#14 - The ‘Power of Play’ with ‘Play in a Box’
Thank you for the lovely feedback from last week! We have a lot to learn about and improve! Today’s article is from an inspiring leader who is changing how India plays.
This week’s post is from Pooja Rai, the CEO of Anthill Creations.
Anuja sat staring at the widening crack near the window sill. Watching ants crawl in and out of it had become the most exciting part of her daily routine. It has been over six months since her school was shut down and she misses her friends, lessons, and most of all, her play time.
Anuja is six years old.
There are about 1.2 million children like Anuja who are confined to their homes since the nationwide lockdown was announced. Take a moment and imagine being a 4 year old surrounded by nothing but walls.
Well, we live in a world where such situations have become a reality and children from humble backgrounds are at more of a disadvantage than a few others. With limited access to digital mediums, children have missed out on so many activities that are important for their early childhood.
The early years are one of the most important stages in a child’s development. They learn how to interact with their peers, undergo physical changes as well as changes in their language and cognitive ability. At such a vital stage, the inaccessibility to learning spaces like schools can be a deterrent in their efficient growth.
The most fun and often overlooked way to enhance these skills in children is through play. At Anthill, we’ve been on a mission to bring ‘Play’ to every child’s life for the past three years and this pandemic was not going to stop us.
We strongly believe that every child has the ‘Right to play’. In order to continue making play accessible in these uncertain times, we began ideating and discovered a solution to overcome this problem statement.
Since children cannot come out to play, we decided to take play to them!
That’s when our journey of ‘Play in a Box’ began. A range of games in the box were designed to focus on the holistic development of a child. While playing with the games in ‘Play in a Box’ a child will also be unboxing the pathway to infinite opportunities with -
Creative Hopscotch - A fun way for children to stay active indoors.
Memory Game - Cards that help a child learn and connect through play.
Art Kit - Enabling children with ways to freely explore their creativity.
Domino Blocks - An open ended set of blocks with endless possibilities.
Balancing Cat - A colourful game of concentration and healthy competition.
Activity Mapping - An interactive way for parents to encourage children.
Once the box was all set, our next step was to reach out to as many children as possible. That’s when we pledged to bring play to 10,000 children till November 14th with a crowdfunding campaign that came to be known as ‘Mission 10k’.
We are on an impact journey to bring the ‘gift of play’ to every child.
The ants still crawl in and out of the crack but now Anuja is busy playing with the domino blocks, building houses, towers and domino mazes. She enjoys drawing mountains, trees and a happy blue sky. Like Anuja, there are so many children that will benefit from ‘Play in a Box’ and with every individual’s support we can make that happen!
Do you remember how much fun you had playing with your friends in school? Well, it’s time to bring happiness to the little ones by ‘bringing play home.’
A small contribution will go a long way in helping children from underprivileged communities.
Be the reason for a child’s smile and join our community of 500+ supporters!
Support, Donate and share —> https://milaap.org/fundraisers/support-mission10k
Pooja Rai is the CEO of Anthill Creations. She is an IIT Kharagpur Graduate, Author of ‘The Road Not Taken’, TED Speaker and winner of multiple awards. Through her work with Anthill, the organization has built over 250 sustainable playgrounds across the country.