Learn To Play approaches early childhood development at a child, caregiver, and community level. Whilst children are at the core of our programming, we work extensively with caregivers in the form of parenting programs and communities regarding advocacy. By acting in a systems-change model, we’re able to actively demonstrate the value of Early Childhood Development (ECD) to parents, stakeholders, and partners in a society where ECD is not yet seen as a necessity.

 

Our primary solution is the Rainbow Play Approach, a unique framework for holistic ECD developed by Learn to Play, which is delivered through playgroups for children aged 3-5. The second is the Go Baby Go model developed by World Vision which is delivered through caregiver group sessions and home visits for children aged 0-3. 

 

Both programs utilize an untapped resource as the key change agent: Mothers.

 

In each community, Mamapreneurs are trained to establish community-initiated playgroups and deliver the Go Baby Go program to improve children’s holistic development through the Nurturing Care Framework. Primarily, recyclable and reusable materials, as well as natural materials from their local environment, are used to develop all our play & learn resources.

 

This means that the resources and people-power are readily available and the Playgroup can be delivered, scaled, and sustained at low cost.

 

Each community receives a ‘Playgroup in a Box’, containing everything that a team of mamapreneurs needs to run their own playgroup: a daily activity guide with culturally-sustainable play and mindfulness at its core; a low-cost resource development guide; stories, and other learning tools.

Become Our Partner in Play:

Leaders in Learning

This is for you if you are ready to empower through play. We offer tailored training to empower women in communities as agents for change through play based learning for children. Our training is adaptable to your needs based on our 10 training modules. By engaging in training you will benefit from certified early educators who are confident and competent to lead their own playful learning programs.

Your Investment: $0. Free, subsidised by our current donors and valued at $100 per module per teacher. Actual costs of travel and expenses related to delivering training will need to be covered.

Power of Play

This is for you if you are ready to be a playmaker. Our internationally awarded curriculum provides a quality early childhood program designed for the African context. You’ll receive a low resource, high impact curriculum with daily activity plans for an entire school year, targeting six key learning areas (based on our Rainbow Play Approach). By adopting the curriculum you will deliver 180 days of lesson plans and curricula focused on social & emotional development, fine motor skills, early literacy, gross motor development, cognitive thinking and creativity.

Your Investment: $365. Just a dollar a day!

Little People Big Impact

This is for you if you are ready to be a changemaker. Our playgroup model combines training and curriculum to increase access to high-quality childcare, supporting livelihood opportunities for women and championing positive playful parenting. You’ll receive a model for building vibrant villages through our globally recognised approach for high-impact early childhood training and our play-based curriculum. Our model will deliver caregivers ready to harness the power of play to deliver early learning for children under five.

Your Investment: Investment will depend on scale and country of implementation. Book a call with us to explore our potential for partnership.

Playful Parenting

This is for you if you are ready to be the village that helps raise a child. Our Go Baby Go parenting program builds caregiver confidence and competence to maximise children’s developmental potential during the first three years. We will deliver an internationally recognised parenting program conducted over 10 sessions for parents of children below three. The program will include sessions on child protection, health, development and other topics along with home visits and caregiver feedback. By engaging in the training you will equip caregivers to be children’s first teachers and protectors with an understanding of health, nutrition, protection, development and resilience promoting factors.

Your Investment: $0. Free, subsidised by our current donors and valued at $800 per family. Actual costs of travel and expenses related to delivering training will need to be covered.

All work and YES play

Learn to Play now offers our globally recognized childcare solutions to organisations that seek to enhance employee engagement, well-being and productivity.
We can no longer deny how thoroughly entangled our family lives are with our livelihoods and careers. Fundamentally, parents cannot work if our children do not have a nurturing and stimulating place to be. We can support your work place (factory, farm or office) to implement childcare solutions and position you as a leader in caring for your workforce.

Contact us to tailor make a solution for your company that supports your team, promotes women's workforce participation and a healthy company culture.

There are 3 key philosophies that underpin our approach:

Mindful Play

The first is learning through play & mindfulness: One of the most important ways for a child to learn and develop is through play. Play arouses curiosity and stimulates imagination, which leads to discovery and creativity. Each day begins with a mindfulness activity that helps build a sense of belonging, and calm engagement. Playing mindfully helps children build connections - to themselves and the world around them. This nurtures their wellbeing and development and results in enhanced resilience, confidence and ability to play and learn.

Uplifting Communities

Secondly, we believe in uplifting women’s opportunities. Our programme utilises an untapped resource as the key-change agent: Mothers. Our Mamapreneurs are trained in early learning, child protection, children’s health, nutrition and wellbeing as well as vocational skills. They work with children, their caregivers & families and community leaders to truly create vibrant villages through play.

Sustainable Solutions

Our final pillar is Sustainable Solutions. We believe in protecting, preserving and promoting our natural environment and cultural wisdom as much as possible by practicing culturally sustainable play. Our learning materials, games and activities are inspired by our vibrant villages and the resources we can easily find in our environments, or common household recyclables. This makes our programme not just sustainable, but easily scalable too.

Our Continued Growth

Continued Growth

New communities: With your continued support, we will be able to extend our reach to at least one new community per year.
Deepen our impact: We are also deepening our impact within existing communities by creating an integrated approach to holistic early childhood development – this includes focusing on health, nutrition, protection, parenting and nurturing care. An exciting project includes the development of a purpose built playgroup centre in Kavimba village which will be the first dedicated community early childhood space in the country.
Working with refugee communities: In partnership with UNHCR, we are starting a playgroup in Dukwi Refugee Camp, Botswana. The learnings from this project will enable us to develop a model for implementing playgroups and parenting programmes in refugee camps globally.

There are 3 key philosophies that underpin our approach:

Mindful Play

The first is learning through play & mindfulness: One of the most important ways for a child to learn and develop is through play. Play arouses curiosity and stimulates imagination, which leads to discovery and creativity. Each day begins with a mindfulness activity that helps build a sense of belonging, and calm engagement. Playing mindfully helps children build connections - to themselves and the world around them. This nurtures their wellbeing and development and results in enhanced resilience, confidence and ability to play and learn.

Uplifting Communities

Secondly, we believe in uplifting women’s opportunities. Our programme utilises an untapped resource as the key-change agent: Mothers. Our Mamapreneurs are trained in early learning, child protection, children’s health, nutrition and wellbeing as well as vocational skills. They work with children, their caregivers & families and community leaders to truly create vibrant villages through play.

Sustainable Solutions

Our final pillar is Sustainable Solutions. We believe in protecting, preserving and promoting our natural environment and cultural wisdom as much as possible by practicing culturally sustainable play. Our learning materials, games and activities are inspired by our vibrant villages and the resources we can easily find in our environments, or common household recyclables. This makes our programme not just sustainable, but easily scalable too.

Our Continued Growth

Continued Growth

New communities: With your continued support, we will be able to extend our reach to at least one new community per year.
Deepen our impact: We are also deepening our impact within existing communities by creating an integrated approach to holistic early childhood development – this includes focusing on health, nutrition, protection, parenting and nurturing care. An exciting project includes the development of a purpose built playgroup centre in Kavimba village which will be the first dedicated community early childhood space in the country.
Working with refugee communities: In partnership with UNHCR, we are starting a playgroup in Dukwi Refugee Camp, Botswana. The learnings from this project will enable us to develop a model for implementing playgroups and parenting programmes in refugee camps globally.