early years alliance - National Week of Play

Play Week 2025: How children play is as important as 'what' they learn

Tanya_temp — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 16:17:17 +0000

This year’s Play Week has the focus ‘My Play, My Way’ – paying tribute to children being in control and having ownership over their own play.

The ways that children use their play to learn is as important as what they are learning. Within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), this is summarised as the ‘characteristics of effective teaching and learning’, and is divided into the following three sections:

Playing and exploring

Active learning

Creating and thinking critically

Playing and exploring

This characteristic is all about children being immersed in their play and the environment around them. You might see them using their curiosity and their senses to investigate new things. For example, a baby reaching for and exploring items from a treasure basket with their hands and mouth.

They may also use what they already know to apply to new situations. You may for example see children trying to build towers with stones in the garden, replicating how they play with their wooden blocks indoors. When children are engaged in their play, they are much more likely to show a ‘can do’ attitude and seek out challenge or take risks. You may notice children trying new things, such as climbing or balancing, and enjoying the feeling of ‘having a go’ - even if they don’t quite succeed first time!

Active learning

This characteristic is all about children’s motivation within their play; their motivation to concentrate on what they are doing, to keep on trying if they find something difficult, or to achieve what they set out to do. The key thing here being, ‘what they set out to do’, not what adults around them want them to do.

The feeling inside that they get when meeting their own goals, not for the approval of someone else, known as intrinsic motivation, helps to build their desire to learn and achieve in future.

Keeping on trying even when things are tricky, such as learning how to hold and control scissors for the first time, will build children’s resilience for situations where they face challenge in the future. As an educator, you can support, praise and encourage their attempts at keeping on trying, as well as model this yourself when you find things tricky.

Creating and thinking critically

This characteristic is all about how children use their thinking skills in their play. You may see children having their own ideas, using their imagination and creativity such as being interested in how the texture of mud changes when mixed with water.

Children make links between different ideas, and use what they already know to make predictions – for example, guessing whether an item is going to float or sink during water play. Children may also be seen to develop their own strategies for doing things, using their problem-solving skills and learning through trial and error. Remember – it is about the process, not the outcome!

National Week of Play

Little Hands, Big adventures: Sensory play for early development

Tanya_temp — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 16:12:18 +0000

For children aged 0-5 years, engaging in sensory play can enhance cognitive, language, motor, and social skills. However, many adults may feel unsure about how to effectively incorporate sensory activities for children into their daily routines.

Many children will have sensory experiences whilst in an early years setting. But how do we as early years educators support families in fostering sensory play in the home environment? How do we start the conversations about the benefits of sensory play and the enjoyment children get from it?

Educators can adopt several key strategies to depart their knowledge and get adults on board.

Start with conducting your own research. Investigate what is current and proven to benefit children. Share studies that highlight the cognitive, emotional, and physical benefits of sensory play. Explain how it promotes exploration, creativity, and problem-solving skills.

This lets adults know there are real scientific studies that back up your knowledge, rather than ‘just your opinion’.

Here is a link to a recent study by Alessia Franco and David Robson (How mud boosts your immune system):

How mud boosts your immune system - BBC Future

This emphasises the developmental benefits of muddy play. It explains how it enhances fine and gross motor skills, encourages social interaction, and supports language development as children describe their experiences.

The article also highlights the potential emotional wellbeing benefits of sensory activities, like reducing anxiety and stress, and allowing children to express their emotions and build resilience.

Illustrate how muddy play aligns with the early years foundation stage and educational milestones, making it a valuable part of the curriculum.

You could also invite adults in to participate in sensory play sessions with their children, or organise family events. By giving them opportunities to experience sensory play first hand, you can help them understand the benefits.

Sharing experiences and providing specific examples of sensory activities, such as making mud pies, creating mud art or making your own natural paint, can help to illustrate how fun and educational this type of play can be.

Be prepared to address any concerns. Be approachable so adults feel able to discuss any worries they may have about cleanliness or safety. Offer tips on how to manage these aspects while still allowing children to enjoy the benefits of these activities.

Be culturally sensitive and respectful of adult’s views. In certain cultures, there may be expectations regarding cleanliness and children’s behaviour or what activities are deemed appropriate. Families might refrain from allowing sensory or messy play if it doesn't align with these social norms.

