World Play Week (SMB), held annually by Aliança pela Infância, returns in 2026 between the 23rd and 31st of May with a program dedicated to reinforcing the importance of free play as a tool for development and inclusion. This year, the theme “The Power of Encounters” invites families, educators and communities to reflect on the connections between children, adolescents and adults, valuing different cultures, territories and ways of experiencing childhood.

As part of the World Play Week program, Laramara – Brazilian Association for Assistance to People with Visual Disabilities – promotes, between the 25th and 28th of May, a special agenda at the Brincanto Playfulness Center, a space focused on child development through inclusive play. Inspired by this year’s theme, the activities will have water as a central element, inviting children to explore sensations, investigate possibilities and experience collective experiences that strengthen inclusion and learning.

“Water activities expand the possibilities of sensory experimentation and make learning more meaningful. light and funchildren can explore physical properties, develop notions of caring for the environment and strengthen experiences of cooperation and coexistence”, explains Anderson Almeida, a social worker at Laramara.

According to him, the actions also encourage interaction, the expression of feelings and the strengthening of bonds, in addition to stimulating motor coordination, body perception and the cognitive and social development of children and adolescents with visual impairment. “It is through playful experiences such as those proposed in World Play Week that essential processes begin, such as socialization, construction of rules of coexistence and physical and emotional development”, he adds.

Activities that encourage inclusion, creativity and cooperation

The program brings together games and dynamics that stimulate different skills in an accessible and fun way. Activities include water balloons, soap bubbles, sponge races, water bowling, water limbo, slides, water treasure hunts and balloon challenges.

Furthermore, circuits with cups, PVC tubes and ping-pong balls encourage skills such as strategy, communication, spatial orientation and solving group challenges. “All activities were planned to dialogue with the theme of World Play Week 2026, promoting meaningful meetings that favor interaction, exchange of experiences and collective construction in an accessible and inclusive way”, highlights Anderson Almeida.

Impact that inspires

World Play Week reinforces the commitment to a fulfilling childhood, in which playing is recognized as an essential right to human development. By placing meetings at the center of actions, the movement inspires educators, families and society as a whole to expand times, spaces and opportunities for meaningful playful experiences.

“The action leaves a clear message: when children play together, they strengthen bonds, learn from diversity and contribute to the construction of more accessible, humanized and welcoming environments. This is a non-negotiable right in childhood”, concludes Anderson Almeida.

By Leonardo Sandoval