“Toy Libraries are where magic happens, where children’s drive to learn is nurtured through play and interaction.”
– Szilvia Pallaghy, REF Country Officer
“Toy Libraries are where magic happens, where children’s drive to learn is nurtured through play and interaction.”
– Szilvia Pallaghy, REF Country Officer
Designed to encourage active participation and amplify learning through play, REF’s expanding network of Toy Libraries provide educational services in 19 underserved and marginalized Roma communities in Hungary, Kosovo*, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovakia and Serbia.
Toy Libraries offer toy lending services as well as stay-and-play sessions on site. Here, children make their own decisions about their learning and are provided with a variety of resources tailored to their interests. Ultimately, Toy Libraries understand play as an activity in which children interpret the world and develop their knowledge, with the support of their caregivers and community.
In 2015 alone, over 2,500 individuals have regularly checked out toys that introduce both children and their caregivers to constructive, quality play. In doing so they build sustainable relationships among themselves and with the wider community, while promoting the idea of learning by playing.
REF Toy Libraries are made possible by financial support from:
Bernard Van Leer Foundation
Help e.V
Network of European Foundations
Open Society Foundations
Swedish International Development Agency
Swiss Agency for Development
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
