Every child deserves a space to play, learn and grow.
As children across Europe settle back into school and look forward to playtimes, hundreds of refugee children living in northern France don’t have access to education or spaces to play.
Project Play is working to change this. We provide a mobile play service to create spaces for refugee children to process trauma, develop key skills and make positive memories.
Can you help us bring play to children who need it?
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This autumn, we’re running a match funding campaign - made possible by the wonderful Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) CIC - and have the opportunity to raise £60,000. This would keep us playing for eight months, funding over 200 sessions and 550 hours of play!
With your help, we can make sure that more children are able to access space to play in 2025.
GET INVOLVED
★ Donate ★
donate once, give twice!
We have partnered with the amazing OPAL to support #PlayForEveryChild.
Like us, OPAL believes that every child has the right to play. For this reason, they have pledged to match each donation up to a WHOPPING £30,000. This means that for every £1 you donate, they’ll donate £1 - doubling your impact!
If we match every penny of this - we’d raise £60,000. This would run our service for eight months. That’s over 200 sessions and 550 hours of play!
We need your help! Can you support us to reach our target?
★ SHOP ★
A little something for you, a big difference to us!
As you're buying bits to head back to school or university this autumn, make a choice which will support children’s rights.
We’ve worked with some wonderful designers to create a gorgeous range of one-off tote bags to support #PlayForEveryChild. 100% of the proceeds from each sale will be donated, AND be matched by OPAL.
This means that purchasing a tote bag for £12 will be a £24 donation to us and buying one for £15 would be £30!
All our merch is sustainably sourced and we're ordering in batches, to demand, to minimise waste.
★ FUNDRAISE ★
however small, make double the impact!
Could you run an event in your community, take on a challenge or mobilise some friends to get fundraising? Could you sell some Project Play merchandise for us at a local craft fair, market or during your University Fresher’s week?
From movie nights to marathon hula-hooping, events of all sizes make a HUGE difference - not only do they raise money, but they help spread the word about our campaign.
Plus, with OPAL’s matching, whatever you raise will be doubled! £20 becomes £40, £50 becomes £100 - £200 becomes £400! Any fundraiser, from big to small, will help us hit our target.
We’ve created a Fundraising Pack with some more information and inspiration - click below. If you’d like to get involved, email fundraising@project-play.org and we can support you with resources and more info (as well as lots of gratitude!).
SPACE TO PLAY
Many of the children we work with live outside, in tents, all year long. They do not have access to water, food, sanitation or adequate shelter - nor do they have access to safety or stability. Spaces for them to play, relax and just to be children are few and far between.
Play is essential for any child’s well-being and development. For some of the most at risk children in Europe, it can be a lifeline. Through play, children practice essential life skills; they learn to interact and communicate, to express their emotions and to explore their creativity. Play also allows children the opportunity simply to create positive memories; a fundamental part of any childhood.
Often, the children we work with talk about their hopes and dreams. These include going to school - a space to learn, make friends and get to know their likes and talents. Like every child, in every school, they have dreams of becoming teachers, doctors, footballers, actors, or artists. Creating space for these children to play and learn - about themselves and the world around them - is so important.
Our service aims to create these spaces, and to provide support to the children we work with - mitigating the impacts of ongoing trauma and fostering a sense of identity, agency and increased self-worth. We do this through providing regular and consistent play sessions, with familiar faces and carefully planned out games and activities.
No two Project Play sessions are the same - but all of them feature a structured activity, group circle time (with silly songs and fun games a-plenty!) and plenty of time for free play. If you’d like to learn more about our sessions, click here.