Government and agencies will have a duty to promote play

Education Minister Jane Davidson wants more done to encourage activity in the community to help children develop.

Schools will be encouraged to open playing fields out-of-hours, and the government and other agencies will have a duty to provide activities.

The Tories said the prime hinderance pf the development of many children was social injustice not play facilities.

The assembly government first set out a play policy for children in Wales in October 2002.

Children are to be 'compensated' for the loss of outdoor spaces

The action plan published on Wednesday - Play in Wales - said that play significantly contributes to children's development and outlines some concrete steps to implement the play policy.

As well as aiming to open playing fields outside school hours, the plan will promote adventure play as a way of compensating children for the loss of open spaces.

Launching the proposals at the Museum of Welsh Life, Ms Davidson said: "Wales was the first country in the UK to recognise that play is vital to children's development and that we should take every opportunity to support it."

Situations have changed for children which means that the opportunities for them to play freely may not occur as naturally as they did when we were younger Marianne Manello

She said the plan contributed "to the right for all children to enjoy a flying start in life".

"Learning through play starts at the beginning of a child's life but it should not stop there.

"Young people are valued members of the community whose needs should also be considered out of school," Ms Davidson added.

Marianne Manello, development officer for Play Wales, said it was the first time in a 20-year career she had seen a strategic approach to children's play on a governmental level.

"It's fair to say it's ground-breaking for a national government to be setting forward this plan for children."

But Mark Isherwood AM, the Conservative assembly spokesman on children's issues, said: "Telling children how, when and where to play is the ultimate expression of Labour's nanny state.