NestingPlay

NestingPlay is a social enterprise from Hungary with the mission to improve the learning outcomes and social inclusion of children with atypical development. We believe in the importance of early childhood education, and the power of free play (Learning through Play) to improve children’s social, emotional, creative, and cognitive ability development. Our methodology also builds on the traditions of the Hungarian special education (A. Peto and A. Deveny), and the sensory-based development (M. Montessori and J. Ayres) methods. Our beneficiaries are children of ages 3-8, especially children with developmental delays, learning difficulties and adverse behaviors, caused by organic disabilities, neurological disorders, injuries, severe illness, or elevated and prolonged stress. This is the group of children who often get overlooked due to their usually ‘invisible’ handicap which is demonstrated through extreme behaviors, isolation, or inadequate social responses. One in six children is included in this category and this number is steadily growing. At NestingPlay, we design, assemble, and pilot innovative educational approaches that help provide the atypically developing children with quality inclusive educational services. We design projects tailor-made to the needs of a given children group and community; we complement ongoing large educational projects with this focus on the atypically developing children; we provide policy advice on inclusive education; and we implement projects, with tailor-made capacity building activities provided for parents, education, and health professionals, etc. We have also designed outdoor and indoor inclusive playground equipment which promote playing together for children with different needs. We are active in Hungary, working with mainstream urban educational institutions and rural segregated Roma communities. We are in the process of scaling up in Moldova, Romania, and India and Kenya in 2021.