Better Place
The Better Place project has been working together with local people to improve outdoor spaces for families with young children in our area of Bradford.
The Better Place Bradford team has been working its magic across parks, pocket parks, community centres, streets and green spaces all across Bowling and Barkerend, Bradford Moor and Little Horton for families with children aged 0-3.
This video showcases the difference Better Place Bradford have been making:
Check out the map below to see locations of improved spaces and click on the links under the map to discover what you can find at each park to start your outdoor adventures together today!
About Better Place
Better Place is identifying and overseeing improvements to local parks and outdoor spaces with the aim of providing a healthier and happier environment for babies, young children and families. The project is also finding ways to reduce exposure to harmful traffic fumes for pregnant women and small children.
The Better Place project is a Better Start Bradford project that is being delivered in collaboration with Bradford Council, Bradford Trident, Groundwork, Public Health, voluntary and community sector groups and local people.
Check out our events and activities page to find out what outdoor activities are happening for families with 0-3s across in Bowling and Barkerend, Bradford Moor and Little Horton.
Start your adventure here...
There's so much to do at Bowling Park thanks to the Better Place team. Whizz around the wheelie track on your trike. Play hide and seek in the sand pit huts. See which creatures you can spot in The Roughs.
Are you ready to have an adventure in the natural play area? Or you can whoosh down the slide into the pond with shining mosaic fish and run around the giant duck, badger and mole before hiding in the wiggly worm!
There's so much to do at Horton Park thanks to the Better Place team. Whizz around the sculptures and across the bridge on your trike. See what you can build in the sandpit.
There's so much to do at Myra Shay thanks to the Better Place team. Play hide and seek in the growing forest with your little ones. Roll down the mounds. See if you can name all of the different species of trees.
There's so much to do at Peel Park thanks to the Better Place team. Dare you climb up the spider's web to whoosh down the spider's slippery slide? And then clamber over the higgledy piggledy logs into the sand pit!
There's much fun to be had in Pocket Parks thanks to Better Place. Visit Attock Park to see if you can spot the sea creature sculptures or zoom down the Mayfield Centre slide before visiting the little free library.
Playful routes to explore...
You can find the playful routes below marked in the paler blue on the map at the top of this page.
Beech Grove Greenway is a stretch of green space providing a route through to the city centre from Beech Grove Park. It is now more attractive, fun and safe for families with young children. Find out more here...
Never has walking along a street been so much fun! Better Place have worked their magic on Folkestone Street - there's so much to see as you hop, skip and jump along the path, you will want to do it over and over again!
Local families and their little ones are enjoying walking to Canterbury Nursery via Kettlewell Snicket. They are hopping over the alphabet stepping-stones, playing hopscotch and saying hello to the giant ladybird!
More Better Place magic...
Oh, and let's not forget the Little Free Libraries that are popping up everywhere!
There's so much fun to be had in outside spaces of local community centres. Whether it is following a sensory foot trail, transporting sand or getting arty on blackboards and paving, there's something for every toddler.
The Little Free Libraries is an initiative that brings greater access to books for very young children. Find out where your nearest Little Free Library is.
Annabel Mason, Senior Project Officer for Better Start Bradford’s Better Place programme, shares the extensive work that the team have been doing in the community to improve air quality.
Better Place Improvements to Nursery School Outdoor Spaces
The Better Place project have been working their magic across primary school and community centre outdoor nursery play areas by installing play equipment, dens, planting areas, sensory gardens, all-weather surfaces and much more at ten nursery sites across the Better Start Bradford area, Bowling and Barkerend, Bradford Moor and Little Horton.
Better Place has invested £200,000 into these transformations across Bradford nursery sites, with financial support and collaboration from the nursery schools, Fruitworks, the Tree for Every Child project and Public Health England.
Better Place Outdoor Project Fund
The Better Place Outdoor Project Fund has been set up to help small organisations and groups to apply for funding up to £500 to develop outdoor projects for expectant parents and families with 0-3s, at outside spaces already developed by Better Place, within the Better Start Bradford area.