Adults may fear that allowing children to engage in messy sensory activities could lead to unsanitary conditions or create extra work for them.

Some cultures prioritise structured learning and formal education over play, viewing it as less beneficial for a child's development. Sensory play, which is often unstructured, might be seen as frivolous or unnecessary.

Adults who did not engage in sensory play during their own childhood may be less likely to understand its benefits and therefore may not encourage their children to participate in such activities. These factors can create a complex landscape of attitudes towards sensory play that varies significantly.

Encourage adults to create opportunities for sensory play at home, offering suggestions for safe and accessible ways to manage play and enhance children’s curiosity.

This article has a companion piece aimed at families, which contains ideas and examples of sensory play. You can find it here.

National Week of Play

More than words

Tanya_temp — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 16:10:41 +0000

Does anyone else remember the song ‘I can sing a rainbow’ that features the line “Listen with your eyes”? As a child I was always perplexed by this but now that I’m grown up and an early years educator, it makes perfect sense.

As early years educators, we recognise the importance of supporting our children to develop their communication and language skills, but this isn’t just about the words they hear and use. Learning to listen to the complete message being communicated is of equal significance. This means listening not only to their words but to all the other ways that they are sharing their thoughts and ideas with us – listening with our eyes.

Picking up on the non-verbal cues that our children are giving us and understanding their behaviours is a form of listening without relying on their words. Listening in this context means paying attention and observing what they are trying to tell us when they might not have the language skills to explain. It’s about showing them that they and their contributions are valued, and that their needs matter.

So what does listening with our both our ears and eyes look like? How do we send that powerful message to a child that they are valued and their “voice” (in whatever form that takes) is heard and acknowledged by us?

Recognise and understand their stage of development

Give children the time they need and stay relaxed and in the moment

Be patient, don’t interrupt or get distracted

Ensure that our body language re-enforces our interest in them (think about your posture and facial expressions)

Get down to their level and make eye contact with them

Observe their body language, movements and gestures

Give those occasional nods or sounds to show we have heard and are continuing to pay attention

In other words, be an active listener. You will find that you’re creating an environment where our children can express their thoughts and feelings without fear of rejection. You are helping to support interactions and the development of strong positive relationships build on respect.

National Week of Play

Play is never ‘just’ play!

Tanya_temp — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 14:48:03 +0000

Written by Melanie Pilcher, quality and standards manager at the Early Years Alliance.

This month sees two important events that remind us (as if we need reminding), of the power and importance of play for children’s development and wellbeing.

This year, 11 June has been named as the inaugural International Day of Play by the United Nations General Assembly. The aim is to recognise play globally as a child’s fundamental right:

“It builds resilience, instils confidence, and helps children develop. But children need time to play. That’s where we need policies, training, and funding to get play integrated into education and community settings.

Play heals through learning, life skills and psychosocial wellbeing. That’s why there must be investment into diverse, inclusive, and safe play spaces, extending access to all, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised children.”

There are so many reasons we should all be celebrating the power of play. The Alliance's National Week of Play 2024 also falls in June, with a focus on savouring those magic early moments and celebrating a child's right to just be, without the pressure to become.

With these two important celebrations of play in our sights, it’s an ideal opportunity to think about play more globally. In our increasingly diverse society, educators should continually seek to understand how cultural differences highlight the diverse ways in which societies understand and integrate play into children’s daily lives, shaping their development and experiences.

Making it magic in early years

The Early Years Foundation Stage describes how educators must take reasonable steps to provide for children for whom English is an additional language and to explore their skills in their home language with families’. It could be suggested that educators should be equally concerned with recognising how a child’s cultural background influences how they play, and their families’ expectations of early years education.

The Early Years Foundations Stage also reinforces the importance of play in early childhood development, as essential for developing cognitive, social, and emotional skills, preparing children for school, and preparing them for life in a technologically expanding world.

The Characteristics of Effective Learning describe behaviours of engagement, motivation and thinking that children use to learn. Foremost is playing and exploring, children are ‘finding out and exploring, playing with what they know, and being willing and having a go’ as educators who help them to build their learning over time.

