2025-26
PLAY
Our playful year-round programme for children and grown-ups.
Our packed calendar of family-friendly activities proved that you’re never too young for culture – or too old for play.
PLAY has been our year-round programme of free events and activities for children and their grown-ups. Throughout 2025, we invited people across the district to take part in playful interventions and magical moments of discovery – presented in partnership with Play Bradford and co-produced with artists, architects, designers, theatre makers and local communities.
Activity in schools continues into 2026, ensuring that PLAY remains a joyful invitation to explore, imagine and take part.
PLAY events in 2025
Look back on our year of PLAY in 2025.
On display now
Balancing Acts
Sam Shendi
A bespoke, playful structure created to celebrate the community and history of BD5.
8–9 & 15–23 Feb 2025
Grue
Wintercroft & ARCADE
A wintry world built by the people of Bradford.
Apr & Aug 2025
The Great Adventure Build
Woodland Tribe
Children and young people came together to build the playground of their dreams!
25 - 31 May 2025
RedBall Project
Kurt Perschke
The longest-running street art project in the world came to the UK City of Culture.
Intergenerational Play
This pioneering programme, created with Bradford’s Linking Network, showed that there’s no age limit to play.
Think playing was just for kids? Think again. We brought together pupils from 20 Bradford primary schools with residents of 20 nearby care homes – and invited them to come together and play.
The two generations began by exploring the idea of ‘play’ in their own environments, before joining up to play together. These unique interactions were designed to promote social inclusion and foster strong relationships between young and old, encouraging new connections that bridged the multi-generation gap – with clear benefits for the wellbeing of everyone involved.
25 Things to Do in Bradford
We teamed up with 50 Things to Do to create our very own list of 25 family-friendly activities for 2025.
Taking families on an adventure across Bradford District, we picked 25 different locations where fun was guaranteed.
And you can still join in! Check the 50 Things to Do website and explore our map of 25 Things to Do, celebrating the best of Bradford’s diverse culture, architecture, landscapes and more.
Ready… Steady… Go!
Play Bradford
Keeping Bradford playfulPlay Bradford are passionate about using adventure play as a vehicle for social change. Find out more about what they do and how they’re making play happen anywhere and everywhere.
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Play Bradford are passionate about using adventure play as a vehicle for social change. Find out more about what they do and how they’re making play happen anywhere and everywhere.
