Toybank - Development through Play

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Toybank - Development through Play

Impacting 2,00,000+ at-risk children in improving their learning outcomes, across 12 districts in Maharashtra through our Life Skills Play Programmes

The Opentree Foundation is a Mumbai-based non-profit founded in 2004, which uses play-based learning as a transformative tool to empower children from marginalised communities with essential life skills and emotional resilience through its Conscious Play® approach, enabling them to thrive as well-rounded individuals capable of making positive contributions to society. Through our flagship project

Toybank - Development through Play, we impact 1,50,000 children across 12 districts of Maharashtra. We work with Government and low-income semi-government schools, and Government and Non-government CICs (Child Institutional Care) NGOs, and CBOs (Community based Organizations). Our journey is rooted in the deep understanding that Play provides the most optimised environment for children to learn and grow, and that by empowering children, educators, community leaders and policymakers through play-based learning, we can transform the future of our country and society.

07/12/2025

How do we build a stronger national case for Play? By grounding it in evidence, shifting narratives, and moving together with collective intent.

This panel brings leaders from policy, design, administration, and social impact to explore what it really takes to put Play on India’s development agenda.

Featuring:
- Anant Bhagwati, Partner, The Bridgespan Group, India
- Ratan Batliboi, RJB-CPL
- Mokshada Patil, IPS
- Sharad N Ughade, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
- Shweta Chari, The Opentree Foundation

RSVP: https://forms.gle/3KWRsCgu3AZR8WodA

For the full programme schedule: https://shorturl.at/CyUhq
(Registration is compulsory for all attendees, including plus-ones.)

Shweta Chari | Vikram Nerurkar | StudioPOD | IES College of Architecture, Mumbai

03/12/2025

How do we strengthen India’s play ecosystem? By grounding it in data, evidence, and lived experience.

This conversation will unveil The Opentree Foundation's latest research: offering fresh insights into how Play shapes children’s holistic development and why a Play-centered approach is essential for India’s future.

Featuring:
- Anant Bhagwati, Partner, The Bridgespan Group, India
- Hanif Shaikh, Assistant Director – Education, Snehalaya
- Vijaya Balaji, Founder, Social Lens; Managing Director, toolbox INDIA Foundation
- Zhooben Bhiwandiwala, Executive Director & CEO, Mahindra Holdings Limited

To secure your spot, please fill the RSVP form: https://forms.gle/jRcNxtchD72Y4yfy7

We’ll continue sharing session highlights through the week: panels, workshops, hackathons, and more. For the full programme schedule, visit: https://shorturl.at/CyUhq

(Registration is compulsory for all attendees, including plus-ones.)

More session highlights coming soon!

02/12/2025

How do we make Play a national priority? By coming together. This dialogue explores how aligned vision, shared expertise, and strong partnerships can accelerate change for children across India.

Featuring:
- Ashraf Patel, Co-founder, ComMutiny - The Youth Collective & vartaLeap Coalition
- Nita Luthria Row, Executive Director, Adhyayan Quality Education Foundation
- Deepika Mogilishetty, Chief of Policy & Partnerships, EkStep Foundation
- Kirti Zala, Project Head and CEO, aProCh - a Protagonist in Every Child

To secure your spot, please fill the RSVP form: https://forms.gle/3KWRsCgu3AZR8WodA

We'll continue putting out individual posts for each session this week: panels, workshops, hackathons, and more. For the full programme schedule, visit: https://shorturl.at/CyUhq

(Registration is compulsory for all attendees, including plus-ones.)

More session highlights coming up soon!

01/12/2025

How does Play shape our wellbeing?

This session will bring together experts who will explore why Play must be central to holistic health, and how we can design environments that nurture wellbeing for both children and adults.

Featuring:
- Rohit Kumar, CEO, Apni Shala
- Dr. Vidhi Dave (PT), Neuro-Physiotherapist, The House Rehab
- Dr Mahek Uttamchandani, Pediatric Occupational Therapist, Stepping Stones
- Samriti Makkar Midha, Psychotherapist & Co-founder, Equilibrio Advisory LLP

To secure your spot, please fill the RSVP form: https://lnkd.in/dtGSmASF

We'll continue putting out individual posts for each session this week: panels, workshops, hackathons, and more.

For the full programme schedule, visit: https://shorturl.at/CyUhq

(Registration is compulsory for all attendees, including plus-ones.)

More session highlights coming up soon!

29/11/2025

What if our everyday spaces invited more joy, curiosity, and connection?

