :)
• And don’t forget to tell us your story! Call us, write to us, tag us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram and tell us where and why you are doing your Playful Street.

Go out and play

Remember to brief your stewards before the session starts. You’ll find a stewards brief in the links below.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Chalk is always the answer!
• Remember Tip the Can, Red Rover Red Rover?! Show the kids the games you used to play Hopscotch.... The whole way up the street !
• Encourage kids to bring out their bikes, balls, scooters, skipping ropes....favourite stick
• Chalk is always the answer!
• Stand back adults and take some time for yourself, kids are the play experts.
• For children, sometimes the game is figuring out the game. Leave them at it.
• Fancy dolling the place up? -bunting !

AND WHILE YOU’RE AT IT ...

Capture and share all the special moments of your Playful Street ! Photos are a great way to look back and remember the good times, but they also help to get people excited about what you’re doing and can inspire others to follow your lead. Use your social media savvy, share your pics and let others celebrate your day with you - & don’t forget to link your photos with A Playful City on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so we can help inspire others too :) A simple video of your Playful Street will also help to encourage neighbours to get involved the next time. Be sure to share your video with us! Make sure you get permission!

Check out your full Guidebook, loads of other great resources and Aplayfulcity.com for all the additional templates and inspriation you'll need.