John Goodwin, CEO of the Lego Foundation has published an opinion with Devex in which he discussed the importance of play in child`s development and learning process on one side, while there are 28 million refugee children today for whom play is luxury. He then outlines an important initiative Lego will be doing with international partners to provide opportunities for refugee children around the world.
Play is essential for child`s development and developing life skills: “play supports children’s psychological, emotional, and cognitive health and development, and hones the resilience they need to thrive and build their future”. The international organizations providing aid and support to refugee children, however, often focus on meeting their basic needs, without the resources and capacity to invest in early childhood development.
As a response, the Lego Foundation will work together with partners and contribute with 100 million dollars to support families affected by crisis in Bangladesh and Syria through providing ‘quality play-based early childhood interventions in partnership with Sesame Workshop’.