The Parent Playbox

The Parent Playbox aims to address the critical issue of inadequate access to early learning opportunities for children globally, particularly in Africa where more than 175 million children lack access to early childhood education. Across our continent, 3 out of 4 children are not receiving any form of early learning and are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential due to poverty and adverse conditions.

The early years of a child's life, especially the first five, have a significant impact on their long-term growth, learning and success across various domains like social, cognitive, emotional, and physical development. Healthy development during this period is crucial for a child's readiness for formal education and later life experiences. Factors such as early life stress, socioeconomic status, family relationships, and access to early education programmes play roles in shaping early childhood development and educational opportunities. Stressful experiences in early life, like abuse, family instability, unsafe environments, and poverty, can lead to lasting negative effects on children's mental and physical health, including developmental delays, poor coping skills, emotional regulation difficulties, and reduced social functioning.

Health and wellbeing are crucial factors to addressing these issues, as is safeguarding and responsive parenting, and caregivers play a pivotal role in improving these statistics through engaging in playful parenting programmes. These programmes align with three key elements of the WHO’s nurturing care framework: early learning, responsive caregiving, and safety and security. By empowering caregivers with the knowledge, resources, and confidence to engage in purposeful play with their children, The Parent Playbox seeks to bridge the gap in early childhood care and education.

The primary challenge faced in achieving this goal is the significant barriers parents encounter in feeling adequately prepared to engage in meaningful and developmentally appropriate play with their children, especially in marginalised or crisis-affected communities. These barriers include a lack of access to resources, limited knowledge on effective parenting practices, and low levels of confidence in engaging in play-based learning activities.

Research shows that effective parenting is crucial for children's physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development. The Parent Playbox recognizes the importance of parenting practices, knowledge, and skills in the first 1000 days of a child's life -  a critical period for disease prevention, physical growth and neurological development. 

The Parent Playbox is a comprehensive 52-week early learning solution designed to equip caregivers with the necessary knowledge, confidence, and resources to purposefully interact with their children through playful parenting techniques. By providing caregivers with a year-long early learning programme, The Parent Playbox equips them with the tools to support their children’s development through play, fostering positive learning outcomes, developing social and emotional skills and resilience, and breaking the cycle of inadequate early childhood education access.

The programme focuses on strengthening secure and caring relationships between caregivers and children, enhancing early childhood education, and promoting family wellbeing. By incorporating elements of playful parenting and relationship building, the programme aims to uplift caregivers, particularly single mothers facing economic challenges, to create nurturing and stimulating environments for their children at home.

The activities are delivered weekly through language-neutral videos that demonstrate the materials required for the activity and how to conduct them, ensuring relevance and scalability across different contexts. These instructional videos are distributed via WhatsApp on a weekly basis, allowing parents to easily access and engage with the content. The WhatsApp platform serves as a key tool for communication and interaction between the programme administrators and parents. It provides a convenient channel for parents to send feedback in the form of videos and photos, enabling instant responses from the admin team, including simple reactions with emojis.

The programme operates on the principle of a dual-generational approach to early childhood education, emphasising the importance of supporting both caregivers and children simultaneously. Through a series of structured modules and activities, caregivers are guided on how to engage with their children effectively, promote positive behaviours, and create enriching learning experiences at home. The Parent Playbox is designed to be accessible, engaging, and impactful, catering to the unique needs of families in marginalised communities.

By leveraging WhatsApp as a communication and data collection tool, the Parent Playbox enhances accessibility, engagement, and feedback mechanisms for participating caregivers. Through technology and community-based approaches (the training and WhatsApp platform combined) a sense of camaraderie and support is nurtured among parents, creating a dynamic and responsive learning environment for both caregivers and children. 

The Parent Playbox is targeted at caregivers in marginalised and crisis settings in Africa who lack the resources, knowledge and confidence to engage in activities with their children in a home environment. The programme was borne out of our experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, when traditional playgroup programmeming became unfeasible, necessitating a pivot to home-based visits.

