In Sri Lanka, Kolitha - in the light blue T-shirt - and his friends sing songs with their toy drums.

2011-09-28

Providence Children’s Museum in Rhode Island is the latest stop for ChildFund’s traveling exhibit, The Power to Play: From Trash to Treasure. From Oct. 4, 2011 through Feb. 26, 2012, visitors to the museum can discover how children from developing countries create playthings from the little they have on hand: a doll from leaves, a guitar from cardboard, a ball from discarded plastic bags.

Says ChildFund President and CEO Anne Lynam Goddard, “The toys they made offer dramatic proof that – through it all – children can retain their sense of wonder, their desire to play, their indomitable spirit and their ability to imagine and create…if they are given the support they need.”

What better place to see toys made by children from around the world than at a children’s museum?

Creativity and passion

ChildFund International has long recognized that play is essential to the healthy development of children. Play helps them discover and explore, solve problems and test new ideas. Through play, children experience friendship, cooperation and teamwork.

Toy snake made of bottle caps.

The self-confidence and enthusiasm built through the power of play will transition with children into their adulthood, helping them become leaders of enduring change.

In celebration of our 70-year history of helping children, we communicate their strength, fervor and imagination with 350 hand-crafted toys in an exhibition entitled,

The Power to Play: from Trash to Treasure

Children from around the world have contributed to this collection. Some toys are unique to their place of origin. Others tell the story of social, economic or political conditions in which these children often find themselves in the middle.

 

And some are as universal as a soccer ball or kite, connecting children across all three regions via similarities in their type of play and crafting techniques.

Whether it's a toy boat from an old flip flop or a truck from an empty spray can, children have a remarkable power to create and play.

A showcase of the collection will be traveling to major museums and other locations across the United States. To ensure the toys arrive safely at each of their destinations, ChildFund is partnering with UPS for shipping.

Our traveling exhibition will enable thousands of people to appreciate the resourcefulness of the children who created each toy and to understand how important for a child's development is "The Power to Play."

Click on the links below to read children's stories about their toys and how they are made and click on the videos to learn more about the exhibition and the making of the toys.