By Manasi Doke | Project Contributor
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:
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:
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!
By Pooja Saiya | Project Contributor
By Pooja Saiya | Project Contributor
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