Imagine, then, a child whose experiences of play have differed because of their cultural background. Suddenly, they may find themselves in an early years environment that places a different emphasis on learning. This doesn’t mean that they’re at a disadvantage because of their prior experiences; the opposite should be true if we value what they and their family bring to the setting.

Enriched opportunities can be tapped into as children learn to respect and value diversity through the magic of play. It’s not about ‘changing’ how a child plays, but recognising an innate capacity for play that evolves as they are introduced to new experiences. The role of the educator is to recognise that the child who appears to be withdrawn or playing in ways that may be considered inappropriate, just needs time, understanding and support before they can benefit from and contribute to a ‘playful’ curriculum in our settings.

Working in partnership

Partnership with families is vital for reflecting the home play-and-learning environment in the early years setting. It also helps enable the setting’s pedagogy and curriculum to be clearly communicated to a child’s family. Share ideas and make links to the learning that playful moments encompass. Find out about games that children play with their families and within their communities. Invite families in to play and learn alongside the children. According to LEGO’s Play Well Study 2024, on average, three in five children would like to play more than they do now, while four in five children would like to play more with their parents or caregiver. The research also shows that eight in ten children say adults don't always think playing is important and seven in ten don’t believe adults take play seriously.

Finally, however and wherever you are celebrating this June, make sure that play really is “bustin’ out all over”. Take every opportunity to delight in play its many forms, the children will show you how. Whether you are celebrating internationally or unlocking those magic moments with the Alliance, it all counts.

National Week of Play

The power of play: Play for all children

Tanya.Svilar — Sun, 25 Jun 2023 08:00:45 +0000

Eve Whistler is a nursery teacher who works in a primary school in England. In this article she reflects on her experiences of supporting young children's play. She challenges us to consider how views on the play of neurodivergent children are too often focused on what the child can’t do - rather than what they can do.

Femi's story - aged four years

Femi is fascinated by pairs of objects. He pays attention to certain details - colour, shape and weight are of particular importance.

Once he has found two objects which satisfy his criteria, he will bang them together. He enjoys the noise and vibration as he experiments with altering the force and speed.

There is a particular place he likes to sit - outside, high up on the climbing frame, where he can feel the wind on his face and listen to the patter of the other children below him.

Most days he carefully navigates carrying objects to his favourite spot where he will sit for long periods. As he revels in the pleasure of this activity, a huge smile lights up his face.

Femi chooses to spend most of his day outside. However, occasionally he heads inside to the snack table to request a snack using a visual symbol. Once he has finished, he will return outside, often to explore new objects he has spotted until he finds a pair he is satisfied with.

I often ask myself: do we value play for all children?

As early childhood educators, we can agree that play is fundamental to childhood. Yet is the play of all children ascribed equal value? This is a question I have often grappled with.

As a Froebelian educator, I believe that all children are unique, autonomous learners. Yet in my experience, nursery children with learning differences are rarely afforded the same freedom to play as neurotypical children.

Should we be moving him on?

The play of neurodivergent children is often viewed through a deficit lens, which focuses on what they can’t do, rather than what they can (Murphy, 2022).

Through this lens, Femi’s play would likely be considered restrictive or repetitive. Yet as his teacher, the value of his play was clear to me.

At the very least, Femi was experiencing the joy of childhood, which as a Froebelian, I believe is of value in its own right.

Leaving him to play?

Whilst it was important to me that Femi had equal time to play as his peers, this does not mean that I believe children with learning differences should be left to play alone.

It was through offering freedom with guidance that I was able to find meaningful opportunities to support him to develop his communication skills.

Snack time was a period in the nursery day when all children were required to request a snack from an adult. Using this time to develop Femi’s use of visual symbols meant that his time for free play was not interrupted by interventions aimed at developing these skills.

Observing Femi

Femi heads to the snack table where a group of children are sitting eating fruit.

A new staff member who doesn’t know Femi asks the children what they would like. When she comes to Femi, he doesn’t reply. The child sitting next to him steps in to help, “He can’t talk”, she says.

Femi walks over to the wall where there are visual symbols of different snacks which he uses to request what he would like. He hands the staff member a picture of an apple. “That means he wants apple”, the child sitting next to him says.

