Real Play Coalition Announce Global Month of Play and First Ever Play Gap Report to Combat the Dramatic Decline of Play

This November They Invite the World to Reappraise Play as the Rocket Fuel Children Need to Boost Their Skill Development and Announce the World’s First Play Gap Report in Partnership with University College London.

This November, the Real Play Coalition founded by IKEA, The LEGO Foundation, Unilever’s Persil and OMO and National Geographic, is announcing its commitment to help combat the erosion of play by introducing the Global Month of Play, and reinforcing its commitment to better understand where play is at greatest risk by launching the first-ever Play Gap Report in partnership with University College London.

As both individual and collective champions of play, the four iconic organisations behind the Real Play Coalition have come together to develop and support play-based activities that give children opportunities to grow and learn through play. Touching homes, schools and communities, the Global Month of Play will provide a programme of activities throughout November that will engage and excite children in each aspect of their lives. With a proven track record of success, together, the Real Play Coalition will reach over 3 million children in more than 116 countries and activities will take place in across 26,000 classrooms.

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Additionally, the Real Play Coalition is announcing its development of the world’s first-ever Play Gap Report, created in partnership with University College London (UCL). The Play Gap Report will be a global study which will help pinpoint the gaps in access to quality play between genders and different socio-economic groups among more than 40 countries. Preliminary results are already showing that children from disadvantaged backgrounds in some countries are more than 20 percentage points less likely[i] to regularly play with building blocks – with demonstrated links to language, motor and early maths skills – than children from socio-economically advantaged homes*. The key results will be announced in early 2019, which will fuel future Real Play Coalition programmes.

Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Group ; Kees Kruythoff, President, Home Care, Unilever; John Goodwin, CEO of The LEGO Foundation; and Gary Knell, Chairman of National Geographic Partners said in a joint statement: “Play is the ‘rocket fuel’ of human development. It is nature’s way of helping children make sense of the world and their place in it. Driven by natural curiosity, play helps children master their bodies and minds, activates their imaginations and develops the cognitive, emotional and pro-social skills that define them as adults.

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“Yet despite its central importance in every child’s developmental journey, play is under threat. Globalisation, rapid urbanisation and advances in machine learning are reshaping the way we think, live, work…and play. While these changes have significant benefits, they also bring disruption, anxiety and uncertainty about the kinds of futures we will face.”

Globally, 64% of parents believe their children have fewer opportunities to play than they did as a child themselves[iii]. Whether for reasons of safety (51% of parents agree they would like their children to play outside but are too worried about their safety[iv]) or growing pressures on children (one in five say they are “too busy” to play[v]), it is clear that play is under threat in the home, in schools and in the community across the world.

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