Opentree Foundation, The (Toybank)

Opentree Foundation, The Toybank has been set up with the aim of developing behavioural and mental growth of at-risk children in their most impressionable years of life. It believes that Games, Toys and Play are essential to development as it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional well-being of children. Toybank believes that although accessibility to good quality education is of prime importance, we should not overlook the importance of extra-curricular activities in moulding the lives of children as they evolve into strong, sensitive individuals.

The Toybank Model:

The NGO sets up play centres in the premises by collaborating with institutions. Play centres are spaces where children can have play sessions. These sessions consist of playing with educational games, which instruct as well as amuse and stocked keeping in mind the developmental needs of the children. The games are regularly replaced because of wear and tear and the children outgrowing them. A play session takes place twice a month resulting in successfully reduced absenteeism, boosted cooperation among children and helped them learn better.

Toybank works with a network of volunteers to execute their program to induce familiarity with the play groups where children are in an environment of comfort to develop their confidence and help them become better thinkers. The presence of a trained field officer ensures that children are fully engaged in the play session, and that they get to use the games in the way that is intended.

Toybank works towards bridging the gap between children from different backgrounds by creative play, group events and community events. Toys are also a means to channelize their energies towards developing social and communication skills, this forms the premise of their ideology of Power of Play. 

The digital Play2Learn Programme is guided by the principle that play is preventive and not a reactive engagement which has helped teachers to create a bond with students, overcome language difficulties, teach children despite of their restlessness, inattentiveness or disinterest in studies. Children may not do something from textbooks but tend to do the same thing through a play-based activity. Play2Learn activity sheets are developed by a curriculum development specialist, includes a variety of topics nested under two main branches of literacy and numeracy. The user-friendly design of these playsheets includes information on learning objectives, age group, and step-by-step instructions which are specially colour coded to help teachers easily identify the age-groups it is designed for.