Isle of Man Creamery is producing special milk cartons to promote the Love Outdoor Play campaign, a UK initiative being supported in the Isle of Man by The Children’s Centre. To celebrate the launch of the new cartons the charity took a group of children to Andrew Sanders’ dairy farm at Ballalough in Baldwin to see how milk is produced. The timing was perfect as an hour before the children arrived a calf was born and some of the children helped to feed the new arrival before Andrew and his wife Sue gave them a tour of the farm. Jackie Mitchell, Marketing Executive of Isle of Man Creamery, said: “We are delighted to support The Children’s Centre which is our nominated charity this year. As well as promoting the Love Outdoor Play scheme we are raising funds for The Children’s Centre with our Open Day on Sunday, 22 May. Isle of Man Creamery will open its doors to visitors who can taste new products, enjoy live music, tours of the Creamery, a barbecue and cream teas, as well as a lot of fun activities and entertainment for children.” Around 190,000 cartons will be produced with details about Love Outdoor Play - that’s approximately how many cartons Isle of Man Creamery produces in a month. John Knight, Chief Executive of The Children’s Centre, said: “The Children’s Centre is so pleased to have been offered the opportunity to work with Isle of Man Creamery to promote the Love Outdoor Play campaign. We believe that having the freedom to play outdoors improves the well-being of children and their communities. We’re actively supporting this UK-wide initiative which aims to build a visible community to support reasonably safe exploration, adventure and play. So we’re asking everyone on the Isle of Man to embrace outdoor play, to welcome and create space for outdoor play, and to give children the independence to learn and have fun through playing. You can show your support of the Love Outdoor Play campaign by collecting a FREE sticker from stockists across the Island and displaying it. Wherever you see a Love Outdoor Play sticker or symbol, we hope you’ll find people who welcome play and are looking out for young people.” Love Outdoor Play is a response to research which shows that in recent years there has been a decline in outdoor activities with many children rarely leaving the house to play. The days of playing on the street and exploring local areas have been replaced with what many parents see as the ‘safer’ option of putting children in front of televisions and games consoles. But the restriction of children’s opportunities to play outdoors has massive ramifications on children’s social, cognitive and physical development. The Love Outdoor Play campaign is an important step forward in helping to educate parents and professionals alike that outdoor play should have a major part in a child’s life. The Children’s Centre directly provides opportunities for outdoor play with a number of initiatives including its Out2Play scheme which organises a range of activities across the Island during school holidays. - ENDS -