Building Life-skills for 150,000 children

Dear Toybanker,

Just like the season in Mumbai, Toybank has been raining with Activities! The months of June, July, and August had come in with fun along with responsibilities. Toybank has believed in Development through Play and teaching through the medium of toys, games and unstructured Play for children. 

Outreach:

Since the beginning of the quarter, we have conducted 287 Play Sessions at our centers across Mumbai, impacting 7656 children. A Special Football Session was conducted at Gilderlane Municipal School by a passionate Toybank volunteer.

7 Teacher Training sessions were conducted where 54 teachers understood the Power of Play as a method to teach their students. 91 of our Urban and Rural Play centers have been restored with new and innovative games. 54 new centers have been set up in the urban and rural regions of Maharashtra.

We conducted 7 Impact Awareness Campaign for 245 individuals from every sector. 2 Distributions were conducted across 3 centers in Mumbai wherein 50 volunteers participated and 177 children received toys and games to call their own.

Program:

Toybank has introduced 2 themes for the year to drive unstructured Play.

1) Anger Management – The theme has been adapted to address the aggression and the anger that the children display at this age.

2) Habit Formation – this theme was introduced so that children indulge in forming good habits and are aware of their bad habits in the early age itself.

Through our Play2Smile program, we have collaborated with 3 hospitals driving the Power of Play to 268 children undergoing treatments. We have also partnered with International Baccalaureate Schools, catering to their CAS Programme where the children to fulfill their Social Responsibility are conducting Play Sessions at low-income schools. This programme will help the CAS children become more empathetic and aware about the ground reality.

Toybank celebrated the ‘World Play Day’ with the young at heart residents of Jeevan Asha Old Age Home. The day not only included toys and games for the aged but also them dancing to the tunes of music performed by the Toybank Volunteers.

Moments of Change: (in the words of our volunteer)

"During a play session, one of Toybank’s field officer had planned on playing Ring Ding Whoosh as an activity. The activity was chosen as it helps in increasing focus among kids and simultaneously teaches numbers. I started the session by explaining to them the rules of the activity and everyone seemed excited to learn the new activity. In the session, there was a kid, Arjun (name changed). The kid lacked focus and did not show interest in playing games which was displayed in the previous sessions as well. The teacher of the class also had the same opinion. But as soon as the activity started, this kid really amazed the onlookers. Every time he had to say a number or perform the action, he did it effortlessly. It is safe to say that Arjun was playing better than the rest of the children. Arjun who was the most active actually displayed excellent focus, concentration and even helped others to remember their numbers. Later on, the teacher who thought that he will be among the first to be out were surprised by the change of events. His friends also supported and cheered for him when they got out. Every time when he was saying the right number with the right action, there was a wide smile on my face. Seeing him playing with confidence, focus and most of all trying to perform well in itself was the magical part of the session."

Toybank through similar process help children overcome the barriers to their healthy development. We are able to do this because supporters like you contribute to the cause. We would like to thank you for your endless encouragement and contribution. Please do hit the donate button on our Project page. You can also rate our report at the bottom of this page. We look forward to your continued support to ensure that all children in India are given this opportunity for healthy development.