Toys help children learn and develop
Through Amangwe Village's toy library, children at rural creches are exposed to an array of educational toys
THE Amangwe Village toy library officially opened its doors last Thursday, making a vast array of educational toys available to the children at the crèche as well as those at rural crèches in the area.
Monetary donations from the Zululand Chamber of Business Foundation (ZCBF), Miss Zululand 2015 pageant and a toy collection from the South32 employees’ toy drive enabled Amangwe Village to boost the toys in its toy library to help more children learn through play.
At present, 17 rural crèches in the Sokhulu and KwaMthethwa areas near KwaMbonambi are signed up to the toy library.
Their annual membership fee allows the teachers to sign toys out and take them to their crèches for a month before returning them.
Amangwe Village will hold workshops for the crèche teachers to learn how all the toys work, to ensure maximum benefit to the children.
‘In future we will also arrange play days at Amangwe so children from the rural crèches, who have probably never been exposed to some of these toys, can spend a day playing and learning,’ said Erna Steynberg, Amangwe Village Manager.
While Steynberg warned that all toys, books and puzzles must be looked after when borrowed, she told the teachers she wants to see proof that the children have played with them. ‘If children don’t play, they don’t learn’.
All toys and puzzles in the toy library have been marked and coded to ensure the pieces do not get separated.
Should any toys or puzzles be returned broken or with pieces missing, the crèche responsible will be made to pay for a replacement toy or puzzle.
The 40 children at Amangwe Village crèche each receive two good meals a day, as well as a snack.
Learning through play, the Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme followed by Amangwe Crèche helps
children develop the skills to help them become well-balanced, mature adults.
