We have completed a key stage of research in the MindPlay project!
Behind us are dozens of hours of discussions, analyses, and focus group meetings with school principals, teachers, parents, psychologists, and school counselors. Together, we explored one of the most important challenges in modern education – the mental health of children aged 5–9.
This is a significant milestone for the MindPlay project. The data collected reveal not only the scale of the challenges faced by young learners, their families, and schools, but also the urgent need for new, effective, and child-friendly tools that support the early identification of emotional and social difficulties.
The research covered a wide range of educational environments, allowing us to examine the issue from multiple perspectives. As a result, we have developed one of the most comprehensive assessments of children’s mental wellbeing at the early stages of education. All indications suggest that this is one of the pioneering research initiatives in Europe focusing on mental health from the preschool and early primary school years.
A particularly valuable aspect of MindPlay has been its innovative approach, combining expert knowledge with modern educational and diagnostic methods based on games, storytelling, and engaging child-centred experiences. Our goal is to create solutions that help teachers, specialists, and parents recognise early signs of difficulties before they develop into more serious problems.
The research findings provide a strong foundation for the next stage of the project: designing and testing innovative MindPlay tools. We would like to thank all participants for their knowledge, commitment, and openness. It is thanks to you that we can create solutions that respond to the real needs of children, families, and schools.
The next step is clear: transforming research findings into practical tools that will help build healthier, more supportive, and more aware schools of the future.
As one key conclusion repeatedly emerged from our discussions: the greatest challenge today is not recognising that children need mental health support, but creating conditions in which help arrives early enough—before difficulties become a crisis.
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