Inside the "play labs" helping refugee kids heal

135,369 plays|

Erum Mariam |

Play@TED

• May 2026

What does healing look like for a refugee child? That's the question educational leader Erum Mariam asked when her team built the humanitarian "play labs": small, welcoming spaces where children displaced from their homes can play and reconnect with what they lost. From songs and dances to games and art they remember from home, Mariam shows how making space for kids to play brings back confidence and joy.