Building Life-skills for 150,000 children

Children’s spirits are set free in play spaces and imaginations come alive through Play. However, inequities limit these for at-risk children along with access to quality play experiences, and thus mental and emotional well-being. 

To address that, we need to act now, act big and resolutely, as four-time award-winning project Toybank—Development through Play has been since its inception in 2004. So, when Bhausaheb Wavikar, Secretary of SAPREM’s Bring A Smile MR School for children with intellectual disabilities shares after our games distribution, “Our children with special needs found online learning uninspiring and boring but are now playing without stress,”. Not only were they relieved of their worries but we took another step in providing access to quality Play even for children with different abilities. As Wavikar added, “Our children are so happy to get the games and toys. The joy on their faces is beyond words.”

Though our greatest reward is impacting 57,925 children across 7 states and 1 Union Territoryin India every day during COVID-19 (as of 31st August 2021), we are honored and inspired to be one of the finalists of one of the prestigious global forums 2021 Global Good Awards—COVID Crisis Champions. We are ever grateful for the solid support of Toybankers like you who support us in building a better, stronger and kinder generation.

Starting at the bottom, we’re now playing digital

‘Interrupted learning’ is among the top adversities of COVID-19 on children (UNESCO). Educationists and experts urged to resend children to physical classrooms in December 2020, barely six months into the lockdown. But now, more than 300 million students in India have been learning virtually for more than a year-and-a-half—the seventh-longest school closure in the world. It has rightly been said that if children do not go back to school soon, we will have a lost generation of kids. 

Toybank has continually recognized these losses even before the outbreak of the pandemic. From providing games to a couple of thousands of street kids to setting up Play2Learn Centers impacting 57K+ kids, we have consistently responded to our children’s evolving needs, even during COVID-19 as our program went digital. 

A Harvard report, ‘Persevering through the Pandemic,’ states that 58 percent of parents have witnessed COVID-19 harm their children’s academic development. Just over half of the parents saw a negative impact on their child’s social-emotional development, which can affect the ability to learn, build relationships and manage emotions. It is, therefore, crucial for children to be connected to their learning during the pandemic.

Being mindful of the digital fatigue, too

Throughout the pandemic, we have stayed connected with our partners, teachers, children and their parents through telephonic surveys, virtual focus group discussions, and whenever restrictions were lifted we had in-person meetings with block officers, headmasters and principals to ensure Play is part of their back-to-school plans. We are continually tracking the problems children are facing—school dropout, child labor, social distress due to the virus, digital fatigue, learning loss, etc—and curate every batch of our Play2Learn Kit to address these and bridge gaps. 

To further balance the digital fatigue, we had a blend of various play activities, sessions and offline activities such as:

• Around 150 Physical Play2Learn Sessions in areas with minimal to zero COVID cases
• Distribution of 1,492 games and toys to approx. 800 children in remote areas of Mulshi and Matheran villages in Maharashtra, where the tribal kids have no access to learning materials or schools.
• Replenishing over 3000 games at our Play2Learn Centers in Ahmednagar, Beed, Latur & Mumbai districts of Maharashtra
• 43 Virtual Play2Learn Sessions conducted by Program Officers and 58 Virtual Play2Learn Sessions conducted by corporate volunteers
• 70 Buddy sessions as part of the Buddy Program focused on reducing feelings of isolation, building self-confidence, team work, building healthy routines and habits, and avenues for fun and recreation through ice-breakers, action songs and arts and crafts activities.

“The Toybank Play2Learn Kit provides quality activities that meet various learning levels of children and skills that will make them resilient to get ahead in life,” said Miss Anju, Teacher, partner-school Rani Sati English School, Mumbai.

“Alphabet Jumping supported children’s learning of the alphabet in an engaging and entertaining way. They got to move, hop and read out aloud one letter after another, thus increasing their learning retention. At the end of the hopping, they reached their favorite belonging as a reward. Caregivers also learned how to encourage their children and make their learning journey fun”, shares Toybank Program Officer, Rashmin Shaikh.

Story of Resilience:

Our partner Prerana (an anti-human trafficking nonprofit) shares an inspiring Story Of Resilience on how Toybank’s Play2Learn activities are supporting their children during the pandemic.To read it click here.                             

Benefits of Toybank Play2Learn Program

• Meaningful engagement at home
• Accessible and self-directed learning
• Safe spaces at home
• Stimulating learning environment
• Opportunity for normal development, building autonomy and exploration
• Reducing the severity of potential trauma caused by fear and uncertainty
• Enabling caregivers to focus on their responsibilities
• Promoting opportunities for early learning and responsive caregiving

Our work across India

The digital and translations feature of Toybank Play2Learn Kit has made it adaptable in different rural and urban communities of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, Ladakh and Madhya Pradesh. We have and continue to ensure that language is the last barrier preventing children from playing.

We have witnessed the power of play adopted within different contexts and backgrounds and our activities include resources that are easily obtainable locally. For instance, Little Vikas, from the tribal region of Madhya Pradesh, made a Pinwheel from leaves and Santosh from rural Maharashtra completed the Manmade Flower game by including natural and man-made things from his surroundings, including soil and trees. We supported our partner facilitators, teachers and caregivers to fit the Play2Learn sheets into their local lexicon.

Supporting Toybank in making quality play more accessible

As we continue to work on-ground, we look forward to Right To Play becoming an undeniable reality soon. Now, with 17 years of on-ground experience, hundreds of impact stories, a big Toybank family of supporters, teachers, government officials, volunteers and children look forward to more avenues that will give children their right—to happy and healthy childhoods through Play.