Our team visited families in their homes in our target areas on a weekly basis to provide parenting support for how caregivers could engage with children to continue their child’s early learning. What we found was that children were typically left to play on their own or with other children while parents watched in a supervisory capacity. This was not for a lack of desire to be engaged in play with children but rather a lack of knowledge, resources and confidence on how to engage in play. These were the three primary barriers to engagement which were particularly scarce in these settings and thus the impacts felt by caregivers and children were more acute than in other areas. Caregivers needed a solution that addressed all three of those barriers together as opposed to, at the time and still today, existing solutions that equipped them with knowledge and training but no resources or vice-versa which left caregivers feeling ill-equipped and under-confident.

The Parent Playbox combines training, activity cards, and resources, thus removing barriers and providing a holistic solution that uplifts the caregivers to create nurturing and stimulating environments for their children at home.

Research from LEGO's Learning Through Play initiative has shown that providing caregivers with a play activity calendar positively impacts caregiver wellbeing and engagement with children, leading to positive child development outcomes. Recognising this challenge, the Parent Playbox makes engagement effortless by providing one activity each week, allowing caregivers to integrate play-based learning into their routines without overwhelming their schedules. This became evident following pilots of the Parent Playbox in the Dukwi Refugee Camp in Botswana and in Soweto, South Africa, where parents felt that over time they were able to build the confidence and capacity to not just engage in weekly activities but then replicate them and crucially, create their own variations multiple times in a week.

By addressing the key barriers faced by caregivers in marginalised and crisis settings, the Parent Playbox makes purposeful play accessible to caregivers enhancing their wellbeing while improving developmental outcomes of children. By fostering positive relationships between caregivers and children and promoting early childhood education, the programme has the potential to break cycles of inadequate access to early learning opportunities, ultimately contributing to wider resilience and wellbeing of children, families and communities at large. 

Our team is well-positioned to deliver the Parent Playbox solution to our target population, drawing from our extensive experience and deep engagement with communities in Botswana and across the continent. Over the past six years, we have pioneered play-based learning in Botswana through community driven playgroups. This has allowed us to develop a comprehensive understanding of the successes and challenges faced by caregivers in various communities through discussions and community consultations.

Our co-founders bring essential expertise in early childhood education and operations within Botswana, providing a strong foundation for designing and implementing solutions tailored to the needs of the communities we serve. Additionally, our team includes Maatla Mamas, who are from the communities we work in and have been trained to deliver playgroups in their communities for over six years. This has ensured that our team is representative of the communities we serve and possesses firsthand knowledge of their needs and challenges.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we gained invaluable insight into the needs and challenges of communities through home visits, which informed the early phases of developing the Parent Playbox programme. Following this, we began two pilot programmes of the Parent Playbox in the Dukwi refugee camp in Botswana and Soweto, South Africa with our partners Kids Collab, who co-developed the programme. Their expertise in health and physical development combined with ours in early childhood education and social & emotional development provide a comprehensive skill set to design a play-based parenting programme. 

In addition to our pilots, Learn To Play also collaborated with organisations in Kakuma Refugee Camp and Uganda working in early learning and family care reform. These initiatives allowed us to test and adapt elements of the Parent Playbox programme across different contexts, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness in diverse settings.

Importantly, our solution is designed to be adaptable and customizable by organisations working on the ground in their respective contexts. By providing training of trainers, we empower local organisations to implement and adapt the programme to suit the specific needs of their communities. This approach leverages local expertise and proximity to communities, ensuring that the programme is culturally sensitive and responsive to local realities.

Our team lead and co-founder, Priyanka, brings 15 years of experience as an educator and developer of early childhood education programmes in the UK, Botswana and other parts of Africa. As a Motswana herself, Priyanka has a deep understanding of the local context and has worked directly with families and caregivers to design and iterate programmes that meet their needs. Her leadership and engagement with communities across the continent have been instrumental in shaping the design and implementation of the Parent Playbox programme.

