How one workshop carried Play for Peace® from Sri Lanka to Italy to Pakistan.

Maria Loskot had arrived at an Experiential Educators Europe conference in Italy with a workshop built around Play for Peace® work in crisis intervention. The room would be full of seasoned trainers and social workers, she wasn’t sure if this very specific, but sensitive topic would find interest. she new the evidence-based benefits of these methods, but among all the professionals they seem very simple.

She proposed the session anyway. Many people shoved up for the workshop, much more than Maria expected. She began the session as she always does: with a simple game called Finger Catch that sets the tone of play and inclusion in the group.

What followed was just over one hour. Maria guided the group through a sequence of cooperative play activities drawn directly from a Play for Peace® safety camp for children in Sri Lanka. Look Up, Look Down to settle the energy and build connection. Magic Marker to spark delight and surprise as well as build agency in participants. E Poi Tai song that filled the room with gentle, rhythmic movement.

After each game, she layered in a story and reflection. She described the chaos of the camp, and how play regulated not just the children but the whole community around them. She told the group about a little girl who, through the Magic Marker game, found the courage to stand with the group for the first time, discovering her own agency and self-determination.

The workshop was a lab for a common discovery of the power of play. Together with other professionals who have joined the workshop, they discussed the healing elements of each activity. Play reduces stress and trauma symptoms, builds social connection and trust, restores a sense of control, supports emotional expression and encourages resilience. For many participants that was a turning moment in the conference and a realization of the big question of WHY we do all of this. They realized the gentle power that their work can bring, if it works in such difficult conditions as evacuation camps. After the workshop, something unpredictable happened.

Anser, a facilitator from Pakistan who had joined the conference, connected with Maria through those activities. He learned the games. He carried them home. Weeks later, he wrote to the Play for Peace® team:

“I did learn this from Maria.”

He was already running Magic Marker workshops in his own community.

No strategic plan made that happen. No multi-year project design. One facilitator stood in front of a room, shared what she knew with honesty and warmth, and the work moved.

From Sri Lanka to Italy to Pakistan, the games travelled because someone believed in their power enough to offer them. That is how Play for Peace® grows: person to person, place to place, one hour at a time.

Inspired by this story? Explore more from our global community at playforpeace.org/stories — or support this work with a gift at playforpeace.org/donate.

Maria Loskot is a Play for Peace® facilitator whose work bridges cooperative play, trauma-informed practice, and experiential education across multiple countries.