Press Release: Playful Learning Vital In Parent-Child Relationship

Press Release:

Research Findings Highlighting The Importance Of Playful Learning In Parent-Child Relationships

Play Every Day program empowered caregivers to effectively guide children in learning through play in India

Research findings shows how parent-child play is linked with boosting creativity, learning and development of children aged 3-8 years. Sesame Workshop India and LEGO Foundation implemented Play Every Day, a program designed to help vulnerable communities in India, South Africa and Mexico to challenge caregiver misperceptions such as “play is a waste of time” and “kids need expensive toys to play to boost their creativity”, and to establish that “guided play leads to improved child’s learning and development”. The intervention was implemented in India across 9 communities of Delhi.

The research highlighted the design of the play-led intervention and showcased the impact evaluation of the program conducted by D3 Systems, a global social science research organization.

The program was implemented over 2 years, reaching 2,500 families in batches, with a 12-week intervention in low-resource communities. The intervention included play workshops with caregivers and children, community events like play fairs, street plays and videos on WhatsApp and social media platforms. The research evaluation of the intervention found improvements in social development, creativity and other learning outcomes of the children while also shifting the perceptions of parents and caregivers about play and its role in promoting learning and development outcomes.

Children evaluated as part of the program also showed increase in creativity by almost 33%, for using recyclable items including plastic bottle, cans and cardboard to build or create something with them.

Caregivers evaluated as part of the program showed increased understanding of connections between play and academic success, social development and higher creativity in the following ways:

• 14% more parents link play with children’s development
• 24% more parents link play with academic benefits for children
• Increased confidence by 24% in using recycled materials such as plastic bottles, cans, and cardboard rolls as play objects

In addition, Sesame Workshop India addressed 3 key aspects on the following subjects on Play Every Day initiative:

• Transforming evidence into experience: There is significant evidence and research establishing the benefits of play in children’s overall development. Focused on how these evidences have been used to create effective programs impacting children’s social -emotional and cognitive skills.
• Sharing voices from the communities: The importance of community engagement and role it can play in enabling culturally relevant learning through play; and how it can reform practices around parental engagement and gender roles norms.
• Investing in play-based research and programming: Gathering insights that inform the field for play based learning and drive the donor community to invest in programming around play.

“The LEGO Foundation is working to build a future in which learning through play helps all children grow into creative, engaged, life-long learners. Parents and other primary caregivers are fundamental to this aim as they are children’s first teachers and playmates. We hope that the insights provided by the Play Every Day program will help inspire and empower primary caregivers to harness the power of learning through play”

Diego Adame, Initiatives Lead, Learning through Play in Early Childhood, The LEGO Foundation.

Commenting on the success of the Play Every Day program, Sonali Khan, Managing Director at Sesame Workshop India said “Our findings show how the intervention has been able to shift the attitude of caregivers towards play, boost creativity of the children significantly, which also impacts their skills like communication and problem solving. It’s encouraging to hear from caregivers that they now make sure they take out time to play with their children because they can clearly see the value in it. In fact, the new evidence points out the higher need for such parent-led interventions.”

The Play Every Day initiative not only showcased how caregivers were empowered to leverage play in support of children’s early development and lifelong learning but also the best practices to promote play as part of the daily lives of children and caregivers.

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