Building Life-skills for 150,000 children

Dear Supporters,

Thank you so much for your continued and unwavering support. On behalf of Team The Opentree Foundation, I am delighted to share some key highlights from what has been a truly landmark year for us.

2024 marked a monumental milestone—20 years of bringing Conscious Play® to underserved children across Maharashtra. 

Two decades ago, our Co-founder, Shweta Chari, began this journey with a simple yet powerful vision: to bring joy and happiness into the everyday lives of children. Today it has grown into a movement that is transforming childhoods through the power of play.

As we celebrated our 20th anniversary, FY 2024-25 stood out not just for the memories we created, but also for the impact we deepened. Here's a look at what we achieved together:

Programmatic Impact

• In 2024, we reached 1,50,000 children across Maharashtra.

• We distributed 23,155 games across 578 Play2Learn Centres—including both refurbished and newly established centres.

• Conducted 78 “Power of Play” workshops, training 1,817 teachers to integrate play into their daily classroom interactions.

• Nearly 27,000 Play2Learn sessions were facilitated by our trained outreach playworkers and teachers.

• A vibrant force of 550 volunteers supported the delivery of our life skills play-based programs on the ground.

Recognition & Thought Leadership:

1. Our play-based assessment of Life Skills showed that even a single year of play could increase children's Critical Thinking by 52% & Communication skills by 53%, while also reversing some of the impact of inadequate learning environments. We have built India's first play-based assessment framework, and the findings were analysed by Social Lens, our Monitoring and Evaluation partner.

2. Our Co-founder & CEO, Shweta Chari was awarded the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship, a global network that supports social entrepreneurs who have innovative solutions to pressing social problems, empowering them to scale their impact.

3. We organised a digital Roundtable: Thriving Through Play, where Ratan Batliboi, Deepika Mogilishetty (Ekstep), Swati Agrawal (Antarang Foundation) discussed systemic barriers and solutions for equitable access to Play in India, moderated by Vijaya Balaji (Social Lens). This was attended by over 200 participants, and prompted a strong interest in collaboration, partnership and research on play from some of them.

4. Shweta Chari was also awarded, Qimpro Gold Standard for Excellence in Education, which recognises visionary leaders for excellence in quality management.

5. Our initiative Using Play to Better Our World, was selected as a part of HundrED Global Collection 2025 as one of the 100 most scalable and impactful global innovations. We were selected out of 3000+ innovations, reviewed by a panel of experts, and received a bursary to present our work at the HundrED 2024 Summit in Helsinki. 

6. We organised our first ever Play Summit - Child Wellbeing through Play, in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which was attended by 150+ educators, social sector professionals, child development experts, researchers, philanthropists, policymakers. Ms. Farida Lambay, co-founder, Pratham Education foundation, and Mr. Anmol Sagar, IAS, the CEO of the Zilla Parishad, Latur, where our play programmes impact over 10,000 children. We received extensive coverage in regional media in Latur (Image attached).

7. We conducted a Masterclass on Assessing through Play for 150+ educators & practitioners, organised by Bachpan Manao, Badhte Jao. The purpose of this masterclass was to encourage more educators to make play a part of their classrooms, by showcasing the effectiveness of Play as an assessment tool, and presenting insights from our play-based assessment framework.

As we look ahead, we are filled with gratitude, pride, and purpose. FY 2024-25 has raised the bar—and we are ready to step into a new decade with even greater determination. Our goal is bold: to expand Conscious Play® to even more children across Maharashtra, ensuring every child gets the joyful, play-filled childhood they deserve and develop the essential life skills they need not just for today, but for the future.

By investing in their right to play today, we are empowering them to thrive tomorrow.

Thank you for standing with us, year after year! :)