Picnic in the Park
Join us in Melbourne Park from Monday 27 to Friday 31 July for free family fun.
Play in the Park Facebook page
Sadly, we have lost access to our Play in the Park page on Facebook, so you should not rely on any information published there. Instead, you can find the latest information on this website or follow our Facebook page for Community Sport and Wellbeing.
Play in the Park
Play in the Park (PitP) is a series of free, two-hour multi-activity sessions run for children at community and parish venues during the Easter and summer holidays.
Play in the Park runs at multiple community venues during the Easter and summer school holidays, for children aged between three and 11.
Children can join our playworkers to play, create and take part in fun sports, games and craft activities at a park near you. Some sessions also feature additional activities such as inflatables or parkour.
Sessions are suitable for everyone, including those with accessible needs. Please call our team on 01245 606569 if you need any further information.
You can view a list of all our upcoming summer dates, and you can click on the venue name for location details. You can also search and filter the list by area or date.
Places for the sand art and slime making sessions are limited to 100 places. We will issues tickets for these activities at the registration desk on a first come, first served basis.
Morning sessions run from 10am to 12pm and afternoon sessions run from 1pm to 3pm.
Dawson Memorial Field
- Venue
- Dawson Memorial Field
- Area
- Danbury
- Date
- Monday 3 August
- Sessions
- AM only
- Extras
- Inflatable kids kingdom with 1st2Bounce
Chelmer Village Green
- Venue
- Chelmer Village Green
- Area
- Chelmer Village
- Date
- Monday 3 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Face painting with Moving Canvas (both sessions)
John Galley Memorial Ground
- Area
- Boreham
- Date
- Tuesday 4 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Fun fair games and inflatable assault course with 1st2Bounce; face festival glitter with Let’s Get Crafty; crafts and sensory stations with Huggles Hub (all available at both sessions)
Chelmer Village Green
- Venue
- Chelmer Village Green
- Area
- Chelmer Village
- Date
- Tuesday 4 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Parkour with Team Kinetix (both sessions)
Great Leighs Village Green
- Area
- Great Leighs
- Date
- Wednesday 5 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Mobile zoo with Animal Workshops (morning only); giant bubbles with Moving Canvas (afternoon only)
Springfield Parish Centre
- Area
- Springfield
- Date
- Wednesday 5 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Inflatable assault course and soft play centre with 1st2Bounce (both sessions)
Great Baddow Recreation Ground
- Area
- Great Baddow
- Date
- Thursday 6 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Inflatable fun fair carousel and dodgem cars with 1st2Bounce; Great Baddow coin hoard activity with Museum of Chelmsford (both available at both sessions)
Chelmer Village Green
- Venue
- Chelmer Village Green
- Area
- Chelmer Village
- Date
- Thursday 6 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Storytelling with Mike Dodsworth (both sessions)
Oaklands Park
- Venue
- Oaklands Park
- Area
- Central Chelmsford
- Date
- Friday 7 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Storytelling with Mike Dodsworth; inflatable fun fair carousel with 1st2Bounce; crafts and sensory stations with Huggles Hub; Great Baddow coin hoard activity with Museum of Chelmsford; tennis coaching with Chelmsford Tennis Academy (all available at both sessions)
Great Leighs Village Green
- Area
- Great Leighs
- Date
- Friday 7 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Inflatable Helter Skelter with 1stBounce (both sessions)
| Venue | Area | Date | Sessions | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawson Memorial Field | Danbury | Monday 3 August | AM only | Inflatable kids kingdom with 1st2Bounce |
| Chelmer Village Green | Chelmer Village | Monday 3 August | AM and PM | Face painting with Moving Canvas (both sessions) |
| John Galley Memorial Ground | Boreham | Tuesday 4 August | AM and PM | Fun fair games and inflatable assault course with 1st2Bounce; face festival glitter with Let’s Get Crafty; crafts and sensory stations with Huggles Hub (all available at both sessions) |
| Chelmer Village Green | Chelmer Village | Tuesday 4 August | AM and PM | Parkour with Team Kinetix (both sessions) |
| Great Leighs Village Green | Great Leighs | Wednesday 5 August | AM and PM | Mobile zoo with Animal Workshops (morning only); giant bubbles with Moving Canvas (afternoon only) |
| Springfield Parish Centre | Springfield | Wednesday 5 August | AM and PM | Inflatable assault course and soft play centre with 1st2Bounce (both sessions) |
| Great Baddow Recreation Ground | Great Baddow | Thursday 6 August | AM and PM | Inflatable fun fair carousel and dodgem cars with 1st2Bounce; Great Baddow coin hoard activity with Museum of Chelmsford (both available at both sessions) |
| Chelmer Village Green | Chelmer Village | Thursday 6 August | AM and PM | Storytelling with Mike Dodsworth (both sessions) |
| Oaklands Park | Central Chelmsford | Friday 7 August | AM and PM | Storytelling with Mike Dodsworth; inflatable fun fair carousel with 1st2Bounce; crafts and sensory stations with Huggles Hub; Great Baddow coin hoard activity with Museum of Chelmsford; tennis coaching with Chelmsford Tennis Academy (all available at both sessions) |
| Great Leighs Village Green | Great Leighs | Friday 7 August | AM and PM | Inflatable Helter Skelter with 1stBounce (both sessions) |
- To guarantee your space, you must book your free tickets in advance.
- If you arrive at a session without booking, we may have to turn you away if there are no spaces.
- There will be a maximum of 300 children in each session.
- Spaces for each session are on a first-come-first-served basis.
All children must be supervised (within the park / venue grounds) by a responsible adult, parent or guardian throughout the whole session. This is to ensure the safety of all children at our sessions.
We will not be responsible for any child who attends or is left at a session on their own.
You must only book the sessions that you are definitely planning to attend. We have plenty of capacity and are very rarely fully booked. You can book a session on the day if you wish.
If you do have to cancel your booking, you should do this at least 24 hours in advance. If you cancel after this time, or do not show up for a Play in the Park session that you have booked, we reserve the right to remove any future bookings you have made and ultimately block your access to the booking system.
You can cancel your booking by contacting us via TicketSource or by emailing playinthepark@chelmsford.gov.uk
- You cannot drop your child off and leave them at the session unattended. A responsible adult, parent or guardian has to stay with your child.
- You need to book tickets for any children attending, but you do not need to book any adult tickets.
- Some (but not all) sessions will have extra activities available also for free. You don't need to book these activities, but some may have a capacity limit, so we recommend you arrive early to grab a space.