Overall, our team's expertise, experience, and deep engagement with communities position us as the right people to design and deliver the Parent Playbox solution to our target population, ensuring meaningful impact and sustainability in early childhood education.

To date, we have successfully delivered the Parent Playbox to over 200 families in Botswana and South Africa, impacting over 800 children and caregivers. Our solution has transitioned from initial pilots to consistent availability and is ready for further growth in multiple communities or countries. 

During an initial pilot phase from September to December 2022, we gathered valuable insights that affirmed the success and potential of the programme but raised a number of areas that we could improve on leading to a phase of extensive development throughout 2023. This development phase involved revamping the product packaging, extending the duration of the programme, adjusting the age group focus, and incorporating new delivery mechanisms, including the use of technology. 

As part of our development process, we had the opportunity to conduct a project through Rippleworks, guided by a project manager and an industry expert to develop a go-to-market strategy for the Parent Playbox.

Since then, we have continued to roll out the Parent Playbox, generating feedback on the updates we have made to the programme. Through partnerships with organisations in other countries across the continent, we have tested elements of the programme, refining it to suit diverse contexts and needs. These collaborations have allowed us to arrive at the current version of the Parent Playbox, which is now ready for implementation by other organisations.

We have established a consistent design and approach, and we are now prepared for further growth in multiple communities or countries. We are now confident in our approach and solution and look forward to growing it with other organisations.

Our greatest growth and opportunities for building our organisation have come when grants or partnerships have come with learning programmes or thought partnership. Opportunities such as these have led to revitalising our branding and communication strategy, developing a play-based programme assessment tool and the Parent Playbox itself. In order to move to our next stages of growth and eventually scale for the Parent Playbox, there are two key challenges that we require support to address.

Firstly, leveraging technology in remote areas in Africa remains a challenge due to network and data access limitations. Our current solution utilises WhatsApp to disseminate videos to caregivers directly or to community volunteers who facilitate weekly sessions with caregivers to share and demonstrate activities. While we have seen success with this approach, it has its limitations, particularly in reaching remote communities at scale. We aim to develop a technology platform, such as a zero-rated website or offline platform, that enables caregivers and volunteers to access demonstrative videos easily in remote areas. By overcoming technological barriers, we can ensure broader accessibility and scalability of the Parent Playbox programme.

Secondly, we currently conduct baseline and endline assessments with caregivers to collect data on attitudes and behaviours towards engaging in play-based activities as well as WhatsApp polls to receive weekly data on engagement and understanding of activities. However, we see the need for a centralised monitoring and evaluation system to track the effectiveness of the programme as it scales. As other organisations begin implementing the Parent Playbox, we require support to build a robust system that allows for the collection of key data points from various implementation sites. This data will enable us to demonstrate the impact of the programme and inform iterative improvements.

We believe Solve can help us address these challenges while capitalising on the network it brings to find partnerships for implementation, ultimately reaching more communities and making a greater impact on early childhood education in Africa. 

What sets our solution apart is its holistic approach to overcoming the key barriers of knowledge, resources, and confidence in one comprehensive programme, as opposed to solutions that address only one or two of these factors leaving a gap in caregivers' ability to engage in programmes.This approach ensures that caregivers are not only educated on effective parenting practices but also have the necessary tools to implement them. 

A second and key unique component of our approach is the focus on mindful play and action play to address social and emotional development as well as fine and gross motor skills; usually the most neglected areas in early learning programmes but fundamental to literacy, numeracy and executive functioning. 

There has been and still is a growing global emphasis on capacitating caregivers to play a crucial role in early childhood education which has been heightened by learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing early childhood development with a two-generational approach has been widely accepted by academics, funders and implementers as crucial to effectively addressing child development outcomes. With many organisations in the early childhood education space experiencing a gap in their programming regarding caregiver-child interactions, our solution fills this void by offering a two-generational approach to early childhood education. As a result, the Parent Playbox has the potential to positively influence, inform and shape the sector by augmenting existing programming efforts from other organisations.

