The Importance of Sports and Play for Children Worldwide
Play is critically important for children's health and well-being. How UNICEF protects and promotes every child's right to play — helping them reap the benefits — around the world.
Play: essential for every child
While many children are able to play sports, run outside and cheer on their favorite teams, millions of children around the world still lack safe spaces to play. Globally, 1 in 7 children under age 5 do not have toys or playthings at home.
Play helps children build critical emotional, social and developmental skills. In humanitarian crises, play can restore stability, connection and joy when children need it most.
“For children living through crisis, play is not optional, it is essential,” UNICEF USA President & CEO Michael J. Nyenhuis says.
It’s hard to imagine childhood without it. When kids play, they learn how to explore, invent, create and collaborate — all invaluable skills that help them navigate the world, make friends and thrive, starting from a very young age and carrying them into adulthood.
June 11: International Day of Play
International Day of Play, observed on June 11, recognizes play as essential to children's development and well-being. It highlights the importance of play for children, and why access to play — whether it's playing sports or games or engaging in arts-based, creative play — must be protected, especially for children affected by conflict, poverty or displacement.
UNICEF promotes play, and advocates for the protection of every child's right to play, to ensure the health and well-being of children everywhere. UNICEF also supports safe spaces for children to play, learn and heal in more than 150 countries and territories around the world.
Related: Harnessing the Power of Play With Building Blocks
Unlocking children's potential through play
Scientific research shows that in the earliest years of life, children’s brains develop faster than at any other time. Play helps strengthen the neural connections that shape how children think, learn, communicate and solve problems throughout their lives.
Through play, children build cognitive skills like creativity and critical thinking, social skills such as teamwork and empathy, emotional resilience and confidence and physical strength and coordination. These experiences lay the foundation for lifelong learning, well-being and healthy development.
And when times are tough, active play for children helps them deal with adversity. The pleasure and connections children tap into when playing together or with adults are a powerful antidote to the stress that can build up in a child who has endured trauma.
Read about how sport drives development and sets kids up for success
Barriers to play for children in humanitarian settings
While overscheduling often cuts into children's playtime in high-income countries like the United States, the barriers in many other parts of the world are often much more dangerous and difficult to address.
Some children spend hours every day fetching safe water for their families. For children caught in conflict, a safe place to have fun and run free is a dream.
And when families can’t afford healthy, nutritious food, their children may have little energy to play. Children living under such duress desperately need the relief that playtime offers. Without it, they can suffer long-term effects.
Play through arts and creativity
Play can also means drawing, storytelling, music, dance and drama — activities that help children express themselves, build confidence and strengthen social connections. For children caught in conflict or other crisis, arts-based play can also support healing by giving them safe ways to process their emotions and experiences that may be difficult to put into words.
In UNICEF-supported child-friendly spaces and schools around the world, creative expression is often integrated into psychosocial support programs to help children rebuild a sense of joy, identity and resilience.
6 Ways UNICEF Supports Youth Mental Health
Fulfilling every child's right to play — wherever they are
UNICEF promotes play broadly, through schools and parenting support, in development and humanitarian settings, and across sports, arts and other means of creative expression. UNICEF takes an inclusive approach to reach the most marginalized children to ensure that play is not a privilege for a few, but a reality for every child.
Through parenting programs, caregivers are equipped with practical tools to turn everyday moments into opportunities for play, connection and early learning.
Through partnerships with organizations like the LEGO Foundation, UNICEF strengthens national education systems to better incorporate play, including through teacher training programs to help them foster a sense of play in the classroom.
In North Macedonia, for example, UNICEF supported a national play-based learning platform that provides educators with activities for children aged 3 to 10. This platform helps children continue learning at home during school closures while fostering creativity, social interaction and quality time between children and caregivers.
UNICEF is committed to working with partners worldwide to create a more equitable world where every child’s right to play is respected, protected and fulfilled. As part of this commitment, UNICEF advocates to governments, businesses and other stakeholders to scale up parenting programs and other services that promote play for children; enable and enhance young children's access to pre-school, a key play space; and increase and ensure access to safe, inclusive and well-maintained play areas for every child.
By strengthening these and other support systems around children, UNICEF helps ensure that the benefits of play extend across every stage of childhood and into daily life.
Establishing safe spaces for play in emergencies
Another way UNICEF supports and promotes play for children is by establishing child-friendly spaces in refugee camps, disaster zones and conflict-affected communities. These safe environments allow children to play, receive psychosocial support, continue learning and begin healing from trauma.
At UNICEF’s mobile child-friendly spaces in the Adré refugee site in Chad, children from both refugee and host communities access areas to play games, participate in learning and sports, and connect with peers. These activities are intentionally paired with psychosocial support services to foster well-being and a sense of normalcy in this large informal settlement.
“When they first arrived, many children expressed their trauma through drawings — depictions of weapons, tanks and war scenes," says Idriss Djede, a facilitator for these programs. "Gradually, thanks to psychological support and recreational activities, these dark memories are replaced by smiles and colorful drawings of flowers and portraits of their friends. Child-friendly spaces have a real impact on children. You can see it and feel it; here, they find joy in being together and having fun."
Sports as a way to advance gender equality and inclusion
Through Sport for Development initiatives worldwide, UNICEF helps advance goals in health, education, gender equality and social inclusion. Because of their strong appeal to children, sports can boost the appeal of other types of programming focused on teaching teamwork, leadership and resilience.
In Barbados, thirty cricket coaches were trained on child rights, inclusion and skills development for the players they work with. UNICEF’s South Asia regional ambassador campaigns, led by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, have championed girls’ participation in sport as a way to challenge gender norms and promote confidence, health and equality.
Through these campaigns, UNICEF is advancing inclusion through play and physical activity.
Protecting children's right to play, today and every day
Play is not optional — it is essential to children's health, development and well-being. From early childhood through adolescence, opportunities to play and participate in sports help children learn, build confidence and form meaningful connections with others.
Through programs around the world, UNICEF works to protect every child's right to play, especially for children affected by conflict, poverty and displacement. By expanding access to safe spaces, supporting inclusive sports programs and working with partners globally, UNICEF helps ensure children have the chance to grow, heal and thrive — today and every day.
Explore some ways you can help provide access and resources for children's sports and play: The Power of Play to Transform Children's Lives
Frequently asked questions about play for children
Is play recognized as a right for children?
Yes, the right to play is recognized under international law as a fundamental right of every child. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms children’s right to rest, leisure and play, alongside their right to education, health and protection.
How do cultural differences shape play for children?
Play looks different across cultures and communities. Local traditions, environments and resources influence how children play, the games they invent and the sports they practice. In many places, sports for kids are shaped by what equipment, space and community support are available. UNICEF works with communities to support play for children in ways that respect local culture and context.
How can adults support children’s right to play?
Adults can support children’s right to play by creating safe environments, allowing time for play, and valuing play as an essential part of childhood. This includes recognizing the role of kids playing sports in helping children build confidence, relationships and a sense of belonging. At a broader level, governments, organizations and communities play a key role by investing in safe spaces, inclusive programs and policies that protect children’s rights.
HOW TO HELP
There are many ways to make a difference
War, famine, poverty, natural disasters — threats to the world's children keep coming. But UNICEF won't stop working to keep children healthy and safe.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories — more places than any other children's organization. UNICEF has the world's largest humanitarian warehouse and, when disaster strikes, can get supplies almost anywhere within 72 hours. Constantly innovating, always advocating for a better world for children, UNICEF works to ensure that every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected.
Would you like to help give all children the opportunity to reach their full potential? There are many ways to get involved.
