Kinder Value of Play: our commitment to children, families, and society
Spontaneous, joyful play is essential to children’s development. It allows for discovery and exploration and forms a bedrock of their bond with loved ones.
The importance of play extends beyond development - play is a daily way for parents and children to build valuable connections. However, creating space in our routines for play is becoming increasingly difficult while balancing the various demands of modern life. Our latest research in the UK, based on a survey of 1,000 parents with children aged 4 to 12 years, shows that 65% of parents are struggling to find time to play with their children.
At Kinder, we believe in the importance of shared moments of play for parents and children. For over 50 years, joyful play has been at the heart of our brand: through our physical toys and our Applaydu app, Kinder play experiences are designed to spark imagination and discovery, while supporting the development of key skills in children, such as problem-solving, creativity and learning to manage their emotions.
Today, we are as committed as ever to encouraging shared play.
Whether physical play, digital play, or outdoor play, we want to support children and parents to build positive play habits. After all, we know just how essential play is to children’s joyful development, as well as helping them to enhance connections with the people around them.
Launching Kinder Value of Play, our latest social responsibility initiative
To create experiences which align with today’s evolving children and cultures, we need to understand how play is changing. How is it conducted? How is it perceived? How is it being facilitated? And are families making time to play together?
These are questions we can’t answer alone.
Over the past few years, we’ve already partnered with the Department of Education at the University of Oxford to understand how digital play can help support childhood and early years development.
Today, we’re proud to officially launch Kinder Value of Play, our new social responsibility initiative that marks our commitment to collaborating with child development experts to research how play supports active learning and development. We aim to contribute to a society that values time spent in play. We will be using this knowledge to guide our toy and digital content design as well as to empower parents and families to connect joyfully with their kids.
Introducing the Kinder Value of Play panel
At the heart of Kinder Value of Play is a panel of four child development experts who are focused on exploring the relationship between children, parents, play, learning and social and emotional development. The four experts in the panel are:
- Doctor Elizabeth Kilbey, Consultant in Clinical Psychology
- Victoria Murphy, Professor of applied Linguistics and Department Director, Department of Education, University of Oxford
- Lynn Ang, Professor of Early Childhood Education, Pro-Director and Vice Dean, Research at UCL Institute of Education
- Sam Wass, Director of the Institute for the Science of Early Years at the University of East London
The panel of experts meets regularly to explore, through research, how play experiences can best support active learning and development in children aged three to six, as well as foster relationships between children and their families.
The panellists’ research will help Kinder in its core mission of promoting the Value of Play, while also offering a deeper understanding of:
- The role of play in facilitating social connections, encouraging multi-generational play and getting parents involved
With a particular focus on imagination, social and emotional development, the panel will explore how each type of play can foster effective interactions and relationships between children, and within families.
- The different cultural attitudes to play and its impact on learning
Acknowledging different cultural perceptions towards play, the panel will explore how this can impact the effectiveness of play-based learning.
Additionally, insights from the research will guide new Kinder toys and content design, with the aim to create meaningful play and shared fun experiences able to support children’s learning and development, while continuously improving Kinder's offerings for families.
Kinder will share insights from their panel across various platforms. Expert advice will be available on Kinder.com Value of Play portal. Research highlights will be posted through whitepapers, social media, and future events as our studies progress.
