To ensure every child enjoys the 'holiday vibes' without risk of heat exhaustion or sunburn, use this quick checklist before every outdoor play session:
Extra Prep on hotter days
Make sure you carry out these basic checks before you let the children onto the playground:
- The Tyre and Metal Touch-Test: hand-check all tyres and shiny metal objects, especially slides and ladders. If they’ve been in the sun all morning, move them to the shade before children arrive. Hose down anything hot.
- Pop-Up Shade check: make sure all event shelters, sails, parasols, and 'den-style' tarps over climbing frames are safe enough. Provide lots more material for the children to make their own shady spots.
- The Golf Umbrella Patrol: If you have a store of golf umbrellas, distribute them across the site—they are perfect for providing mobile shade for "promenading" groups. Umbrellas ping easily and have sharp edges so it would be advisable to do a snap PLAY ASSEMBLY to update your Risk Management. With careful management, you may decide the benefits outweigh the risks. You know the children to be aware of.
- Shade-making fun: If you don't feel confident with umbrellas, make sure loose parts like duvet covers, light cotton, saris, sarongs, and tarps are available in abundance to create giant shady dens.
Hydration & Cooling Stations
- Set up a Hydration Hub: dedicated outdoor drinks table/s with spare jugs and cups for those who forget their bottles.
- Bring out water play equipment: make foot baths in tuff trays, prep spray bottles for cooling clouds of water vapour, and lay out 'puddle frames' for barefoot splashing.
- Ice Supply: ice cubes or 'ice balloons' cool hands; spread some out in shaded tuff trays for larger groups.
- Wet towels: piles of towels for children (and staff!) to soak and lay across necks, back of knees and over heads.
Supervision & Routine
- Timing review: Confirm if the long break can be moved to 10AM to take advantage of cooler mornings.
- Activity rota: Ensure high-energy activities like football are strictly limited and keep a close eye on anyone with high energy spikes.
- Uniform check: Confirm all children have sunhats (ideally wide-brimmed) and that parents have applied sun cream. Goes without saying that this should be a PE kit/t-shirt and shorts/sundresses. Ditch the jumpers! even the new Y6 leavers hoody!
First aid must-knows
And lastly - ensure EVERYONE knows the early indicators of heat illness that require immediate intervention:
- Behaviour changes: Sudden confusion, extreme irritability, lethargy, or unresponsiveness.
- Physical Red Flags: Hot/flushed skin, severe headache, dizziness, fainting, vomiting, or rapid breathing/heartbeat.
- Infant-specific: Dry mouth, eyes without tears, fewer wet diapers, or dark-coloured urine.
- Critical alerts: High body temperature (104°F/40°C+) or absence of sweating indicate a medical emergency.
It's very unlikely, but always best to know! ANY concerns and you cool them down, get in shade, hydrate and, in an emergency, call 999.
