Meaningful engagement during vacations in April

Children stayed meaningfully engaged with craft games that Toybank distributed

April is vacation time, when children get to do what they rightfully must every day, all year long—Play. For the second year in a row, however, they have been away from play spaces and their friends and peers, in a lockdown during COVID-19. But, Play must go on no matter what, we believe. It’s been an entire year since we have been ensuring that 51+ at-risk children keep playing and learning even during the pandemic through the Toybank Play2Learn Kit. 

What children learnt through Play in April 

The Play2Learn activities are curated to build children’s resilience, socio-emotional skills and continued learning. As our partner teacher Ms Hemali Desai from MHB Hindi School told us during a feedback call, “Playsheets not only help students with their academics but also build healthy life skills like patience and self-awareness about how their words and actions can impact people around them.” 

In April, while our kids solved playsheets ‘Rhyming Hunt’, ‘Possessive Pronouns’, and ‘Crosswords: Antonyms’ to enhance their language skills, ‘Multiplication Equation’ and ‘Spaceship Integers’ supported them in mental maths and numerical skills.

Children said thanks with 'Feathers of Gratitude'

Activity ‘Squares into Triangles’, where the kids had to use a grid to make 18 triangles, tested and developed their logical thinking and visual memory. As children stay safe at home with meaningful engagement, they expressed their thanks to their parents, teachers, caregivers and also COVID Warriors such as medical professionals, police and the government with ‘Feathers of Gratitude’ and ‘Helping Hands,’ which built their socio-emotional Skills by enabling them to express their feelings.   

“Play2Learn Sheets help students with their academics and build life skills like patience and self-awareness about how their words and actions can impact others” —Ms Hemali Desai, Teacher, MHB Hindi School

  

'Think Before you Speak' built children's social-emotional skills 

Feedback from partner teachers

During our feedback calls, teachers stated how playsheets build children's confidence and motivate them to study. They also noted that through Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) based Play2Learn activities like 'Think Before You Speak' children learned ways to deal with difficult situations. 

Teachers also pointed out that the Play2Learn Kit is giving children a headstart on their academic lessons. For instance, ‘The Quiz’ helped students improve general knowledge and topics from their History class.

Games distribution 

Toybank's outreach in April 2021

Toys and games distribution is an integral part of our program. Even though we had to stall that temporarily during the pandemic, right before the Lockdown 2021, we distributed 1,160 creative games across 9 schools in Mumbai, and 1,095 games for the Play2Smile Program at hospitals in Mumbai and Pune. The inventory team meticulously sanitized and packed the games, and the distribution was conducted by maintaining social distancing. 

Toybank Buddy Program

As the Play2Learn Kit has been supporting children’s learning and development, our volunteers have been filling in as our kids’ friends and guides through the Toybank Buddy Program. In April, we conducted 18 Buddy Sessions that included virtual play, art and craft and everything that a circle of friendship encompasses