As Learn To Play continues to prove the effectiveness of the Parent Playbox solution, it can serve as a compelling case study for other implementers seeking to adopt a two-generational approach. By demonstrating the scalability and impact of our solution and then making it available for other organisations to implement and adapt for their own contexts, the Parent Playbox has the potential to create lasting change and improve outcomes for children and families globally.

By providing parents with the knowledge, resources, and activities to engage in play-based interactions with their children, we expect to see caregivers spending more time engaging in quality play-based activities with children in their home. These activities, in turn, lead to improved early childhood education outcomes and caregiver and child wellbeing.

UNICEF highlights the importance of infusing playfulness into interactions with children, noting that it creates deeper connections and unlocks mental health benefits for both caregivers and children. Similarly, findings from the LEGO Foundation's Play Well that evaluated the impact of parenting programmes indicates that families who spend more time playing together report higher levels of happiness, which can have lasting impacts on mental health. 

Following Learn To Play's pilots we found that over 60% of parents reported engaging in play-based activities with their children more than once a week, indicating increased involvement in their children's learning and development. Moreover, participation in parenting programmes like the Parent Playbox has been associated with reduced levels of parental stress, anxiety, and depression, contributing to overall wellbeing. One father in the Dukwi Refugee Camp noted that “The Parent Playbox helps to develop love amongst parents and children. And also among other parents in our neighbourhood who are seeing that while we are playing with our Playbox with our children, we are developing love together.” 

Through continued implementation and evaluation, we aim to further demonstrate the effectiveness of our solution in an evidence based manner contributing to existing research on the value of parenting programmes for children and caregivers.

Our impact goals for the Parent Playbox are designed to measure both reach and the transformative effects on caregivers and children. The Parent Playbox addresses SDG 3 of ensuring good health and wellbeing for all ages with its focus on mindful play & action play, supporting children to meet their physical development milestones through play while strengthening parent-child relationships, as well as SDG 4 of quality education, particularly 4.2 of ensuring access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education. 

1. Reach and Accessibility: Our goal is to ensure that the Parent Playbox programme reaches a wide audience of caregivers, including those in underserved areas. We do this through partnering with grassroot organisations working with families and communities across the continent. In 2024 our goal is to have 3 other organisations adopt the Parent Playbox and collectively reach 600 families on the continent. In the next 3 years our goal is to have disseminated 3000 Playboxes, reaching 7500 children and caregivers in Africa, tracking the number of families engaged and the geographical coverage of our programme.

2. Parent Confidence and Knowledge in ECE: We measure the impact of our programme by assessing changes in parent confidence and knowledge related to early childhood education. Pre- and post-programme assessments, reflective journals, and feedback mechanisms help us gauge improvements in parents' understanding of child development milestones and confidence to lead playful learning activities. 

3. Engagement and Meaningful Play: We evaluate the programme's impact on increasing parent engagement in meaningful play activities with their children. Qualitative interviews and parent-reported data allow us to understand how the Playbox and accompanying training have impacted playful learning at home. 

4. Strengthening Parent-Child Relationships: Another key metric is the impact of the programme on strengthening the bond between parents/caregivers and children. We ask parents to reflect and report on changes in communication patterns, shared activities, and emotional connections within families, looking for positive shifts in relational dynamics and parenting behaviours.

5. Child Development Outcomes: Ultimately, our goal is to see positive outcomes in child development across cognitive, social-emotional, and physical domains. Whilst we do not track developmental milestones at this stage, qualitative feedback from caregivers help us understand how participation in the Parent Playbox programme contributes to children's holistic growth and learning trajectories and this is something we hope to be able to measure more rigorously going forward. 

