Uganda – Play for learning and wellbeing

Our Championing Play project will facilitate the use of play by parents, caregivers and Save the Children staff in Wakiso and Moroto districts, to support children’s development and learning.

This project aims to build bonds between children and pre-primary teachers; children and their parents through peer-to-peer activities and institutionalize play within Save the Children programmes by mobilizing our staff as play champions dedicated to transforming the lives of children.

Uganda had one of the longest school closures from the 20th of March 2020 to the 10th of January 2022, which disrupted over 15 million children’s education with further ramifications on their protection and overall wellbeing, including on their mental health.

The biggest barriers to the uptake of play-based learning and to the idea of rethinking what play is and its importance in a child’s life is the rigid idea of what learning is and what play is for families and educators. Both pre-primary and primary teaching methods tend to be teacher-led and driven by academic progress, with a lack of focus on child-centered approaches, play and more holistic learning outcomes.

This project will use creative, interactive and engaging activities, events and trainings to support adult learning and understanding of the importance of play to learning and the holistic development and well-being of children and adults by focusing on improving the quality of play and the uptake of play in early childhood centres and catch-up clubs and amongst key stakeholders, particularly, parents and caregivers, pre-primary educators and other local education authorities.

We want to explore best practices for helping adults support quality play and learning and thereby help children to reach their full potential.

Child beneficiary numbers: 8,700

Age-group: 3 – 12