Building Life-skills for 150,000 children

Dear Supporter,

Thank you for standing with us and for your continued support over the years.

We’re pleased to share a snapshot of The Opentree Foundation’s (TOF) work and progress from July to September 2025.

This quarter was marked by active engagement on the ground, as play sessions resumed across classrooms, teachers participated in capacity-building trainings, and partnerships were strengthened to support programme implementation. Through these efforts, we continued to deepen the practice of play-based learning for children across Maharashtra — creating classrooms that are more engaging, inclusive, and responsive to children’s needs.

We invite you to read on for a glimpse into what our team has been working on over the past few months.

How play-based learning eases transitions into schools

For many young children, adjusting to new environments can be overwhelming. A new place, unfamiliar faces, structured routines, these can be especially difficult for children growing up in vulnerable communities, where emotional safety is inconsistent and fragile.

This was the case for Akash, Rajesh, Gautam and Geetesh (names changed), who study in Class 1 at a Zilla Parishad school in Maharashtra’s Latur district.

When they first entered class, they were scared of teachers, cried at drop-off, and did not want to leave their parents or grandparents. For many weeks, they stayed quiet and away from classroom activities.

Their teacher noticed this and took a gentle, playful approach to help them settle. Each day, she began class with a short pep-up session that included singing, clapping games and simple movements to bring energy and smiles to her students’ faces. Pep-up activities, especially when rooted in play, serve as powerful tools to support children’s emotional, social, and cognitive readiness for learning.

Using the play-based methods she had learnt through The Opentree Foundation’s (TOF) workshops, she introduced structured play outside the classroom. These sessions created a safe, fun and friendly atmosphere. Akash, Rajesh, Gautam and Geetesh slowly began joining in, curious and engaged. These playful moments helped them feel more comfortable with school. 

After each session, the teacher conducted reflection activities — a regular part of TOF’s play sessions — by asking questions like, “What did you enjoy in today’s play session?” and “What did we learn from the games we played today?” These moments helped the children reflect, process their experiences and share their joy. 

Gradually, the teacher brought learning into play, using alphabet puzzles and number games. The boys, who once avoided classwork, now began to recognise letters and numbers. Soon, they were confidently reciting the alphabet, counting up to 100, naming fruits and shapes aloud, and showing what they had learned with joy.

Today, these boys come to school every day, full of energy. They not only sit through class but also play, speak up and even lead activities with their classmates. They have found joy in learning through play.

Their journey shows that with patience, play, and thoughtful reflection, children can overcome fear, build confidence, and grow in every way: socially, emotionally, and academically.

-Story shared from ZPPS Borphal, Ausa, Latur, Play Centre LA.379

Key Updates from July to September 2025:

• Capacity Building of the Programme Outreach Team:

As part of the ‘Playworkers Unnati Workshop Series’ and in preparation for the new academic year, a series of in-person workshops was conducted for the Outreach Play Workers (OPWs), serving as both onboarding for new members and refresher training for existing OPWs. The series 2-day sessions each in July and August & September, covering essential skills. The training aimed to equip the team to deliver the programme effectively while adopting playful approaches to engage children and build capacities in facilitation, classroom and behaviour management, observing play, communication, and volunteer engagement.

During July to September 2025, 18 programme outreach team were trained to deliver impactful play sessions

2.  On-ground Play sessions:

Play is the primary way in which children explore a world that is not in their control. The Opentree Foundation’s (TOF) Play centres are safe spaces for children to explore and engage in developmentally-appropriate play sessions. The play sessions are an hour-long session that start with energisers, fun and movement-based activities and are aimed at starting the session on a joyful note. This is followed by children engaging in carefully-curated and strategically chosen games and play-based materials. Our Outreach Play Workers (OPW) and trained teachers support children to understand the games, learn through them, work in groups, help them think independently and more. The play session ends with another energiser, in addition to children sharing what they liked the most about the day’s play session and what they learned. These play sessions are conducted with children between 3 to 13 years at schools.

Between July to September 2025, our Programme team members and teachers conducted 6360+ Play Sessions across Maharashtra.

3. Setting up Play Centres & Replenishment of Play Materials:

The programme outreach team conducts stock and quality checks at TOF’s Play centres and initiates the process of restocking the games and play material at the centres. These games are categorised as per age groups: Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary and as per the six categories of games in the TOF’s Play Programme, i.e. SPBANG: Strategy, Puzzle, Blocks, Alphabetics, Numerics and General. The team ensures that children have access to not just age-appropriate and category-wise games, but also that these games are in good condition. This also allows the PCFs and programme outreach team to conduct play sessions smoothly.

During July to September 2025, over 7080 games were delivered across TOF’s play centres during this period, with game materials replenished at 247 centres.

4. Transformative ‘Power of Play’ Workshops

On-ground training sessions are conducted with the Play Centre Facilitators (PCFs) to make them aware and knowledgeable on play-based learning and re-orient them on TOF's play programme. These training sessions give them the ability to identify and nurture life skills in children. They are trained on new games and how to effectively use them in classrooms, as part of their daily teaching, in order to build stronger student-teacher bonds and greater confidence in integrating play into a teaching pedagogy.