We utilise a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods:

• Surveys and assessments conducted before and after participation to capture changes in knowledge, attitudes and practice. 

• Interviews and focus groups with caregivers to gather in-depth insights into their experiences, challenges, and perceived benefits.

• Reflective journals, whatsapp videos and polls to evaluate parent/child engagement, skills development, and overall understanding.

• Collaboration with local partners and stakeholders to gather community-level feedback and insights into programme effectiveness and relevance.

By continuously monitoring and evaluating our impact goals, we ensure that the Parent Playbox programme remains responsive to the needs of families and contributes meaningfully to positive outcomes in early childhood education and family wellbeing.

The Parent Playbox leverages video content delivered on WhatsApp as a communication and dissemination platform. The short videos demonstrate play-based activities and provide guidance to caregivers on how to engage with their children effectively. This allows us to ensure that our language-neutral content translates across contexts and cultures without relying on printable material that requires translation. Additionally, WhatsApp serves as a tool for data collection and monitoring and evaluation purposes. We leverage WhatsApp polls to gather regular feedback from caregivers on their engagement and understanding of the activities, allowing us to track progress and measure impact over time. 

However, in order to strike a good balance between leveraging technology and being cognisant of the challenges faced by users in Africa such as access to smartphones, network or data, we must find accessible technological solutions at scale. We hope to achieve this by making content accessible offline or without a financial burden and leveraging the same technology to gain data on engagement and impact. This offline solution would ensure that caregivers in remote areas can still benefit from the programme, even in areas with limited or no internet access or for households without smartphones and tablets.

4 full-time staff spend a portion of their time each on The Parent Playbox, weekly

2 people from a partner organisation who co-developed the solution also spend a portion of their time each on The Parent Playbox, weekly

2 years

At Learn To Play, ensuring diversity, reducing barriers to opportunity, and fostering a welcoming, inclusive environment are foundational principles, especially within our Parent Playbox programme aimed at supporting marginalised families across Africa. Here’s how we approach these aspects within our team:

Diverse Recruitment and Inclusive Practices: We prioritise diversity and inclusion in our recruitment efforts by seeking candidates from diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and abilities. Our hiring processes are designed to be inclusive, ensuring that all qualified candidates have equal opportunities to showcase their skills and experiences. This applies to our full-time staff at our head office as well as our community outreach staff across the various sites/countries/villages and refugee camps where we work. All our Maatla Mamas are from the communities we serve, and specifically recruit, train and financially uplift women that have been marginalised either due to socioeconomic reasons, educational levels or family circumstances. 

Training and Professional Development: We invest in ongoing training and professional development programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within our team. This includes workshops, seminars, and resources focused on cultural competence, unconscious bias awareness, and creating inclusive spaces. By equipping our team with these tools, we foster a culture of understanding, respect, and empathy.

Barrier Reduction and Accessibility: Identifying and addressing barriers like financial constraints, lack of access to resources or cultural differences is crucial. We offer flexible work arrangements, mentorship, financial support, and accessibility accommodations. We also advocate for equitable policies and practices within our organisation and the broader community. Paid maternity/paternity leave and childcare services further support staff attendance and participation.

Promoting a Welcoming and Inclusive Environment: Open communication, regular team meetings, and mindfulness practices create an inclusive workplace culture. Celebrating diversity through team events and partnerships reinforces our commitment to inclusivity. As our playgroups and centres are inclusive to children of all learning abilities and styles, as well as those with additional needs, we provide training and support to our team on this which in turn inspires a more inclusive work environment

Leadership Commitment and Accountability: Our leadership ensures that policies and decision-making reflect our values, holding ourselves accountable through assessments and feedback mechanisms. This commitment is integral to our mission and drives positive impact within our programs and communities.

In summary, Learn To Play's dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion is woven into our operations, empowering our team to create meaningful change while fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and included.

