play centres

We set up community-run Play Centres that help children learn through play, promote good health and hygiene and empower communities to change their children’s lives, and their own, for the better.

Play activities are essential to children’s future development. Play has been shown to enhance school readiness, learning behaviours and problem-solving skills. The right to play is so crucial that it has been enshrined in United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 31). Research shows that giving children constructive play and education activities at an early age is critical, as during this time the child is developing intelligence and the basis of the skills needed for adult life. Long-term educational benefits from early learning include higher verbal and mathematics achievement, sustained cognitive benefits and greater success at school (ie, less grade repetition, higher graduation rates). Even more importantly, the evidence shows that children with effective pre-primary education earn more as adults, show less dropout, attend more further education, show less criminality, and show more delayed childbirth. But educational games and resources are unavailable in most rural African communities.

Lively Minds reaches children at an early age – the time which will play a big part in deciding the future of each child’s development. We aim to start them off on the right track by developing essential skills so they have a good start in life and the best possible chances for the future.

Our Play Centres provide an excellent way for children aged 3-6 to acquire information, ideas and skills in a stimulating and caring environment. The educational games are designed to encourage the children to think creatively, to solve problems and to question. These are precisely the skills that these communities need to help them come up with solutions to escape poverty. As the games are fun, the children do not even realise they are learning.

The games in the centres are made from commonplace objects. We also commission local artisans to make wooden games and the volunteers also make their own games out of local resources. This demonstrates to the communities that there are simple, effective and cheap ways they can help children to learn and develop.

the games

At the play centres the children have an opportunity to participate in five types of activities:

numeracy games – that help children learn to count, recognise numbers and gain basic arithmetical skills

sensory awareness games – that stimulate different senses and help children to recognise colours, sizes and shapes

construction games – interactive building-type games that help develop imagination, problem solving and motor development

matching games – that help children recognise patterns and shapes, encourage basic literacy, improve memory and concentration

reading and story-telling – to foster an interest in reading, stimulate imagination and build literacy skills

The effect of the play centres is marked and immediate. Children become much more lively. They are able to develop key skills without even realising they are learning and the community as a whole become more energised.