Through a series of transformative 'Power of Play' workshops, our programme team strengthened the capacities of over 880 teachers across Maharashtra during this period.

5. Volunteer Engagement

Volunteers play a crucial role in supporting the TOF team to ensure children continue to learn through play. The volunteers supported us with on-ground Play sessions at TOF’s Play centres providing support to our OPWs in classroom management and increasing the student engagement with Play. 

Total number of Volunteers engaged during this period: 104

Additional Activities:

• Celebrating 21 Years of the ‘Power of Play’:

The Opentree Foundation (TOF) celebrated its 21st Foundation Day this August, marking another year of transforming children’s learning through Play. The milestone event brought together over 100 volunteers who facilitated fun play sessions and distributed games to 1,000 children across our partner schools. From board games to storytelling sessions, origami workshops, and other playful activities, the day was a joyful celebration of learning through Play. With the support of volunteers, children also received games and toys, ensuring that the spirit of play continues beyond the Foundation Day celebrations.

Rebuilding Childhoods through Play

Investing in play is one of the most powerful ways to make mental well-being and learning truly accessible for children at-risk. With your support, over 1,50,000 children can continue to learn joyfully, grow confidently, and reclaim their right to a happy childhood.

Thank you for being a part of the Play movement!

Dear Supporter,

Thank you for your continued support over the years. :)

I’m delighted to share updates on what The Opentree Foundation (TOF) has been working on during the first quarter of FY 2025–26.

This period is always a crucial time for us, as we focus on planning for the academic year ahead — preparing resources, training our implementation team, and finalising partnerships. It’s a season of reflection, preparation, and renewed commitment to our mission.

Read on to see what our team has been up to over the past three months!

1. Playworkers Unnati Workshop Series:

The ‘Playworkers Unnati Workshop Series’ is our internal dedicated capacity-building session for our programme Outreach team. In Q1, while the schools stay shut for Summer vacations, our team puts dedicated efforts to prepare for the new academic year. The sessions conducted serve as both onboarding for new members and refresher training for existing Outreach Playworkers (OPWs). The objective was to equip the team to effectively deliver the programme throughout the year, while aligning them with the organisation’s vision of integrating PLAY-based methodologies into classroom learning. The sessions also focused on helping the team adopt playful approaches to engage with children and build their capacities in areas such as playful facilitation, classroom and behaviour management and observing play. Additionally, the team also received training on relationship-building and stakeholder engagement through various Communication and Volunteer Engagement-based sessions.

2. On-ground Play Sessions:

Play is the primary way in which children explore a world that is not in their control. TOF’s Play centres are safe spaces for children to explore and engage in developmentally-appropriate play sessions. The play sessions are typically hour-long and begin with pep-up, fun and movement-based activities and are aimed at starting the session on a joyful note. This is followed by children engaging in carefully-curated and strategically chosen games and play-based materials. Our OPWs and teachers support children to understand the games, learn through them, work in groups, help them think independently and more. The play session ends with another pep-up, in addition to children sharing what they liked the most about the day’s play session and what they learned. These play sessions are conducted with children between 3 to 13 years at schools.

During quarter one, the Programme team members and teachers conducted 1,584 Play Sessions across Maharashtra.

3. Transformative ‘Power of Play’ Workshops for Teachers:

On-ground "Power of Play" training sessions were conducted with the school teachers to make them aware and knowledgeable about play-based learning and re-orient them on TOF's play programmes. These training sessions help them understand the impact of developmentally appropriate play on the childhood to adulthood outcomes in children. They are trained on new games and how to effectively use them in classrooms, as part of their daily teaching, in order to build a healthy and stronger student-teacher bond.

Our Programme Team conducted 8 ‘Power of Play’ workshops, training 68 teachers of Maharashtra during this period.

4. Delivery & Replenishment of Games at Play Centres:

The programme team periodically conducts stock and quality checks at the Play centres to identify the status of games. The team ensures that children have access to not just age-appropriate and category-wise games, but also that these games are in good condition. Upon identification of the need, new games were sent to the play centres.

Over 3700+ games were delivered across 55 play centres during this period.

5. Volunteers Engaged:

Volunteers play a crucial role in supporting the TOF team to ensure children continue to learn through play. They support us on-ground in Play sessions, providing support to our OPWs in classroom management and increasing the student engagement with Play. And Off-ground supporting our Support teams with spreading awareness about the cause through various projects.

A total of 21 volunteers supported during this quarter. 

6. International Day of Play Global Roundtable: “Choose Play, Everyday”:

To celebrate International Day of Play, we organised a Global Roundtable on June 11th. The Roundtable featured powerful insights from our panelists Dr. Sarah Aiono (Longworth Education), Tia Mathisen (Playworks), Ingrid Srinath (Resource Alliance) and Shweta Chari (The Opentree Foundation) where they discussed the urgent need to embed play in education systems, public policy, and community spaces, and to reframe play as a Right for every child. This roundtable, moderated by Smarinita Shetty (Indian Development Review) was attended by over 200 participants who were reminded of the importance of building a world where every child’s right to play is protected, practised and prioritised.