Welsh Government launches £7 million Summer of Fun

The Welsh Government has announced that its ‘Summer of Fun’ scheme, worth £7 million, returns for a second year to support children and young people across Wales.

Building on the success of last year’s Summer of Fun and Winter of Wellbeing, the scheme will run from July 1st until September 30th to support children and young people to take part in a range of sporting, cultural and play based activities.

The activities will be free and inclusive for children and young people aged 0-25, from all backgrounds and all parts of Wales, available in Welsh, English or bilingually.

Last summer over 67,500 children took part in Summer of Fun activities across Wales including music, theatre, sea-based sport activities, climbing and zip lining.

Following an independent evaluation, published in December, almost everyone attending last year reported having fun, 88% of participants reported that it helped them be more active and 73% felt it helped them manage their mental health.

Opportunities

Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan, added: “We originally launched Summer of Fun as a response to children missing out on opportunities to socialise in activities after the pandemic, but after seeing how successful it was, we chose to run the scheme again.

“Access to high quality play opportunities is critical for the social, emotional and physical development of children. Working with key partners we have invested in play opportunities, making over £42m available since 2013.

“This year we will also be supporting providers to offer food at their activities, helping with some of the serious issues we face around holiday hunger and the cost-of-living crisis.”

Information about events being held across Wales can be found on local authority websites.