Children do not need expensive toys. They need things to do things with. A carton, a set of old plastic dabbas and a box of crayons will out-perform most of what is sold in a glossy toy shop. The framework calls this a toy-based, material-rich environment; your grandmother called it making do, and she was right.
The essentials
- A low table. A small plastic table, an old wooden chaupai (low stool), or a sheet of plywood resting on two sturdy boxes. Low enough that children stand or sit on the floor to work — never perched on adult chairs.
- Storage with a system. An old plastic almirah or a stack of crates. One drawer for dolls, one for vehicles, one for the plastic kitchen set. Open, low and labelled with pictures, so children can fetch and return things themselves.
- Smocks (aprons). For messy play, your husband’s old kurta worn backwards is ideal. Or cut a head-hole and two arm-holes in a cheap plastic sheet. Mess is the point; protect the clothes, not the activity.
Desi toys — and why home-made wins
The most absorbing materials are the cheapest and the most open-ended, because they leave room for the child’s imagination to do the work.
Make-believe
Old dupattas, bindi stickers, broken bangles, plastic chappals, empty chai glasses. A trunk of dress-up cloth — saris, an old turban, jootis — is pure gold and will be raided every single morning.
Fine-motor and hand control
Threading large wooden or plastic beads (any stationery shop in Old Delhi, Sadar Bazar or your local market has them by the kilo). Simple four- or five-piece puzzles. Clothes-pegs to clip onto the rim of a bucket. Pouring dal from one katori to another. These small, repetitive hand jobs are quietly building the muscles that will one day hold a pencil.
Discovery
A magnifying glass for inspecting dal grains, ants and the lines on a leaf. A flexible mirror. A couple of magnets, if you can find them, and a box of safe metal and non-metal odds and ends to test them on.
Loose parts: the secret weapon
Keep a basket of what early-years people abroad call ‘loose parts’ and what every Indian kitchen already throws away: bottle caps, matchboxes, ice-cream sticks, old keys, smooth pebbles, shells, buttons, spools. Children will sort them, count them, line them up, trade them and turn them into food, money, treasure and medicine. Nothing on a shelf will be played with longer.
Tidiness
Everything must have a ‘house’. Trace the outline of each item on its shelf with a marker or tape, so a child knows exactly where the blocks live. Make the put-away a game, not a punishment: “We can’t have chai-biscuit until all the blocks are home in their dabba!” Tidying up is itself a rich activity — sorting, matching, sequencing, finishing what you started.
NCF-FS Connect
Open-ended, home-made and natural materials are exactly what NCF-FS means by a toy- and play-based environment; NCERT’s own Jadui Pitara is built on the same logic of low-cost, locally familiar play materials. You can borrow its ideas without buying a thing.
Threading, pouring, pegging and tidying build fine-motor control (physical) — the genuine pre-writing curriculum. Sorting loose parts by colour, size and shape is early classification — the root of cognitive development and of foundational numeracy. The picture-labelled, child-height shelf nurtures independence and positive learning habits.
About the authors
Rewati Raman Vishewar
M.Ed. (ECCE) & MBA, pursuing a Ph.D. in the Sociology of Childhood. His ECCE research with the Square Panda Foundation was submitted to the Ministry of Women & Child Development; his Bihar ICDS curriculum review was accepted at Ambedkar University Delhi. Two decades across premium, company-owned and chain preschools.
Abhidha Seth
Gold-medal M.Sc. (Child Development) and Assistant Professor; former Head of the Delhi Government Preschool Project. Has worked with NCERT, Ambedkar University Delhi, CECED and MS University Baroda, and set up premium preschools across Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai.
Work directly with Rewati Raman Vishewar
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