Volunteer Stories - Playing together !

Shruti, a volunteer based in London, chose to volunteer at Toybank during her visit to Mumbai. We'd love to share her volunteer experience with you and we hope that it inspires you to volunteer your time with us!

"The mission of Toybank and the dedication of the people who work there touched my heart; and almost instantaneously I found Toybank in my heart. I have three young nephews and I understand how important play is for their development. 

For children’s social development through making connections with others, for their emotional development through the love and joy they feel through play and for their educational development such as learning numbers, alphabet, problem solving, imagination… the list goes on!

Now onto the experience with the children, I can honestly say this was one of the most enjoyable parts of my trip. I love the children’s smiles when Toybank's Program Officer comes in, how excited they are to play with the toys and how they learn through play. I was impressed that the program officers started the class with teaching theory.

The program officers also encouraged everyone to share, play together and help each other. My personal highlights were when the children were learning and they came to show me that they had completed a puzzle or found a pair in the matching game! And one little boy also helped me by translating my broken Hindi for the other children hehe - hum saath khelenge ! (We'll play together!)

This experiencing was really enriching and thank you again to the Toybank team."

- By Shruti Rupareli