Thank you and Happy Toybanking!

Renowned ECE consultant, Rae Pica, highlights the need for play, “I shouldn’t have to defend play for children anymore than I should have to defend eating, sleeping, and breathing.” COVID or no COVID, Toybank’s digital Play2Learn Program continues to defend, encourage play and impact at-risk children.

Even though safe play spaces are every child’s right and necessity, at-risk Indian children are devoid of these as the pandemic and lockdown prolong. Thus, it’s crucial that we enrich their current learning environments—homes and immediate surroundings. Toybank’s Play2Learn Program has kept 51,885 children learning in safe spaces on a daily basis. We guide and support 2,150 teachers and 7,523 parents through 431 support groups. (As of 31st May 2021)

Here’s all that we did as part of the program in the past three months.

Strengthening foundational learning

With virtual learning in its second year, children struggle to brush up on their basics as they did in traditional classrooms. As the curriculum has reduced, students are practically learning on their own with inadequate support from teachers. Thus, Toybank’s Play2Learn Sheets are curated to promote foundational learning, support caregivers to strengthen children's basics in complex subjects, and mitigate learning gaps. For instance, interactive games such as Spelling Jigsaw, Rhyming Hunt, and Homophones built kids’ vocabulary and pronunciation.

Socio-emotional development and habit building

Our partner teacher Ms. Hemali says, “Playsheets not only help students with their academics but also build life skills like patience and self-awareness about how their words and actions can impact people around them.”

Children mapped their daily routines through the play activities like ‘What I do Before and After’ so that they could identify and inculcate healthy habits like brushing their teeth twice a day and helping caregivers in household chores. ‘Coloring Habits’ helped children unlearn bad routines that being cooped up at home caused.

While with activity Feathers of Gratitude, children expressed their gratitude for frontline workers—medical professionals, government officials, police officers, and so on; they learned ways to deal with difficult situations with 'Think Before You Speak'.

Story of Resilience: Finding faith in learning once again

“Farman excelled in the physical classroom, but the lockdown disrupted his routine and he struggled to keep up with the overwhelming virtual classes. Yet, the Grade 3 student’s parents expected him to be the first to answer questions, and complete all his homework.

As Farman missed playing and interacting with his friends, he found joy in learning again and happily engaged with Toybank Play2Learn Sheets. New play activities and encouragement from his teachers enable him to learn, strengthen his foundation in subjects he lagged in, and play independently.”

—Mr. Sanket, Teacher, Toybank Play2Learn Center, Rani Sati English Medium School, Mumbai, India

Benefits of Toybank Play2Learn Program

• Meaningful engagement at home
• Accessible and self-directed learning
• Safe spaces at home
• Stimulating learning environment
• Opportunity for normal development, building autonomy and exploration
• Reducing the severity of potential trauma caused by fear and uncertainty
• Enabling caregivers to focus on their responsibilities
• Promoting opportunities for early learning and responsive caregiving

Toybank’s Play2Smile Program

When children play, they smile even in difficult situations such as undergoing a medical treatment or accompanying someone to the hospital—especially during tough COVID times. Engaging in Play also enhances kids' bond with their caregivers and the hospital staff. As a part of our Play2Smile Program, in March and April 2021, before lockdown 2021, our team distributed  1,095 games to 6 hospitals in Mumbai and Pune. Apart from expressing themselves, kids stayed engaged independently and felt secure. They also derived joy from the pop of colorful games and toys. “It brings their imagination alive. Being stuck to the bed or inside the ward causes boredom, irritability and restlessness, which can be detrimental to their mental well-being,” Toybank Program Officer (PO) Neha states.

Virtual volunteering during Covid-19

Close to 500 volunteers (corporate employees, students and individuals) continue to support us in virtual Play2Learn Sessions, Buddy Program sessions, video editing, research work, Play2Learn activity designing, and translations on a weekly basis. 

Parents of our children share with us how Toybank's Buddy sessions and the playsheets have been a boon for them during the lockdown. Various interesting activities keep the children self-motivated. Being meaningfully engaged reduces restlessness in children and anxiety in their caregivers.

Distributing games before the second COVID wave 

Right before the second lockdown in Mumbai, we also distributed 1,160 creative games at 9 partner-schools in the Malwani slums of Mumbai to provide our kids access to Quality play materials. The inventory team meticulously sanitized and packed games and distributed them while maintaining social distancing.

Teacher Ms Poonam from Rani Sati Urdu Municipal School shares, “For an entire year, we couldn't meet our children but through this distribution, we were so excited to see some of them enjoy the games. We thank Toybank for this gesture during these hard times.”

Our work across India

Toybank’s partners are the backbone who take Play to some of the remotest pockets of the country—especially during the pandemic. With their support, we disseminated our Play2Learn activities to 5 other states beyond our base Maharashtra, namely—Manipur, Union Territory Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

“In the past few months, Shabdha (name changed) has enjoyed the Play2Learn activities. She gathered a group of friends who do not have access to phones and requested our staff to arrange a space for them to play together. For these children, Toybank’s activities have been something to look forward to every week.”  —Testimonial by Oasis India, Bangalore, Karnataka

Supporting Toybank for enriched learning and equitable childhoods

As we have seen through the two waves of COVID-19, the need for resilience, mental well-being and quality learning during early years of childhood is crucial for children to resolutely face inequalities and crises. 

We are paving the way for at-risk children to negotiate their way around learning losses, digital divide and gaps in social-emotional development. As Toybank bolsters its efforts to rebuild childhoods with equity, your support will go a long way in backing us up.

Thank you and Happy Toybanking!