I did not start out intending to “innovate.” What I had was a lived experience of working with children in communities facing violence, poverty, and exclusion. In those early years, I spent hours in anganwadis, shelter homes, low-income schools, and with children in conflict with the law. I listened to their stories, watched their eyes light up during play sessions, and saw how laughter could co-exist with trauma—how dignity could return with a game.
One pivotal moment was in a shelter home, where a child who barely spoke and often withdrew from group activities suddenly came alive during a cooperative play session. Through play, she began forming friendships, expressing her needs, and participating in other routines. This wasn’t a one-off story. I witnessed countless such moments where children, when given the space to play, came back to life.
I began to ask: what if this wasn’t just a tool we use occasionally, but the central philosophy that drives how we engage with children, teachers, and communities?
And so, our innovation was born, not as a programme, but as a movement. A movement to mainstream Development Through Play as a powerful means to transform education and childhoods in India.
We created a model that goes beyond simply introducing play into classrooms. Our innovation addresses the ecosystem around the child: the teacher, the parent, and the system.
1. Play2Learn Centres: These are joyful, safe, and inclusive spaces embedded in low-income schools where structured and unstructured play is woven into daily learning. Children don’t merely “take a break” to play; they build life skills through games, team challenges, and play routines rooted in socio-emotional learning.
2. Training Teachers as Play Practitioners: We work with teachers to shift their belief systems, away from control and conformity, toward facilitation and connection. Our play-based training is experiential and ongoing, enabling teachers to witness the power of play and see behaviour and learning through a new lens.
3. Data and Evidence Building: We’ve developed tools to track changes in behaviours, mindsets, and life skills. These go beyond academic scores to measure joy, social-emotional resilience, confidence, cooperation, and teacher-child interactions. This is crucial to validate the approach in a system that is deeply data-driven.
4. Policy and Advocacy: Beyond programme implementation, we are working to influence mindsets at scale. Through various offline and online campaigns, partnerships with state education departments, and engagement with teacher training institutes, volunteers of all ages, and funders, we are driving a shift in the mindset in how children need to learn.
Our innovation is spreading through a combination of grassroots enthusiasm, institutional partnerships, and systemic advocacy. From a community centre, we now reach over 150,000 children across 12 districts in Maharashtra.
We have a formal partnership with state government of Maharashtra, enabling us to integrate our Play programmes into school systems and in-service teacher training. Our training model for Play Practitioners, government school teachers, has been well received and scaled through the years.
We also collaborate closely with local non-profits, leveraging their contextual strengths to adapt and deliver our model. Our volunteer programme has activated young professionals, school students, educators, and community members as advocates and facilitators of play in schools and community centres.
To catalyse broader change, we host Play Summits, roundtables, and research dialogues, bringing together educators, policymakers, researchers, and donors to reimagine childhood and learning through the lens of play. These platforms help build consensus and visibility for the cause.
Our public campaigns like #PioneersOfPlay and ongoing evidence-building efforts have drawn attention to the importance of Play in child development, while creating demand for our model. We’re now working to embed Play within education policy as a foundational right for every child.
Over the years, we’ve continuously adapted and strengthened our innovation to respond to on-ground needs and deepen our impact. A key enhancement has been the structured capacity-building of our outreach team. Our 30+ Outreach Playworkers now undergo intensive training four times a year, where they sharpen their understanding of play theory, facilitation techniques, and contextual application. These sessions ensure they remain agile, reflective, and responsive in the field.
In 2023, we launched the Play Summit—a first-of-its-kind national convening of educators, policymakers, researchers, and civil society leaders to centre play in learning discourse. The summit was met with overwhelming participation and enthusiasm, validating the growing interest in play-based education and helping us expand our community of advocates.
We also piloted our School Readiness Play Programme for early primary learners, recognising the urgent need to support foundational years with playful, age-appropriate learning experiences. This programme prepares young children—especially first-generation school-goers—for formal education by strengthening socio-emotional skills, motor coordination, and classroom engagement through play.
Through these additions and refinements, we continue to ensure our innovation remains relevant, scalable, and rooted in both practice and research.
Start by embracing the mindset that play is essential to learning, not a break from it. To try our innovation, you can:
1. Attend our trainings: Join one of our Power of Play workshops.
2. Partner with us: If you are a school, organisation, or government body, we can support you in implementing our play-based programmes tailored to your community's needs.
3. Join the movement: Participate in our yearly Play Summit or connect with our growing network of play advocates to share learning, stories, and strategies.
Whether you're starting small with a play corner in a classroom or looking to influence system-wide change, we’re here to support your journey. Reach out via our website or email us at play@opentree.org to begin.
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