Samaritan's Purse has suggested items of the month for packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, and for June, that's toys! These are such fun items to pick out and pack in a shoebox!!! I often, in my mind try to sort toys between active/moving ones like jump ropes to work off energy with, and quieter ones like a BB maze they can use to play with in quite times-and send at least one of each. While it's easy to think of toys as sheer frivolous fun items. I recently read a couple articles about the importance of toys to the development of children. One was about the improvement of the school environment in a school in India. Another was in The Guardian about a study that showed children learn best though 8 years old by play. So, while we often view toys as unnecessary or just fun, they may actually help the child develop...and be fun! 😀 As my mom used to say, "Play is a child's work."
Here are some great stories of how much toys meant to some children who received shoeboxes.
- David -and- A Toy Car (actually led to career choice)
- Vladimir -and- The Toy Car
- Désiré -and- The Yo-yo
- Kojo -and- A Yo-yo
- Nanor -and- A Doll
- Denis -and- A Cowboy
- Nadia -and- A Doll
- Alina -and- A Music Box
Photos Courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse.
If you want some ideas of toys, here's what we collected in 2018:
If you would like advertise for toy donations, check out our: Toys for Shoeboxes Collection Poster
2 comments:
Hi- I was wondering where you found the Floatie Boats, and I couldn't hear where you said the little footballs came from.
I like to pick up the balls that come 3 in a package from Dollar Tree when they have them. They look like small baseballs, gold balls, basketballs, soccer balls, etc. More recently they are selling some with just 2 in a package, but I only pick them up when I can find 3 for $1. I found Rumple Buddies, currently for 71 cents each from Kole Imports www.koleimports.com Kole Imports also has great deals on soccer balls and ball pumps. I buy size 4 and find them to be of very good quality.
Thank you for all of your great ideas... and for the WANTED posters!
I got the boats on clearance at CVS a couple years ago. The footballs were from Oriental Trading (http://www.orientaltrading.com/snowman-football-assortment-a2-4_3071.fltr) There were a number of designs, but snowmen were on sale-haha! Thanks for sharing about your ball sources.
You're welcome! Hope they help!
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