In March 2024, the United Nations General Assembly named June 11as the International Day of Play. An outgrowth of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the day is set aside for countries around the world to celebrate what the UN identified as a basic right for children to engage in play. The second annual event is this year.
Toy companies, educational associations, and charities have all gotten on board to promote the important role of play in child development–something too often overlooked.
- The Toy Association & Toy Foundation have joined forces with global organizations to donate $900,000 worth of toys to children in need. The program is here.
- LEGO has initiated an extensive program for kids, families and teachers to facilitate creating play. You can find their toolkit here.
- Hasbro has announced a program that the company says will reach more than 30,000 kids worldwide.
- Mattel commissioned a study that among other things showed that 59 percent of children wished they could play more.
- Build-A-Bear announced special in-store deals and has donated 11,000 Reading Buddy bears to children and classrooms in need.
- Other Companies have posted ideas for encouraging play and continued to make donations to the Toy Foundation’s Toy Chest program to help ensure play is available to all. Last year, the program reached nearly 3 million children in need.
This new holiday has expanded the United Nation’s emphasis on childcare and health. Children’s Days have been celebrated around the world since the middle of the 19th Century, and the United Nations officially established a World Children’s Day in 1954, which is celebrated in November.
The second year of the Day of Play, takes that a step further and focuses on the unique role of play in children’s live, how it’s essential, and the benefits of play–above and beyond promoting it as a basic right of children in every culture.
What are your plans to celebrate? Send us photos, and we’ll follow up with reporting on how the day has made the world more playful.