Later the same day, Femi comes into the classroom from outside appearing upset. He walks over to a staff member. Another child sees that he is crying and hands Femi two spoons, “he wants his spoons”, she says.

As can be seen in this observation, I was not the only person supporting Femi. Through being given time to play in the main nursery, many of the children got to know Femi well. Their implicit understanding of his needs meant I had lots of help in advocating for Femi, and other children like him.

References

Murphy, K. (2022) A Guide to SEND in the Early Years. Featherstone.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the Froebel Trust.

National Week of Play

The importance of play

Tanya.Svilar — Sat, 24 Jun 2023 07:39:11 +0000

How the BBC’s Tiny Happy People can help you and your team support parents and encourage playtime at home

As an early educator, you know there’s a lot more to child’s play than just having fun. It’s a key way that babies and children learn, both in your setting and at home. Yet some of the families you work with may feel anxious about how to play with their child. The BBC’s Tiny Happy People website is a free resource you can share with mums, dads and carers to help boost their confidence and give them easy ways to play. Packed with activity ideas, facts about child development and tips and advice, all the content is rooted in evidence and developed with an expert team of senior practitioners including a dedicated Language Advisory Group (LAG).

“Tiny Happy People acts like a conduit between the practitioner and the parent”, says Gaynor Rice, a lecturer in Caring Services at Loughborough College. “Anyone who works in early years understands that play is central to early learning and development. But some parents may worry, ‘Am I giving my child the right kind of play?’ This is where Tiny Happy People slides in beautifully and reveals everyday opportunities for parents to play with their child at home without any need for special toys or equipment. It also gives practitioners fresh ideas to use in their setting.”

Tools for Talking

Tiny Happy People has a simple aim: to tackle the word gap and improve language and communication skills in children under five. Along with practical ideas for play, the website also has a ‘Tools for Talking’ resource you can share with families. Developed by LAG member Dr Danielle Matthews from the University of Sheffield, the downloadable poster shares simple techniques for supporting language development. There’s also a ‘Tools for Talking’ video section on the website. “Practitioners can use the videos in two ways”, explains Dr Matthews.

“They can be a primer on the different aspects of language development and a way of tuning into a child's level and helping them up to the next one. Secondly, they can form partnerships with parents and raise awareness of the importance of talking with babies and young children in an accessible way. Parents and carers are generally keen but don't always have the ideas or high-quality resources at their fingertips so a few pointers to ‘Tools for Talking’ can really help. Many settings have an important role to play here as parents often have a trusting relationship with those who regularly care for their children. This can help to build bridges and introduce resources in a supportive way.”

Making the most of play

Tiny Happy People works closely with early educators to make sure the content is useful. Aimi Drechsler, Head of Childcare and Education at The Early Years Academy in Derby says, “Don’t spend time trying to reinvent the wheel, the hard work is done for you! Tiny Happy People provides us with important content and information to share with our families which helps build parent partnership. In a time when the early years sector is up against it and under a huge strain, the content from Tiny Happy People is one less job to do. We would 100% recommend it to any early years setting and any practitioner/educator who wants to deepen their knowledge and understanding of child development and build partnerships with parents in a quick and easy way."

A visual aid

You can signpost families to videos on Tiny Happy People that will reinforce your advice about using play to boost their child’s language skills. “Early years practitioners can use Tiny Happy People articles or videos as little bits of ‘homework’ for parents”, says Alys Mathers, a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist. “They can explain what they’ve done in their setting that day and then give parents a link to one of the videos and suggest they try doing the same activity at home too.”

So when it comes to play and the home environment, and in your setting, why not make Tiny Happy People your new go-to. Gaynor adds, “I teach early years practitioners and I tell them all about BBC Tiny Happy People because it’s so easy to access and it’s all there waiting for them. We all run out of ideas from time to time and it’s good to have a resource like this to go to.”

To find out more head to bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people

Visit www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/toolkit/z7scwsg to download the free Tools for Talking resource.

You’ll find all the ‘Tools for Talking’ videos at bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/talking-tips-by-age – or browse the activities section on the website: everything is free and easy to download, watch and share.

