IMPORTANCE OF PLAYPLAY2LEARN
Divya is a Class 2 student, who lives in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district in a joint family. Her Mother is a domestic worker, while her father and uncle work as labourers. The children Toybank – Development through Play works with come from vulnerable communities and do not have access to quality play.
When Divya first came to the Bal Bhavan, she did not want to sit in class and was afraid to interact with other students. She would often cry when brought to the Bal Bhavan. In the ‘Power of Play’ workshops the teachers attended, they were told about using play to strengthen the student-teacher bond and how to effectively use play in their classrooms. When the teacher noticed that Divya was being hesitant to sit in class, she introduced her to board games and started playing with her.
Eventually, Divya got comfortable and began attending the Bal Bhavan regularly. When she moved to a higher grade in the following year, she struggled with reading, writing and speaking, and was not very confident. To help her, the teachers began playing games such as fruit flash cards, which help with visual recognition, memory, and also used games based on letter recognition, language and vocabulary and spelling building.
They played these games daily and the teachers noticed improvements in her. Divya also started finding it fairly easier to read and spell words, eventually leading to improved skills. She began sitting with her classmates and they began competing to learn better, while ensuring that they helped each other. Learning through play made learning fun and easy for Divya, which led her to top her class in her exams.
Research shows that play has a transformative impact on children’s holistic growth, equipping them with the skills and mindsets needed to grow into well-rounded adults in an ever-changing, increasingly volatile and uncertain world. At Toybank, we are committed to building critical life skills in at-risk children by increasing their access to play.
