Let the Children Play for Peace began in the minds of Sam Nachum and Ahmed El-Sharif, two men who each grew up on opposite sides of the Gaza-Israel conflict. These two men later came to know each other through a series of meetings with Kansas City Sister Cities. Despite their differing faith backgrounds, both men felt a passion to provide for the children of their hometowns. They conceived of the idea for a non-profit organization that provided recreation for the children in Sderot, Israel and Gaza. To get the project fully functioning, they contacted another mutual colleague and philanthropist, Dr. Gary Morsch of Heart-to-Heart International. The organization formed a list of needed items through a series of outreach missions to Sderot and Gaza during the summer of 2009.

As collateral damage in the conflicts of adults, the children in this region of the world are robbed of the sense of fun and discovery inherent in childhood. The foreign aid delivered to this region rarely includes toys or sports equipment, and the mission of Let the Children Play for Peace is to help replace the images of violence these children see with ones of creativity and imagination by providing those play items.