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Assessment for Play-based Early Childhood Development

The simple, affordable, and reliable way to assess how well play-based learning is working for young children.

THRIVING THROUGH PLAYING

At Children on the Edge, we believe that every child should be able to learn and grow through play. That’s why we’ve created a simple, affordable, and reliable way to check how well play-based learning is working for young children.

The Assessment for Play-based Early Childhood Development co-created by Children on the Edge, Learn to Play Botswana and the University of Chichester is designed to help early years programmes see what’s going well, what could be improved, and how to make learning through play even better for every child.

Why Play Matters

Children learn best when they’re playing. It’s joyful, engaging, and helps them grow in every area of their development socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. Around the world, more early learning programmes are using play-based approaches. But there haven’t been many simple tools to measure how well they’re doing, until now.

Happy and trusting teacher relationships with the children are essential to the way the assessment works.

What does the The Assessment do?

Where there is a lack of measuring tools for play-based programmes, the Assessment for Play-based Early Childhood Development helps fill the gap. It puts children at the heart of the process, making sure their rights, safety, and happiness come first. It supports teachers, communities and organisations to keep improving their play-based learning programmes, so children can thrive. It uses two easy-to-use tools that work together:

Tool 1: Child Development Assessment Observation

A familiar, trained adult observes a small group of five-year-olds as they take part in seven fun and engaging play activities. These activities show how children are developing across five important areas:

  • Social and emotional skills

  • Language and literacy

  • Cognitive skills

  • Physical (gross and fine motor skills)

  • Creativity and imagination

This gives us a clear picture of how children are doing overall, not to judge individual children, but to see how well the programme is supporting their growth.

Tool 2: Quality of Play Provision Observation 

We also look at the bigger picture. A teacher and assessor (someone who knows the setting well, like a supervisor or trainer) work together using a simple checklist, to observe three key areas: 

  • Safe environments

  • Teaching and learning 

  • Family and community engagement

How does the Assessment work?

Child Centred Insights: It gathers data in a simple, contextually appropriate way, with children and the community placed at the centre.

Instant Impact: Data is collated and analysed automatically, providing immediate actionable insights into child development and how well the programme is functioning. 

Empowering progress: It supports educators, community management teams and programme staff to improve their practice - leading to better outcomes for all children.

What Makes the Assessment Unique?

1. Children come first

Assessments happen during playful, relaxed activities. Children feel safe, comfortable and free to show what they can do.

2. Play is at the heart

Learning through play isn’t just encouraged, it’s how we assess too. That means the process is natural, joyful and familiar for children and not something to fear.

3. Teachers are key

Activities are led by teachers who know the children well. They work together with another staff member to observe and assess.

4. Simple, robust and based on research

The Assessment is built on what works, is research informed and outcomes are standardised.  It gives a well-rounded view of how children are developing and how strong the play provision is.

5. Easy to use and low-cost

The steps are simple to complete. Data is entered into a spreadsheet that shows results clearly and highlights where to focus improvements.

6. Culturally relevant and sustainable

Created in the African context, activities use everyday, locally sourced and reusable materials that children already know and love.

OUR IMPACT SO FAR

CHILDREN ARE THRIVING

In Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, Uganda - an overwhelming 81% of children are not just surviving, but thriving, hitting key international development goals.

THE POWER OF PLAY

Children in Kyaka saw a remarkable 19% leap in children's cognitive development after embracing play-based learning.

CONNECTED TEACHERS

Heart-to-heart connections define care in Kyaka: a phenomenal 94% of teachers forge strong, nurturing relationships with the children in their care.

STRENGTHENED SAFE SPACES

Our commitment to safety is setting a new standard: proactive planning in Kyaka led to a complete overhaul of child protection policy, translated into Swahili with fresh, comprehensive training for every teacher.

What others are saying about the Assessment


Our panel of Ugandan Early Childhood Education experts involved in the final development of the Assessment (including AfriChild, IRC, LABE, BRAC, Right to Play and the Ace Policy Research Institute) were all in agreement that the toolbox is comprehensive and holistic and provides a clear set of minimum standards.

They all valued the play based and group based nature of the tools, the use of local materials, and involvement of familiar adults - ensuring children are able to thrive.

They liked the collaborative nature of the assessment and think it is flexible, adaptable and easy to contextualise, with many commenting on the ‘big plus’ of the simple and easy system for inputting, collating and analysing the assessment data.

"
The strength of the toolbox is the easy analysis and reduced workload, leading to informed decision making.
"

Ugandan implementing partner

"
Last year's assessment was so good. It allowed us to shift our mindsets from stressful to relaxed assessments for children. The Assessment is so practical, universal and inclusive and it allows caregivers to assess children based on their natural abilities.
"

"
Children are relaxed, natural and happy and do not know they are being assessed - it continues flowing and children enjoy it.
"

Right to Play

"
This Assessment considers all learning outcomes of the child as opposed to others which only look (for example) at early grade reading or numeracy and literacy. It is holistic, looking at physical, social and emotional development as well - it comprehensively looks at all areas of development.
"

For more information

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