Playful Learning Across the Years (PLAY)

The PLAY toolkit builds a better understanding of the components of great teaching and effective parental learning support that truly foster children’s engagement and underpin learning through play

Introducing the PLAY toolkit

The toolkit measures how caregivers and teachers support children’s engagement in their learning. The toolkit consists of observation and survey tools for children from birth to 12-years-old and can be applied across diverse learning settings and contexts

Closing a gap in measurement

Existing monitoring and evaluation tools to measure quality learning environments do not focus specifically on playful learning and supporting children’s engagement in learning. New tools are needed to build our understanding of which strategies work best in different contexts. The LEGO Foundation believes that teaching and learning systems need to be reimagined to respond to children’s multifaceted learning and development needs, and to support them to develop the skills they need to succeed in an ever-changing world. In order to support that change, the PLAY toolkit was developed to help practitioners, researchers and system actors understand how children’s engagement in learning is supported through playful, child-centred and explorative practices in different learning environments. 

Who is the PLAY toolkit for?

The PLAY toolkit can be used by practitioners, researchers, system actors or anyone else supporting and interested in measuring playful learning environments. It is not designed for use by teachers and caregivers directly.

The PLAY toolkit consists of observation and survey tools for children from birth to 12-years-old, alongside associated guidance materials (see the toolkit library for more information). The tools measure the quality of adult-child interactions which support children’s self-sustaining engagement in learning. Users can choose from different tools depending on the age group and learning setting of interest.

The PLAY toolkit can be used for programme monitoring or evaluation, quality assurance or research purposes. The tools do not measure learning outcomes at the level of the individual (i.e., child learning outcomes).

The PLAY toolkit was developed in low-and-middle-income-countries (Ghana, Kenya, Colombia and Jordan) but can be adapted for any country context.

Refinement of the PLAY toolkit through user feedback 

The PLAY toolkit can be used by any organisation or individual supporting playful learning, though whilst the tools are still undergoing further testing from 2023-2025, we intend to engage with toolkit users to learn from their experiences and improve the toolkit. For this reason, the toolkit library has restricted access and you need to request a log-in. However, the toolkit is ready to use as is, whilst further testing and refinement activities are ongoing.

PLAY toolkit library

Here you will find the full PLAY toolkit along with user guidance materials. Please note that the library has restricted access and you need to request a log-in.

Discover the library

Keen to dive deeper into the development of the toolkit and preliminary evidence? Check out these resources!

Meet the PLAY toolkit developers and partners

The LEGO Foundation partnered with RTI International and NYU Global TIES for Children to develop a set of tools to measure quality learning through play across age groups, settings and geographies. Research studies informing the development of the PLAY toolkit were conducted in collaboration with the following partners:

Colombia collaborators - School of Education at Universidad de los Andes; 

Jordan collaborators - the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and independent consultants;

Kenya collaborators - Laterite;

Ghana collaborators - the Education Assessment and Research Centre (EARC) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA).

This network of collaborators developed and piloted the PLAY Toolkit in 2021-2022. The toolkit is now in a testing and validation phase, with the ambition to improve usability and understand the linkages between playful learning and children's holistic learning outcomes. This field testing will be carried out by our implementing partners presented here and will run in multiple sites across the globe until 2025.

RTI International

Tool developer and PLAY 2.0 Research Partner

Having led on tool development and piloting from 2020-2022, RTI International, together with NYU Global TIES for Children, are supporting PLAY 2.0 implementing partners with tool testing and validation in order to:​

  • Assess the relationship between the PLAY toolkit and children’s holistic outcomes; ​
  • Strengthen the feasibility and validity of the tools, through extensive data analysis;​
  • Produce an updated user-friendly toolkit, available as an open-source global good. ​

Find out more about RTI’s work at RTI International | Research Institute

NYU Global TIES for Children

Tool developer and PLAY 2.0 Research Partner

Having led on tool development and piloting from 2020-2022, NYU Global TIES for Children, together with RTI International, are supporting PLAY 2.0 implementing partners with tool testing and validation in order to:​

  • Assess the relationship between the PLAY toolkit and children’s holistic outcomes; ​
  • Strengthen the feasibility and validity of the tools, through extensive data analysis;​
  • Produce an updated user-friendly toolkit, available as an open source global good. ​

