Building Life-skills for 150,000 children

The Opentree Foundation’s award-winning project Toybank—Development through Play runs Play Programmes in schools geared towards cognitive development and emotional well-being. Our well-established Conscious Play™ methodology has the ability to build resilience and life skills to counteract probable negative environments, which enables children to make better life choices that support positive development and result in building well-rounded adults.

The programme provides a conducive environment for children to learn through play by providing children easy engagement with educational board games, play material and play-based activities, and equipping teachers with critical skills to align play-based learning to academic curriculum and intensely supporting teachers to become Play Practitioners. In turn, transforming children’s learning experiences to be filled with curiosity, wonder and joy and building communities.

Here's a quick update of the work brought together between January to March 2024:

1. On-ground Play2Learn Sessions: 

Play is the primary way in which children explore a world that is not in their control. Toybank —  Development through Play’s Play2Learn centres are safe spaces for children to explore and engage in developmentally-appropriate play sessions. The play sessions are an hour-long session that start with fun and movement-based activities and are aimed at starting the session on a joyful note. This is followed by children engaging in carefully-curated and strategically chosen games and play-based materials. Our Outreach Play Workers and Play Centre Facilitators (PCFs) support children to understand the games, learn through them, work in groups, help them think independently and more. The play session ends with another energiser, in addition to children sharing what they liked the most about the day’s play session and what they learned. These play sessions are conducted with children between 3 to 13 years at government-aided and government schools, private schools, community centres and childcare institutions.

From October 23 to March 24, the Programme outreach team and PCFs conducted 5,164 Play2Learn Sessions across schools and community Centres.

2. ‘Power of Play’ Workshops for Play Centre Facilitators (PCF):

On-ground training sessions were conducted with the school teachers (PCFs) to make them aware and knowledgeable on play-based learning and re-orient them on Toybank's play programme. These training sessions help them understand the impact of developmentally appropriate play on the childhood to adulthood outcomes in children. They are trained on new games and how to effectively use them in classrooms, as part of their daily teaching, in order to build a healthy and stronger student-teacher bond.

Our Programme Team conducted eight ‘Power of Play’ workshops training 307 Play Centre Facilitators/teachers during this period.

3. Team Workshops:

• On November 9, 2023, a Communications training workshop was conducted for the Programme, Inventory and Resource Mobilisation teams to help them better understand how to represent Toybank’s work, and how Communication is more effective when it’s collaborative. A total of 39 participants attended this workshop.

• On November 10, 2023, in a workshop on Child Rights facilitated for our team, we discussed its importance and the need to increase awareness and understanding of child rights. Through various activities, the facilitators spoke about why we do what we do for children, categories of child rights, their right to development, and more. At Toybank, a child's Right to Play is an integral part of the work we do and hence, the workshop also addressed why play as a right is essential for every child. Play helps children build skills, enabling them to grow into empathetic, thoughtful, and successful adults. A total of 22 participants attended this workshop.

4. Games Distribution:

We supported and provided 173 games Sparsha a Mumbai-based NGO, in order for them to further distribute it to children from marginalised communities in Wadala.

5. Volunteer Support:

Volunteers play a crucial role in supporting the Toybank team to ensure children continue to learn through play. This quarter, 72 volunteers supported us with on-ground Play session delivery, supporting our Programme team in classroom management, and increasing children’s engagement with play.

Here's what the Children & Teachers have to say:

Student testimonials: 

• “Today, we played a game called Tangram. I really enjoyed the game, as it let me create different shapes. I also helped a friend who could not understand the game well,” said Afzal (name changed), a student at MHB Urdu School No. 3, Play Centre U218. 

• “I loved the Play n Spell board game that was given to me during the play session. Since the puzzles had spellings and pictures to be solved, I was able to learn many new words, spell them out properly and also revise words which I had already learned. I want to try and solve a more difficult puzzle next time,” said Kunal (name changed), a student from Abhinav Dhyan Mandir School (English), Play Centre U159. 

Teacher Testimonials:

• “The games that Toybank provides are not easily accessible to our school children so they enjoy playing these games. It not only helps boost their energy, but is also an innovative way of teaching. Children find it easy to learn, when play is involved. I use games such as Mastermath, India Map, World Map, Solar System Puzzle, etc while teaching,” said a teacher from Shivaji Nagar MPS Hindi School No. 2, Play Centre U443.

• “Play sessions create a joyful atmosphere for learning and also fosters a positive environment. Through the various games, children develop essential communication skills. Play allows children to work collaboratively and also teaches them to express their emotions. Play and play sessions also teach them to care about others’ feelings,” said a teacher at Z.P.P.S Laman Tanda Pohregaon, Play Center R344.

Story of Change: Class 8 student uses creativity to construct, build moving car

Siddharth (name changed) is a Class 8 student and attends the Mumbai Public School (CBSE) in Mulund. He is an active student and is always engaged in class. When the play sessions were first introduced, the Mechanix game interested him the most, as he is fond of cars and wanted to construct one himself. However, he could not complete its construction within one play session. In the next few sessions, he decided to play the same game, as he did not want to give up and was keen on constructing a car. 

With more time on hands, he could execute it skillfully. Once he had constructed a car, he was curious to set the car in motion. This time, he collaborated with his friend and made an attempt to do this with leftover materials such as wires, power banks and more. While Mechanix allowed them to construct a car, their imagination and creativity led them to set the car in motion. They also fitted a sensor on their vehicle, which allowed the car to detect obstacles on its path and automatically apply the brakes. 

Games such as Mechanix help children build skills of logical thinking, cognitive thinking, creativity and problem-solving. Play sessions are a space for children to explore their creative minds and go beyond imagination. In conversation with Toybank’s Outreach Officer, the teacher mentioned that Siddharth felt very happy to have completed this project and he also aspires to create his own automobile someday.

- Story from Mumbai Public School (CBSE), Mulund, Play Centre U397.

Thank you for supporting at-risk children’s learning through Play!

As a non-profit that envisions a world where every child is empowered through play, Toybank is creating safe spaces for at-risk children, providing them access to quality play material and mainstreaming its Conscious Play™ approach. Toybank’s play programme helps to develop cognitive abilities along with 21st-century life skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving.

With your continued support, Toybank bolsters its efforts to rebuild childhoods with equity, ensuring our children’s holistic development and mental well-being.