Why play matters: the evidence 

By Andrea Elanga

International Day of Play, 11 June 2026 

Watch a child for an afternoon. They count stones, trade them, argue about who has more. Nobody taught them this. Play is how children investigate the world, and it is working long before any teacher arrives. 

Yet in too many classrooms, play stops at the school gate. We play at break, we learn in class. The evidence says otherwise. 

In 2024, the United Nations declared 11 June the first global day dedicated to play, reaffirming that under Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, play is a right, not a reward. The global research agrees: the Education Endowment Foundation's Early Years Toolkit finds positive impacts from play based learning across language, literacy, and numeracy, with the strongest evidence behind guided play, where teachers shape playful activity towards a learning goal. 

We tested this in African classrooms. Under the Daara Development Academy, a Gates Foundation initiative, eBASE Africa evaluated a pilot in Kenya and Malawi that wove storytelling into maths lessons for 300 Grade 2 learners, implemented with The Action Foundation and Rays of Hope. Participation jumped from a quarter of learners to 65 percent in Kenya and 82 percent in Malawi. Learners below expectations in pattern recognition fell from 47 percent to 8 percent. Maths anxiety fell. Attendance rose. 

And none of it needed technology. Stones, bottle tops, maize kernels, and local stories did the work. As one teacher told us, she will continue using stories long after the project ends. 

For children in the Lake Chad Basin growing up amid crisis, a classroom where learning feels like play may be the most stable, joyful hour of their week. Protecting play is protecting childhood. 

Play is not a break from learning. It is how children learn. 

Read the full evaluation report here.