The project strategic aim is to co-develop a small series of educational toys made of a new biodegradable material that can be locally produced, sold and easily distributed on a large scale.

1. PlayUp Lisbon // give space to play

2. Play is a human right & universal language
Children are the soul of
communities and the
future of our society.
Access to inclusive play
environments and quality
play opportunities are key
to children’s personal
development.
Children who play better
will be able to make
better choices and have
better ideas to shape the
world we live in.

3. Some children have no space to play
The original idea for
PlayUp was to deliver
low-cost educational and
biodegradable toys for
children across the world
in response to
humanitarian emergencies
such as tsunami, war,
earthquakes, hurricanes
or extreme poverty.
“The healthy development of children is
crucial to the future wellbeing of any
society.” UNICEF

4. Some of these children live in Lisbon
But we had to start
somewhere, so we
decided to focus on
some of the poorest
neighborhoods of Lisbon.
Exploring areas where
social exclusion, poor
household conditions and
neglect are the daily
reality for hundreds of
young children.

5. Currently operating in 4 quarters
During the past twelve
months we have been
collaborating with the
Associação João de Deus,
Casal da Mira
a leading Portuguese Casal da Boba
organisation for children
development.
We delivered a series of
interactive co-design
workshops within four
different communities in
the North East of Lisbon.
Bairro 6 de Maio Bairro da Horta Nova

6. PlayUp creates space to play
Creating more quality
play opportunities at
community level, working
with children and their
families.
Developing activities that
can be adopted and
replicated in similar
contexts, supporting the
organisations already
operating in the
educational sector.

7. PlayUp generates toys to grow up
The project strategic
aim is to co-develop a
small series of clever
educational toys made
of a new biodegradable
material that can be
locally produced, sold
and easily distributed on
a large scale.
From social intervention
to social enterprise.

8. Synergy of factors: design process
SOCIAL + CREATIVE + STRATEGIC
community design & entrepreneurship
& education innovation & sustainability

9. Project development stages:
Scoping and Research
12 months building project
team, identify resources and
connecting to local
communities (self funded).
Social Intervention
6 months delivering playful
sessions to communities
working with children their
families and experts in the
field of education (funded).
Design development
6 months developing,
producing and distributing
PlayUp toys (enterprise).

10. Project development stages:
35K 100K
SCOPE pitch
DEVELOP investment DELIVER
research and community product
team building interventions development
2011 / 2012 2012 / 2013 2013 / 2014

11. PlayUp stakeholders and possible funders
We have presented the
results of this early
interventions to a
• Pressley Ridge, Social Innovation Hub Amadora series of stakeholders
• Camara Municipalde Amadora, Lisbon and potential funders
• Associação João de Deus, Ludotecas moveis
• IADE Design University (engage students)
who will help us raising
• Majora, main Portuguese toy producer, Porto the grant funding
• PimPumPlay, online educational toy store
• Södra Labs, material innovation centre, Sweden
necessary for the
• João Sem Medo, centre for entrepreneurship further development
• TESE, association for development and implementation of
• Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (potential funder) the second phase of
• Fundação Montepio (potential funder) the PlayUp project.
• Fundação EDP (potential funder)

12. Key project partners

13. Introducing Durapulp from Södra Labs
We are experimenting a
new biodegradable and
innovative material for
the design of the PlayUp
toys. Durapulp is a
composite of paper pulp
and a corn starch
biopolymer.
PlayUp will connect a
Swedish research Lab
with local Portuguese
industry and universities.

14. 11
The PlayUp design team
4 entrepreneurial young
designers and innovators:
Vincenzo and Matteo are
Italian and share the same
passion for socially
responsive design and
sustainable development.
Vincenzo Di Maria (29) Joana and Rita are both
Matteo Tangi (25) Portuguese, have studied
abroad and have a
Joana Regojo (25) background in design and
Rita Duarte (28) sustainable tourism.

15. PlayUp Lisbon is a commonground project
We have a proven track record in Commonground is
delivering service innovation and tackling
complex social challenges. We have where design meets
been using Theory of Change and SROI positive social change.
tools in the past to track our progress We bring people
and make sure we deliver measurable together to deliver
social impact. socially responsive
vincenzo@gotocommonground.com design & innovation
www.gotocommonground.com projects.
@cmngrd