Projects should help expectant parents and families with 0-3s do one or more of the following:
- Use and enjoy Better Place outside spaces in all seasons
- Develop pride and community ownership of Better Place outside spaces
- Take part in fun outdoor activities using Better Place outside spaces
- Improve mental health and well-being using Better Place outside spaces
Better Place Sculpture Trail Map
Looking for a fun activity to do with your toddlers that combines getting outside, having fun and a twist of arty creativeness? Then look no further than our Better Place project's Sculpture Trail!
You may have noticed that all across the Better Start Bradford area, a range of exciting animal sculptures for little ones to explore are popping up across our parks and even in snickets!
The Better Place team have put together a fabulous map for you to explore the sculptures and even draw your favourite one.
By taking part you will come across many animals including a giant ladybird, frog, hedgehog, butterfly, snail and much more. You will be able to make crayon rubbings, hop along stepping stones and even roll a marble around a spiral! You will also be able to say hello to an owl, a boar, a squirrel and meet Goldilocks' BFFs - the three bears!
Better Place Family Nature Journal
The Better Place team have created a nature journal for your little ones to complete while they are outside exploring and learning about the great outdoors.
This free printable nature journal will allow them to have fun whilst learning about the world around them. They can write in it, draw in it and colour in it. They can even stick things that they find or photos that they take in it.
Download your nature journal today.
Outdoor activities to do at home
Have lots of fun with little ones at home with these outdoor spring activities.
Have lots of fun in the sun at home with these outdoor summer activities.
Have lots of fun with falling leaves with these outdoor autumn activities.
Get those woolies on and you can have lots of fun outside in the colder months.
The Better Place project is supported and delivered by…
Further reading...
Over the past couple of months, the Better Place team have been taking local families with 0-3s outside of the Better Start Bradford area to inspire and stimulate their creativity and outdoor experiences.
Better Place have been successful in securing £500 from the Morley Glass GreenVision Fund towards their Nature Nurture project to work with local families to build habitat boxes to act as nature's stepping stones.
Annabel Mason, Senior Project Officer for Better Start Bradford’s Better Place programme, shares the extensive work that the team have been doing in the community to improve air quality.
A small overgrown street corner, next to the West Bowling Advice Centre in BD5, has been transformed into a vibrant community garden thanks to the efforts of local organisations and the community.
On 15 November 2024, Holding Time and Better Place Bradford unveiled the Holding Time Chair at a launch event in Bowling Park during Baby Week Bradford.
Mum of twins aged 3, Ahwasia, found it quite daunting getting out and about with her twins, but thanks to the organised activities set up by Better Place, she decided to give it a go and never looked back!
Our Better Place project shares the five steps the team worked through with local communities to co-design and refresh urban green spaces all across the Better Start Bradford area.
If it's cold outside, it can be tempting to keep your little ones warm indoors. But there are still many ways you and your young children can continue to enjoy the outdoors whatever the weather!
Better Place has launched its Better Place Outdoor Project Fund, available for small groups and organisations to apply for funding to run projects at Better Place outdoor spaces.
Myra Shay recreation ground will soon be humming to the sounds of active children and families, and wildlife, thanks to a project delivered in collaboration with Better Place and Bradford Volunteer Doulas.
We spent five minutes with Haleema Khathoon, Senior Community Engagement Lead for our Better Place project, who chatted to us all about the outdoor activities that they run for expectant parents and families with 0-3s.
Mum of two, Charlotte tells us why she loves outdoor play and what value it has brought into hers and her daughters’ lives thanks to our Better Place project.
The Little Free Libraries is an initiative that brings greater access to books for very young children. Read how Better Place and Better Start Imagine are working together to install 8 Little Free Libraries in our area.
On Wednesday 19 June, Get Out More CIC and the Better Start Bradford team celebrated six years of the Forest School Play Project with an event (fittingly) outside in Bowling Park.
Better Place project have been working their magic across nursery and community centre outdoor play areas by installing play equipment, dens, planting areas, sensory gardens, all-weather surfaces and much more.
Thanks to our Better Place project the Neighbourhood Resource Centre on Ventnor Street now has a new beautiful outdoor play and garden space for the whole community to enjoy.