Sign up for the monthly Tiny Happy People e-newsletter to hear about new videos, articles and advice. To join, email tinyhappypeople@bbc.co.uk

Follow them on Instagram and Facebook @bbctinyhappypeople

National Week of Play

Connecting with families

Tanya.Svilar — Sat, 24 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Loving relationships are essential to supporting children’s learning and development, but these relationships are of equal importance to families too. To be able to best provide children with supporting environments, adults need to feel loved and cared for themselves.

It is important that parents and carers feel listened to and responded to; they need to be surrounded be people who care for them and support them. This doesn’t just mean close family members, but can also include friends or the wider community.

When strong, supportive connections are formed, everyone benefits: the parent/carer, the child, friends, the wider family and the local community. Parents and carers can feel more confident and happier in themselves, which will a positive impact on their children too.

But how can you support families with this within our settings? How can you help them to build connections with other adults and the wider community?

Supporting families

Recent research found that more than half of parents and carers in the UK have experienced loneliness. It is important, therefore, to consider what can be done within your setting help to combat this.

Not everyone finds making new connections easy, so consider how you support and encourage anxious family members who may feel nervous or uncertain. We understand that every child is unique, but that also means every family is unique too! So how can practice be adapted to meet these individual needs?

Can you, for example, provide extra time to speak to these family members, and find out more about them? Or perhaps you could introduce a buddy system for parents and carers where you can introduce them to another parent or carer, helping to establish those important connections.

Think about how you could encourage families to be involved in the wider community too. One of the main benefits of building these connections is that it can help to combat loneliness and isolation which will in return have a positive impact on not only physical and mental health of individuals, but also the health of the community as the whole.

Do you, for example, promote local volunteering opportunities or events, visiting the local library or children’s centre, or just meeting other families at the local park? Evidence shows that spending time with others in nature has a positive effect on wellbeing. Perhaps you could create a community noticeboard within your setting for families to find out about what else is happening in their local area.

Remember too that it isn’t just about building new friendships. While it is great to have new friends who are also parents and carers to be able to share parenting challenges and advice with, it is also important to maintain connections with other friends and family. These are often the people adults can truly confide in about worries or concern, or just have a good giggle!

Encourage parents and carers to think about how they can make time for themselves to help keep these connections strong. Maybe while their child is in your setting, you could suggest they call a friend or meet a friend for a walk. Remind them that spending time with people they love isn’t selfish; it is an important part of looking after their own wellbeing so that they can best support their child.

Benefits for children

Being a parent or carer can be difficult at time, but evidence shows us that adults who look after their own wellbeing – through meaningful connections, sleep better, are less stressed and have a better quality of life and a sense of belonging – in turn provide the most effective support to their children. Remember the saying ‘You can’t pour from an empty cup’ – important connections will help to keep adults’ wellbeing ‘cup’ full, meaning they are better able to cope with life’s challenges.

Making connections isn’t just with people outside of the home. Discuss with families the benefits of quality time in connecting with their child and other family members. This doesn’t have to involve expensive days out: it can be as simple as preparing a meal together, going on a family walk or playing a game together. This not only helps everyone to feel good but helps children to feel listened to and understood which will positively impact their confidence and wellbeing too.

Finally, modelling the building of relationships to young children will support them with important life skills in making their own connections through positive relationships as they grow.

National Week of Play

Connecting to our minds

Tanya.Svilar — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 07:22:04 +0000

Mental health ‘…the emotional and spiritual resilience which allows us to enjoy life and survive pain, disappointment and sadness. It is a positive sense of well-being and an underlying belief in our own, and others’, dignity and worth’

(Health Education Authority. Mental Health Promotion: A quality framework. London: Health Education Authority 1997)

Take a moment. Stop reading this (please do come back!) and take thirty seconds, a minute or as long as you need to think about your mind. Think about how you connect with your mind and what it does for you. Think about a time you played and had fun: how did it make you feel, how did it make those around you feel, and how did the environment make you feel?

Welcome back.

Our minds are precious. Do you look after yours positively like you would our physical health? If not, consider why not.

