Children play with oversized toys in Gillett Square

Unusual large-scale toys will help regularly transform a Dalston plaza into a free playground for families.

Three afternoons each week, visitors to Gillett Square will find the area has been turned into a space for kids, complete with giant plastic play equipment. Children will be able to climb on and play with the oversized toys, such as brightly-coloured tubes, cones and flower-like shapes.

Staff members from the Vortex Jazz Club have volunteered to set out the equipment and put it away when the sessions have finished. Clarissa Carlyon, manager of Gillett Square and the Vortex Jazz Club, said a trial day last year had been so successful, the playground is now a weekly event.

She added: “Parents love it. It’s a wonderful thing; you get a feeling of people using the square for recreation, which is a massive improvement from when this land was just a car park. And it brings people to the square, which is good for businesses too.”

The equipment, which was purchased by Hackney Council from North London company Snug and Outdoor, will be in the square from 3.30pm to 5.30pm on Fridays, and from 2pm to 5pm at weekends.