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.
Runwell Park
- Venue
- Runwell Park
- Area
- Runwell
- Date
- Monday 10 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Inflatable assault course, inflatable horse/hopper races and inflatable ferris wheel with 1st2Bounce; face painting and giant bubbles with Moving Canvas; craft station with Huggles Hub (all available at both sessions)
Taylor's Park (Little Waltham) Recreation Ground
- Area
- Little Waltham
- Date
- Monday 10 August
- Sessions
- AM only
- Extras
- None
Beaulieu Community Garden
- Area
- Garden Community
- Date
- Tuesday 11 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Inflatable pirate galleon with 1st2Bounce (both sessions)
Chelmer Park
- Venue
- Chelmer Park
- Area
- Galleywood
- Date
- Tuesday 11 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Tennis games (both sessions)
Priory Playing Field
- Venue
- Priory Playing Field
- Area
- Woodham Ferrers and Bicknacre
- Date
- Wednesday 12 August
- Sessions
- AM only
- Extras
- None
Great Leighs Village Green
- Area
- Great Leighs
- Date
- Wednesday 12 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Inflatable fun fair carousel with 1st2Bounce (both sessions)
Andrews Park
- Venue
- Andrews Park
- Area
- Central Chelmsford
- Date
- Thursday 13 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Dragonball with Dragonball Sports Ltd; inflatable play park with 1st2Bounce (both available at both sessions)
Great Baddow Recreation Ground
- Area
- Great Baddow
- Date
- Thursday 13 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Circus skills with Mister B and inflatable pirate galleon (both available at both sessions)
Melbourne Park
- Venue
- Melbourne Park
- Area
- Central Chelmsford
- Date
- Friday 14 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Slime making with Let’s Get Crafty; skateboarding and scooter lessons with Team Rubicon (both available at both sessions)
Central Park
- Venue
- Central Park
- Area
- Central Chelmsford
- Date
- Friday 14 August
- Sessions
- AM and PM
- Extras
- Giant bubbles with Moving Canvas; Parkour with Team Kinetix (both available at both sessions)
| Venue | Area | Date | Sessions | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runwell Park | Runwell | Monday 10 August | AM and PM | Inflatable assault course, inflatable horse/hopper races and inflatable ferris wheel with 1st2Bounce; face painting and giant bubbles with Moving Canvas; craft station with Huggles Hub (all available at both sessions) |
| Taylor's Park (Little Waltham) Recreation Ground | Little Waltham | Monday 10 August | AM only | None |
| Beaulieu Community Garden | Garden Community | Tuesday 11 August | AM and PM | Inflatable pirate galleon with 1st2Bounce (both sessions) |
| Chelmer Park | Galleywood | Tuesday 11 August | AM and PM | Tennis games (both sessions) |
| Priory Playing Field | Woodham Ferrers and Bicknacre | Wednesday 12 August | AM only | None |
| Great Leighs Village Green | Great Leighs | Wednesday 12 August | AM and PM | Inflatable fun fair carousel with 1st2Bounce (both sessions) |
| Andrews Park | Central Chelmsford | Thursday 13 August | AM and PM | Dragonball with Dragonball Sports Ltd; inflatable play park with 1st2Bounce (both available at both sessions) |
| Great Baddow Recreation Ground | Great Baddow | Thursday 13 August | AM and PM | Circus skills with Mister B and inflatable pirate galleon (both available at both sessions) |
| Melbourne Park | Central Chelmsford | Friday 14 August | AM and PM | Slime making with Let’s Get Crafty; skateboarding and scooter lessons with Team Rubicon (both available at both sessions) |
| Central Park | Central Chelmsford | Friday 14 August | AM and PM | Giant bubbles with Moving Canvas; Parkour with Team Kinetix (both available at 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.
