Toy library initiated at Action for Community ad Training (ACT), Faridabad

6 Oct 2012, Faridabad

It was a big fun start to the toy/games library at ACT, Faridabad on 6th Oct, as six of our Delhi Toybank volunteers turned up to play with around 75 kids.

We had around 40 board games, craft kits, chess, blocks and quiz sets that we opened and played. It was challenging in the beginning due to the ratio of volunteers to children, however, with the help of the ACT teachers, the room was soon divided up into smaller groups. Most of these children were seeing such board games for the first time and even though the instructions etc were in English but with little help from the volunteers, they were able to crack them!

It was quite heartening to see a lot of them displaying interest in scrabble and working hard to use their english vocabulary skills. The kids loved playing with UNO cards and also came up with interesting designs ranging from airplanes to furniture, using the block sets provided to them. The usual games of ludo, checkers and chess went on, as some others were trying to put together an electric circuit to light a low voltage bulb in an electro-magnetic game. The highlight of this session was a National Geographic DVD quiz set, which had a wonderful collection of wildlife and aquatic pictures that captured the imagination of both the children as well as the volunteer, who was translating it for them.

Here are some experiences from the volunteers, who made this event possible :)

Richa Jain: (Deloitte, Gurgaon)

About the experience on Saturday, I would say had wonderful time with kids. Teaching and playing with them was a learning experience for me also. The way they were helping each other to play the correct cards and shared the games, it was very encouraging to see them. All of them were great listeners and learners and grasped the games very soon. All in all very-very enriching experience.

Kapil Bahl: (Genpact, Gurgaon)

I loved it. The kiddies were lovely and the opening the Toy Gift was such a joy and was so infectious...sad that had to leave when we did.

Deepak Soni (IBM, Noida)

It was a wonderful and totally different experience, it's first of kind experience for me. I like work being done at the grass root level. Playing with kids, helping them understand games / puzzles and the way they respond back was very joyful.

Apurv Jain (Deloitte, Gurgaon)

I really enjoyed with children. The event was very effective as we could see the level of happiness of children. Particularly in the DVD game I found children enjoying and gaining knowledge while having fun.

Jean Matthews (IBM, Noida)

I had a fulfilling experience especially when I saw the kids arranging a sky-scraper out of lego blocks and placing the final piece of the picture puzzle :) ... look forward to more such experiences!

Ashima Khemka

For me it was about raising the bar, as the game sets that we had taken to ACT, were indeed a bit more advanced that usual. However, with a little more effort from the volunteers and a lot of help from the kids, who could read a bit of English, we cracked it! ... It was challenging as the ratio of volunteers to kids was much less than adequate but the results were very encouraging. As a result, the concerned NGO i.e. ACT has allocated three days a week during which they'll have a dedicated game hour between the kids and the teachers :)

Feedback from ACT: Gurpreet Kaur (Secretary)

We thank the volunteers at Toybank, who spent considerable time at ACT with the children and the teachers . The kids really did have a time of their life and the teachers too enjoyed learning about the various ways in which the toys/games can be used, not only for recreation but also to educate the children through play. We have fixed three days for playing with the games session of 1.5hrs each.

Toy Corner at NIPUN, 23rd February 2013

The three of us marched through the narrow lanes of a JJ colony near a sprawling residential colony of Meera Bagh, New Delhi to reach a balwadi and a creche run by an NGO called ‘Nipun’. We were proudly carrying around 40 toys and a tri-cycle for the toddlers there.

Here are a few things we realised on getting there:

1. While most of us (especially) the fortunate well educated ones crib… there are some amazing individuals who are making a difference.

2. How creating a Crèche in a Slum allows women to earn livelihood, kids to go to school & not manage younger siblings and toddlers to be safe from abuse while parents are away.

3. All that kids need as a ‘toy’ is something sturdy, colourful, making enough noise and then they create their own story with it.

4. It takes about Rs6000 per annum per child to educate, get books, teachers etc for ensuring they remain in formal schooling and not drop out.

5. A hug by a kid makes you happy for hours at end if not weeks!

6. It's not difficult, it's actually quite simple to contribute and it's the best way to be happy J

Kapil Bahl

with Jayshree Acharia & Ashima S. Khemka   To view more photos clik here

Toy Library at Rotary’s Community Service Project, Kusumpur Pahari, 16th March 2013, Delhi

An oasis in the middle of one of Delhi’s biggest slum clusters, this community project serves the women and children through vocational training, creche and educational services. They have around 130 kids in total from the age group of 3-14 yrs, and Toybank has ensured toys and games for all of them. :)

Around 10 volunteers from IBM, GENPACT and Deloitte were there to initiate Delhi’s latest toy/games library. In order to have a good volunteer-children ratio, we held two sessions, one in the morning and the other post-lunch. The morning session had all boys, who quickly took to the excitement of bowling and construction blocks. While the youngest ones were busy matching shapes and alphabets, the older ones tried hard at challenging puzzles and board games. The girls in the afternoon too showed similar excitement for all of the above and also created some amazing clay craft.

The most popular toy was a medical kit that made rounds as the kids took turns to play ‘doctor-doctor’ :)

One could feel a tremendous amount of learning going on in the room, as the kids worked on word games, map puzzles and strategy games like chess and ‘chakraview’. The volunteers showed a good far-sight by spending time with the teaching staff on some complicated games. We hope that the time and energy that everybody has invested in this initiative, reaps learning benefits for a long time.

To view more pictures click here