Providing play based learning to children
Pooja Rai is the Co-Founder and CEO of Anthill Creations. She is a graduate in Architecture from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. She has been a part of various experiences like AFI- WISE Fellow 2021, Author of ‘The Road Not Taken’, GP Birla Fellowship for Women Leaders, Ashoka Changemaker, Rajeev Circle Fellow – Silicon Valley Exchange, UNCTAD- Empretec Programme for India, Yatri (Participant) 2016, Associate Product Manager, Finalist at Hult Prize, San Francisco, Founded the ShARE IIT Kharagpur Chapter, Internship as an Architect at Genesis Architecture, LLC, Associate Manager at Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur.
The vision of Anthill Creations is to provide play based learning to children. They transform spaces into interactive and sustainable playgrounds with locally sourced materials to create lighter, quicker and cheap solutions. It has three initiatives: ‘Outdoor Playscapes’, ‘Play in a Box ‘and ‘Play-Ed’. They design the playscapes that are user-centric, employ sustainable materials, there is community engagement where elders volunteer, scalable designs easy to replicate and using a simplified process. They are also providing their services in other countries remotely. A typical Anthill’s playscape has six elements, takes seven days to build and costs around three to five lakh rupees depending on the size.
Anthill Playscape is different from conventional playscapes in a number of ways. They use sustainable and locally sourced materials, encourage community engagement, low cost and take just five to seven days in construction. So far, Anthill has been able to construct 320 playscapes in 20 states which benefits 200,000+ children. It has been successful in making a threefold impact that is social, economic and ecological. Most of their playgrounds are in the government schools and public spaces. The use of recycled material to build the playscapes inculcates a sense of responsibility in children towards the environment. The larger impact has been of setting an example to the children that the concept of ‘reduce-reuse-recycle’ is possible to practice.
The innovations done by Anthill are ‘inclusive playgrounds’ for specially challenged children, and playgrounds in ‘newer geographies’ . Anthill was awarded by the Government of Vadodara for their innovation of ‘playground on wheels’. This provides a solution to the lack of space in slums to even construct a playground.
The need to stay indoors during pandemic lockdowns had urged the idea of ‘Play in a Box’. The basic idea was to keep the children curious and interested in going to school when they re-open. ‘Play in a Box’ is designed to provide continued education at home, holistic development of children, enhance happiness quotient, promote self learning; and develop creativity and imagination. This initiative includes a set of boxes with five different games. Each of these games serve a different purpose of physical development; social, emotional and cognitive skill development, enhancing happiness quotient, creativity and innovation. The games are Channapatna Blocks, Kala Kit, Jungle Explorer, Kith Kith Ginti and Discover India.