In the past, there has tended to be a stigma around discussing mental health but perhaps one positive outcome of the pandemic is that our collective awareness of mental health, and the need to discuss it, has increased. It now feels slightly easier now to talk about mental health, both our own and that of others, including children.

Supporting positive mental health and wellbeing in adults

We are all likely to have been affected by one or more of significant life events that have caused pain, disappointment or sadness, and we all deal with these in a different way. It is how we learn to be resilient; change can help you to become a more resilient person.

Resilience is important for mental health and research has shown that those with greater resilience are able to respond to those stressful life events, and are less stressed when they happen.

So how can we promote positive mental health and wellbeing?

What is good support for one person may not be for another, and some of the below points you might find more helpful than others. Creating your own ‘wellbeing list’ with what supports your mental health will help you to reflect and give you ideas of steps that will best support you and your mental wellbeing.

Get outside for a walk or jog, and use all of your senses to immerse yourself in what is around you. Depending on the weather or time of day, you will have a different experience each time.
Exercise to the level you can manage, building up to a goal. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins which produces a positive feeling in the body.
Relax – read a book, take a bath or do something else you enjoy (or combine all three!)
Make sure you are getting enough sleep. Sleep helps the mind to process and ‘file’ our memories, emotions and thoughts about the day.
Talk about how you are feeling. If someone asks if you are okay, does your reply of “I’m fine” have any truth? Find a good time to talk to a friend and/or family or a colleague. Walking and talking is often a better way to get your thoughts and feelings heard, rather than just sitting down with a cuppa.

Supporting positive mental wellbeing in children

Think of the lifelong benefits of supporting children’s resilience and in turn, how this contributes to their mental health. As parents, carers and early educators, we can provide positive wellbeing and mental health messages.

Most of the things you can do to support your own wellbeing are equally beneficial for children:

Getting outdoors together has many benefits both mentally and physically, providing fresh air, vitamin D, exercise and time to play and talk.
Spending time together doing what you enjoy, making that child feel safe, cared for and also having fun is promoting their positive mental health.
Talking to someone about how you are feeling is a positive step and we need to develop a child’s skills in this area too so that they feel comfortable to talk about their own emotions. While it might feel easier to talk about positive emotions, we need to make sure those less positive ones are just as easy to name and that children know that it is okay to feel like that.
Open up discussions on why they feel a certain way, reassure them that it is okay to feel like that and talk about what can be done to support their wellbeing. For younger children, using appropriate books can support you with this.
Play – you are never too old or young to play! Open-ended imaginative play will support children’s learning and development while they have fun. Get creative together, remembering that it is the process of making or doing that matters, not the end product.

This year’s National Week of Play focuses on making connections through play and as the saying goes: “We don’t just stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

Play can support your own wellbeing as well as that of your children, family and friends. Take some time to reflect on how you embrace play: find opportunities to have a game in the local woodlands, take a ball to the park or play a board game together. We can all learn though play – it helps us develop new skills and can bring us closer together, building supportive friendships so we can all feel able to talk to someone about how we are feeling, and know that support is there, in whatever format meets our needs.

And finally, bringing this back to your own wellbeing and care, don’t forget to regular connect with how you are feeling. How can you support your own mental health, and what actions can/will you take? Make sure you always talk to someone about how you feel as and when you need to.

Further information

There is a wide range of information about mental health available online. Here are just a few:

You can also read our informative blogs on resilience online:

National Week of Play

Connecting with each other – supporting children to make friends

Tanya.Svilar — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 07:28:53 +0000

An important aspect of children’s personal, social, and emotional development (PSED) is to “learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably” (EYFS para, 1.6).

PSED builds foundations for making relationships throughout life. Early educators support the social conventions of being kind to each other, sharing, and playing ‘nicely’ together. Peer groups are usually referred to as ‘friends’ with educators emphasising that everyone in the setting is a friend.

As we grow older, friendships are more complex. Friends become the people we choose to spend time with. We value them for what they mean to us, for our shared history, and for the times they have made a difference in our lives. We can maintain levels of friendship, from casual friends to close friends, all of which can be fluid over time.

In the early years, friendships are more likely to be ‘in the moment’ as children become engrossed in playful interactions before moving on to whatever captures their interest next. Children show a preference for their peers who like to play and do the same things they enjoy, but they can also have particular ‘friends.’

