The Power of Play

It’s dry and hot in Chad’s refugee camps. It can get as hot as 38ºC in June. Sand flies up with every movement of the wind.

But when the play vans arrive each week, the children come running.

It’s a time for them to sing, dance and learn together. For a few moments, it feels like school, even though they had to leave their schools behind when they fled – often with just the clothes on their backs, no toys, no books.

The staff climbing out of the vans are educators who understand that for children who’ve fled violence, play isn’t a luxury – it’s medicine.

Outside the tents where children learn, a group of girls play volleyball. The ball slips, bounces off knees, draws laughter. A simple game, but some of them have probably never had a chance to play before. Some of them had never even touched a ball.

Inside the tent, a teaching session ends with a game called Lotus: Children sit in a circle, feet out, hands holding their toes. It’s a quiet game that teaches them how to take slow, deep breaths and feel calm.

“These children love to come to learn and have fun,” says Eslam, one of the play educators, who also fled the violence in Sudan. “They have no other place to go.”

Beyond the crisis: Play as learning

Imagine waking up one day to the sound of gunfire and your mother screaming at you to gather your things – you must leave. You don’t know what’s going on, but the fear in her eyes is unmistakable. For many children who are refugees, this is a reality they have experienced. And this single terrifying day can spiral into years of being displaced from their homes, often ending their education forever.

This is where PlayMatters steps in. The project, led by the International Rescue Committee in partnership with Plan International and other NGOs, has been revolutionizing how children ages 3–12 learn, by weaving play into their education. Instead of treating games merely as recess, teachers learn to use movement, creativity and play as teaching tools.

The project has nearly reached its target of helping 800,000 children who’ve been affected by long-term crises. By March 2026, it is projected to reach more than a million refugee children in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda, some whom have fled violence in Sudan and Ethiopia.

Breaking barriers, one game at a time

Girls in Peru often grow up hearing the same discouraging messages: They’re not good at sports; they should focus on household duties; they shouldn’t dream too big. They’re also more likely to live in poverty, drop out of school and face higher rates of sexual violence and teen pregnancy than other children their age.

Mitzy, 15, refuses to accept these limitations. As part of Plan International’s Decidir sin Violencia (Deciding Without Violence) project, she has become a peer educator, helping create safe spaces where girls can speak freely and challenge stereotypes by doing something radical: playing soccer!

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In my school, girls play football, often considered a sport only for boys, and boys play volleyball, which is associated with girls. They are no longer afraid of what people will say. I have found new ways to lead change in my community.”  –  Mitzy, 15, a participant in the Deciding Without Violence project in Peru

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Mitzy isn’t just talking about change – she’s creating it. Last year, she walked into the district mayor’s office with a proposal to ban alcohol sales to teenagers. And she won!

Mitzy is one of 569,000 girls and young women across South America who’ve worked with Plan International to learn how to prevent violence and drive change in their communities.

Healing through laughter

Artiom sits in the front row of what might be the world’s most important comedy show.

The 11-year-old is from Moldova, but he has family in Ukraine. He also has several new classmates who have been forced to leave their home country. Many of the children in this audience have seen things no child should ever witness.

That’s why Clowns Without Borders is visiting their school. These entertainers are specially trained to provide “emotional first aid” to children in war zones and conflict areas through laughter and play.

“I liked that the clowns told us to be nice to each other,” says Artiom.

Project Laughter, funded by Plan International, is a global initiative that trains local artists in this specialized form of humanitarian performance clowning, teaching them how to help children who’ve experienced trauma.

“When the kids see our show, they can be right there and just laugh and enjoy it without thinking about all the ugliness they might have experienced,” says Elin, one of the performers.

Playing toward equality

In rural communities in Kenya, something remarkable is happening on soccer fields that’s changing lives both on and off the pitch.

Plan International runs a project in Kenya that focuses on environmental conservation and resilience. It also layers in programs that are changing how men and women relate to one another.

The secret? Mixed football matches, with special rules: Only women can score goals; men can only assist. By showing how a team succeeds when men support women’s abilities, these games are quietly changing family dynamics.

“We never imagined we’d be playing – especially alongside our husbands,” says Caroline, one of the players.

These aren’t just games – they’re helping dismantle long-held beliefs about what women can and can’t do, one match at a time.

Let’s play

Play isn’t a luxury to enjoy when everything else is sorted; it’s a fundamental tool for healing, learning and creating change. And as these stories from around the world show, it might just be one of the most powerful tools to address the inequality, trauma and injustice that children in crisis face.