Our business model revolves around creating value for two key user groups: caregivers and partner organisations. For caregivers, the Parent Playbox provides a comprehensive solution that empowers them with the knowledge, confidence, and resources to engage in playful parenting, relationship building, and early education with their children. This is critical, as caregivers who engage in parenting programmess often report increased confidence in their ability to handle challenging situations and make informed decisions regarding their children. Additionally, participation in parenting programmes has been associated with reduced levels of parental stress, anxiety, and depression, contributing to overall wellbeing. By addressing these needs, the Parent Playbox enhances caregiver wellbeing, strengthens parent-child relationships, and fosters positive early childhood development outcomes.

For partner organisations, the Parent Playbox focusses on a few key value points. Firstly, it provides a complete parental engagement programme with a guided approach to implementation, enabling organisations to achieve deeper impact and a more engaging presence in the community. Our train-the-trainer model and resource kit upskills their team and strengthens their ability to engage, connect with, and support families in communities, positioning the organisation as one that goes beyond mere survival to equipping families with the confidence to thrive. Moreover, by providing parents/caregivers with knowledge, confidence, and resources on how to interact with their children, the Parent Playbox enables partner organisations to drive improved early learning outcomes and family wellbeing, thus enhancing their own larger programme/organisational effectiveness and impact.

Our intended aim is to ensure that the end users i.e. families do not have to pay for the Parent Playbox. In order to make this as cost-effective for partner organisations, we charge a nominal fee for once-off in-person training which includes annual virtual support. We do not charge a licence fee nor any recurring or hidden costs. We work with partners to build boxes in their own communities, guiding them on how to find locally available/made resources for the Parent Playbox to ensure a circular economy within the community and keep costs as low as possible. Implementing partners need to have the budget or fundraise to implement the Parent Playbox in their target communities. 

Learn To Play's plan for financial sustainability revolves around three primary sources of income: self-earned revenue, grants, and donations.

Self-earned revenue is generated through a fee-paying preschool model, where surplus revenue is used to fund part of the administrative expenses. This model ensures that the majority of funds raised from grants and donations can be directly utilised for community programming activities. Additionally, Learn To Play generates revenue from consulting and training services offered to other organisations, further diversifying its income streams.

Grants from organisations such as Dovetail Impact Foundation, Elma Masana Wa Afrika, and Alan & Gill Gray Philanthropies have provided unrestricted and multi-year funding, supporting the organisation's initiatives. Moreover, partnerships with corporates and embassies in Botswana, including the US Embassy, Deloitte, and Grant Thornton, have enabled Learn To Play to secure both financial support and in-kind contributions. Another important source of project funding is partnerships with corporate companies such as hospitality companies who have vested interests in providing services such as early childhood education services in communities that they operate in and around and employ from both as a CSR and HR benefit from the children of employees. In these cases, LTP operates as an implementing partner while the organisations fund the project. LTP also leverages individual donors that give on an annual or monthly basis. 

For the Parent Playbox specifically, Learn To Play has developed a financially sustainable model that minimises organisational expenses. Organisations are charged for the actual costs and training associated with implementing the programme, ensuring that Learn To Play can cover its operational costs. Subsequently, the cost of programme implementation is borne by the implementing organisation or through joint funding proposals.

Furthermore, Learn To Play leverages its earned income, grants, and donations to fund its direct implementation of the Parent Playbox programme. By utilising accelerator programs and capacity-building initiatives offered by partners like Solve, Learn To Play is able to access resources and support that help subsidise programme development costs. An example of this is a go-to-market project completed with Rippleworks in 2023. 

Evidence of the success of Learn To Play's financial sustainability can be seen through the organisation's track record of securing grants and donations, as well as its ability to generate revenue through self-earned sources. Additionally, partnerships with corporates and embassies demonstrate the organisation's capacity to attract diverse funding streams. Overall, Learn To Play's multifaceted approach to financial sustainability ensures that it can continue to deliver impactful programs like the Parent Playbox to communities in need.