Toy Bank has been growing up

Aiema Tauheed, Kolkata

A little girl who came from an abusive household would bang her head against the wall when she came to school. She wouldn’t join activities with other children. To help her, teachers gave her puzzles to work on.

The little girl would sit alone in a corner and piece them together. Soon, her confidence grew. “She was even seen teaching other kids how to do the puzzles! It’s amazing how a little support can lead to such a big change in a child’s life,” says Vidyun Goel, founder of Toy Bank, with a gleam in her eyes.

Toys are magic for children. Through toys, children learn how to hold, how to count, and how to navigate the world around them. Soft toys, games, puzzles, mechanical toys, sports equipment, origami sheets and colouring books are all joyous toys for children.

Toys also nurture social skills, forging friendships and  teaching teamwork and cooperation.

“If toys can spark happiness in adults, imagine the profound impact they have on children,” remarks a starry-eyed Goel.

She started the bank, she says, with “the simple concept of giving your own toys and sharing the joy we received”.

As a little girl, Goel tagged along with her father who was working on a campaign urging people not to get lured by lottery schemes. The slums she visited as a child became a lesson in poverty. There, she would give away her toys to children in need. Growing up in a large joint family, she started collecting toys from her cousins and friends, spreading the joy of sharing.

In college, she transformed this simple concept into Toy Bank, a structured NGO. Back in 2004, without the aid of social media, reaching out for toy donations was a tall order. So, she placed logo-embossed collection boxes outside local shops and restaurants. Most of the owners were family and friends.

Determined to involve schools, she spent hours at her college PCO booth, making cold calls to private school principals. Her persistence paid off and she organized toy donation drives in these schools.

Today, Toy Bank proudly operates in about 150 private schools across Delhi-NCR. It has  distributed 48,000 kits and created 5,425 toy libraries, which have benefited 529,201 children, mostly in anganwadis and government schools, whose parents are often daily wage labourers.

It now has a network of over 4,000 toy libraries — mostly housed in anganwadis, panchayat ghars, government and municipal schools, shelter homes, and orphanages, each thoughtfully tailored to suit the recipient community.

Vidyun Goel with her hands full of soft toys

Now with a five-year-old of her own, Goel appreciates the importance of toys even more. “It really helps in the holistic development of children. So, while we do focus on the right to play, we also focus on learning to play. Both are equally essential,” says Goel.

Toy Bank caters to children from birth to around 13-14 years of age. The organization works with anganwadis in villages and cities where children from zero to six years old come for day care, nutrition and early learning. Additionally, Toy Bank collaborates with government schools, where children range from four to 12 years old. They also operate in shelter homes and orphanages, accommodating a broader age group.

But where do these toys come from? “Anybody and everybody donates toys,” Goel states. They conduct toy collection drives in collaboration with about 150 private schools, each with approximately 2,000 to
3,000 students. During these drives, they also educate students on the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling, as well as the value of giving.

If someone in Gurugram or Noida wants to contribute toys, they can visit the Toy Bank website at toybank.in to find the nearest collection centre. Volunteers then collect the toys from these centres when there’s a large enough quantity ready for pick-up.

When Toy Bank receives donated toys from collection centres, they undergo a systematic process. First, the toys are segregated based on type. After sorting, they are cleaned and refurbished to ensure they are in good condition. The toys are then categorized according to the age and intellectual capacity of the children they will be distributed to, ensuring each child receives an appropriate set of toys.

Toy Bank also partners with toy companies, manufacturers, and retailers. These businesses donate surplus inventory, including items with minor packaging defects or unsellable products. Children in rural areas treasure these.

In its advocation of Article 31 of the UN Convention on Children’s Right to Play, Toy Bank has built Safe Playrooms in municipal schools in New Delhi. These rooms maintain a variety of toys to suit different tastes and interests. This way, each child can find something they enjoy.

Toy Bank also provides specialized toys for differently-abled and neurodivergent children, including those with autism. They use predefined mapping to match specific types of toys to various centres, based on the children’s needs. For instance, centres serving neurodivergent children receive toys with lights, sounds, and motor skill activities, which can be engaging and supportive of sensory and developmental needs. The sorting centre uses these guidelines to ensure that each centre receives appropriate toys, with particular attention to textures, sensory features, and analytical aspects to cater to specific requirements.

“Toys are inherently gender-neutral. It is us who have created a pink and blue binary.” To tell the children that the toys are for everyone, there’s no separation between boys’ toys and girls’ toys. Kids are encouraged to unlearn any ideas that limit what they can play with. This approach empowers both girls and boys.