School children engage in bullying and negative behaviour at break times because they are bored, the British school grounds charity, Learning Through Landscapes, has claimed. A solution would be to engage them in more stimulating play, it said.

Chief executive of the charity, Catherine Andrews, said that while children will play anywhere, the quality of the experience is undoubtedly related to the quality of the environment.

"School grounds have the potential to offer a potentially limitless range of experiences and opportunities. However the design of the grounds will determine what children do in them."

In new research carried out by the charity for one of its supporters, the Royal Bank of Scotland, 25% of parents said they thought their child's playground facilities needed to be significantly improved. And 83% agreed that the school playground had a lasting influence on their own personal development.

One in five parents said there was a lack of sporting facilities to keep children active and engaged. And a quarter wanted to see more seating areas which encouraged social interaction.

But parents also said that schools do not allow children to experience "good old fashioned fun" in the playground, with 57% agreeing that children were "too wrapped up in cotton wool".

Some 51% of the 1,102 parents polled said bullying was their greatest fear for their children. One in five said they were most concerned about their child's welfare in the playground, while 13% said they were more worried about dangers outside the school gate.

The results of the research were released to coincide with the launch by the Royal Bank of Scotland of its Dream Playgrounds competition offering money to transform school playgrounds. People are invited to nominate schools for the chance of winning a £10,000 make-over.

The survey was carried out by Tickbox.net, which polled 1,146 UK children aged 6-11 and 1,102 parents with children in this age group. (Source: BBC News)