Find out more about NYU Global TIES’ work at www.globaltiesforchildren.nyu.edu

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Education Development Center (EDC)

PLAY 2.0 Implementing and Learning Partner

Countries: Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Uganda

EDC, together with Street Child, are testing and embedding the PLAY toolkit in the following programmes, and using the data for programme improvement:

  • Education for Every Child Today in primary schools across Sierra Leone;
  • Education Across Borders for 6-12-year-old learners in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh;
  • Right to Learn for 6-12-year-old learners in refugee camps and settlements in Uganda

EDC are also leading the PLAY 2.0 Community of Learning. Find out more about EDC’s work at www.edc.org 

Street Child

PLAY 2.0 Implementing Partner and Sub-grantee to EDC

Countries: Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Uganda​

Street Child, together with EDC, are testing and embedding the PLAY toolkit in the following programmes, and using the data for programme improvement:​

  • Education for Every Child Today for 6-12-year-old learners in state primary schools across Sierra Leone;​
  • Education Across Borders for 6-12-year-old learners in classrooms and Learning Centres in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh;​
  • Right to Learn for 6-12-year-old learners in state schools in Palabek, Kyaka and Kyangwali, covering camps and settlements across Uganda.​

Find out more about Street Child’s work at www.street-child.org

BRAC Institute of Educational Development (IED) and BRAC University

PLAY 2.0 Implementing Partner

Countries: Bangladesh and Uganda

BRAC IED and BRAC International are testing and embedding the PLAY tools in the following interventions: 

  • Play Labs for 4-5-year-olds in government primary schools in Bangladesh ​
  • Households of children from 0-5 years old, and Humanitarian Play Labs for 3–5-year-olds, in the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh​
  • Joint Humanitarian Play Lab/Ultra-Poor Graduation (HPL-UPG) project, for households of 3–5-year-olds in Northern Uganda

Find out more about BRAC IED  and BRAC International’s work at www.bracied.com and www.bracinternational.org

JET Education Services NPO

PLAY 2.0 Implementing Partner​

Country: South Africa 

JET, together with The Unlimited Child, are testing and embedding the PLAY toolkit in Early Childhood Development centres in urban and peri-urban areas in KwaZulu Natal (KZN), Ugu and Ethekwini districts in South Africa, and using the data for programme improvement. ​

Find out more about JET’s work at www.jet.org.za​

The Unlimited Child

PLAY 2.0 Implementing Partner and Sub-grantee to JET​

Country: South Africa

The Unlimited Child, together with JET, are testing and embedding the PLAY tools in Early Childhood Development centres in urban and peri-urban areas in KwaZulu Natal (KZN), Ugu and Ethekwini districts in South Africa, and using the data for programme improvement. ​

Find out more about The Unlimited Child’s work at www.theunlimitedchild.org

aeioTU

PLAY 2.0 Implementing Partner

Country: Colombia​

Description: aeioTU are testing and embedding the PLAY toolkit in Early Childhood Development Centres and Community Welfare Homes in Santa Marta, Cartagena and Barranquilla cities in Colombia, and using the data to inform advocacy efforts for system-level uptake of the tools.​

Find out more about AeioTU’s work at https://www.aeiotu.com/ 

FAQ

Why was the PLAY toolkit developed?
What does the PLAY toolkit measure?
What age groups and learning settings can the toolkit be used for?
Who can use the PLAY toolkit?
Where has the PLAY toolkit been tested and where can it be used?
Which organisations have first-hand experience of piloting or using the PLAY toolkit?
For what purposes is the PLAY toolkit appropriate?
Is the PLAY toolkit free to use?
How many tools are there in the PLAY toolkit?
How is the PLAY toolkit different from other quality environment measurement tools? 
Why does the PLAY toolkit not specifically measure the five characteristics of learning through play (joyful, meaningful, socially interactive, actively engaging and iterative)?
What is the difference between the PLAY toolkit and the Teacher Replay tool? 

Questions?

If you still have questions, please reach out to our Learning Partner EDC via [email protected]

Explore more

Teacher RePlay

Supporting teachers to enhance their practice of playful pedagogy, and build a better understanding of children's experiences in the classroom

Measuring Learning Through Play

Take me back to the landing page for the Measuring Learning Through Play tools