This hands-on, mentor-led hackathon at Play Summit 2025 invites you to reimagine streets, corners, corridors, classrooms, any space, through the lens of Play. Together, you’ll co-create playful interventions that help people slow down, interact, and belong.

Led by an incredible team of practitioners:

- Ankit Bhargava, Co-founder, Sensing Local
- Ruchi Varma, Founder & CEO, HumanQind
- Mahesh Waghdhare, Co-Founder & Director, StudioPOD
- Vani Herlekar, Founder & Director, City Collab

To secure your spot, please fill the RSVP form: https://forms.gle/jRcNxtchD72Y4yfy7

We’re putting out individual posts for each session in the coming week: panels, workshops, hackathons, and more. For the full programme schedule, visit: https://shorturl.at/CyUhq

(Registration is compulsory for all attendees, including plus-ones.)

More session highlights coming up next!

27/11/2025

With the Play Summit just two weeks away, we’re opening registrations for our panels, hackathons, workshops — the whole line-up!

And we’re starting with one of our most energising sessions: Everyday Playfulness.

A hands-on, creative hackathon where participants will co-create simple, joyful, and replicable play practices that bring connection and imagination into everyday life.

Led by a powerhouse trio of play champions:

- Aditi Agrawal, Founder, Gudgudee Designs Pvt Ltd
- Mrunal Shah, Founder, Sunday Bricks
- Dr Krishna Kulkarni, Founder, Peas and a Pod

Registrations are now open: https://url-shortener.me/PAY

Save your spot!

26/11/2025

A big leap for Play and play-based learning in Maharashtra!

Our Life Skills Play Programme, implemented for many years across Maharashtra’s Latur, Ahilyanagar and Dharashiv districts, has been endorsed and recommended by the Chief Minister’s Office to district officials across the state.

With years of demonstrated impact in rural Maharashtra, this endorsement reaffirms the power of consistent, play-led interventions, especially as the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 emphasises life skills and play-centred, experiential learning.

This recognition is a strong push towards learning that is joyful, meaningful, and future-ready. We are energised and ready to scale our programmes across every district in Maharashtra.

Together, let’s build a future where every child learns through Play.

22/11/2025

Everyday moments hold more Play than we realise: in laughter, in movement, in our daily commute, in tiny pauses that bring us joy. So we asked a few of our The Opentree Foundation and StudioPOD team members: What does finding play look like in your everyday life? Their answers say everything.

This is what we’re exploring together at Play Summit 2025: Finding Play, a day of powerful conversations, inspiring perspectives, and immersive experiences designed to shift how we see and value Play.

Have you registered yet?

📅 December 13, 2025 (Saturday)
🕘 9:00 am
🔗 Sign up: https://shorturl.at/J5NRo

Want to know more about Play Summit 2025? Visit: https://shorturl.at/uOs84

21/11/2025

Play Summit 2025 is shaping up to be full of ideas, energy, joy, and the unexpected moments that remind us why Play matters. Here’s a little sneak peek at what’s waiting for you as we dive into Finding Play this year!

📅 December 13, 2025 (Saturday)
🕘 9:00 AM
🔗 Sign up: https://shorturl.at/J5NRo

Want to know more about Play Summit 2025? Visit: https://shorturl.at/uOs84

18/11/2025

Play Summit 2024 brought 200+ people together to notice, question, rediscover why Play needs to be at the heart of children's wellbeing.

This year, Play Summit returns with the theme Finding Play: a day packed with powerful conversations, inspiring perspectives, and experiences all designed to shift how we think about Play.

📅 December 13, 2025 (Saturday)
🕘 9:00 AM
🔗 Sign up: https://url-shortener.me/A5CU

Trailer drops soon! Want to know more about Play Summit 2025? Visit: https://url-shortener.me/A5CN

13/11/2025

Play transforms, and the stories proved it.

With over 200 participants joining us from across the world, Rediscovering Play: Stories of Transformation brought together changemakers who shared how play reimagines learning, connects communities, and restores joy.

From redefining early learning in Botswana to reclaiming lost play spaces in England, every story reminded us that our bodies remember joy, and that adults, too, must rediscover play to protect every child’s right to it.

These conversations are just the beginning. Join us as we continue the journey at the Play Summit 2025, themed Finding Play, where we’ll explore how play lives in our classrooms, communities, and everyday moments.

Sign up for our Play Summit 2025: https://shorturl.at/Ai7gZ

Address

Mumbai
400016

Telephone

+918080868235

Website

http://www.opentree.org/

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