Educators have a vital role to play in facilitating relationships that will support children’s friend-making skills:

• Model the behaviour you want to encourage. Show warmth and friendship to your colleagues during the day.

• Help children to find common ground with their peers, for example: “Florence has a dog at home that is just like your dog Bohdan.” Facilitate a conversation between the children.

• Create an environment that allows children to play and explore together freely, so that children who are less confident in structured activities have a chance to collaborate with their peers.

• Support children to recognise the emotions of their peers and how they are feeling. For example: “Lena looks very sad today. She is not smiling, and she does not want to play.”

• Remember that for children who are naturally shy, need a little more time and space to move at their own pace. Talk to families about the opportunities a child has for social interaction at home – this is particularly important for children who spend some of their early years in lockdown, who did not have those vital early opportunities to socialise with their peers.

National Week of Play

Play as a force for inclusion

Tanya.Svilar — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 07:18:49 +0000

I was sitting in a hot, stuffy classroom one mid-afternoon in rural Kenya. As I sat there, the meeting drawing to a close and the stifling air clinging to my skin, I was struck by something a teacher said. She quietly spoke and revealed that she taught a class of over 130 primary school children. Oh, and she didn’t even need to mention that there was no classroom assistant in sight! That went without saying.

This was a story like many I had heard before and since. Limited resources and a climbing number of pupils have meant that the education system is stretched in Kenya, like it is in many low- and middle-income countries around the world. Nonetheless, it still surprised me – perhaps it was the calm, measured tone in which she said it, almost as though what she stated was reasonable.

In this meeting, I was representing Disability Africa, a small non-governmental organisation that works with local community groups to run projects for disabled children in The Gambia, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Zambia.

It is almost guaranteed, anywhere in the world, that if services are strained and overwhelmed, disabled people will be left even further behind due to societal attitudes and systemic barriers.

To address this challenging situation, Disability Africa’s first step is to run playschemes for disabled children with local community members. This might seem somewhat underwhelming. Convoys of battle buses full of doctors, nurses, teachers and builders – and then the equipment and materials to construct hospitals and schools – might seem a more exciting or proactive approach.

So why playschemes?

Playschemes are an opportunity for all children to interact and play with each other. There are playworkers who might help set up and over-see some activities, but they are child-led environments, for children to be safe, while having fun.

Playschemes can be set up anywhere in the world. They are inexpensive, sustainable and replicable. With just a few like-minded, responsible and inclusive adults, a playscheme can be established to address the comprehensive deprivation of social interaction, education and healthcare that disabled children face around the world.

They also serve as the most powerful strategy for inclusion.

Playschemes provide a space for disabled children and non-disabled children to share positive experiences with each other, ensuring the next generation grows up more inclusive while embracing diversity and accepting differences. This is especially important in contexts where disabled children are excluded from ordinary community life due to the stigma associated with their impairment.

They also offer spaces for children to learn the essential skills in life: communication skills, social skills, fine and gross motor skills, problem-solving, coordination, emotional regulation, creativity and independence. Playschemes nurture these skills and allow exploration. They are life-enriching educational experiences; helping to simultaneously improve a children’s lives, promote their welfare, reduce pressures on families, and reduce inequality.

Returning to the class of 130 children, it’s clear to see that many children – especially those with learning difficulties and intellectual impairments – would be better served in a playscheme. For many, the playscheme is a bridge to mainstream education. An opportunity to develop skills and confidence at their own pace, before transitioning into formal schooling with support from a playworker.

I have lost count of the number of stories I have heard of disabled children who “could do nothing”, being supported in the caring and loving environment of a playscheme, and then all their skills and potential becoming obvious!

Learning can be achieved in multiple, innovative ways and play-based curriculums are life-supporting alternatives to schools which do not have any appropriate provision for disabled students.

Play is universal and truly inclusive – everyone can play, regardless of background, impairment, race and religion. Games and activities of all types can be adjusted for those taking part. Play is as natural to human beings as breathing.

As I reflect on my experiences, I will be celebrating play as a force for inclusion this Play Week.

This article was written by Mike Carr, Alliance business support officer

National Week of Play