Toy Association Members Continue to Respond to COVID-19 with New Educational & Play Resources, Medical Supplies

April 7, 2020 | Toy companies and play experts are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety ways, offering new play resources to help parents boost play at home and utilizing their facilities and connections to help create and distribute medical supplies for essential personnel around the globe.

Supporting Essential Personnel

Disney
Disney Parks has donated supplies to hospitals and medical professionals across the country, including a recent donation of 150,000 rain ponchos to MedShare for distribution to hospitals in need, and more than 100,000 N95 masks to the states of New York, California, and Florida. The rain poncho donation was inspired by nurses across the country who found that rain ponchos can serve as an extra layer of protection and prolong the use of PPE (personal protective equipment), while also freeing up gowns when needed. Since March, Disney Parks has provided nearly $3 million in in-kind donations benefiting communities around the globe. 

Juniper Creations
Jupiter Creations is donating 5,000 masks to the New York Police Department (NYPD) and offering to help coordinate logistics for others looking to donate.

MGA Entertainment
MGA Entertainment's OPERATION PAC-MAN, a non-profit organization created to help fight the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, delivered more than 65,000 masks (surgical, N95, and KN95) and face shields to 40 hospitals around the country in its first week. The project also successfully tested a new ventilator prototype and supported the 250-bed, makeshift hospital in the Los Angeles Convention Center. An additional two million masks, 500,000 face shields, and 300,000 goggles are in transit and expected to arrive this week.

Radio Flyer
Radio Flyer donated 1,000 wagons, tricycles, scooters, and ride-ons to Cradles to Crayons Chicago, which works with nearly 30,000 kids in Chicagoland where one in three children lives in poverty. The donation was made as part of Cradles to Crayons’ COVID-19 Emergency Fund.

Shore Buddies
Shore Buddies, which makes stuffed animals from recycled plastic bottles, is donating 100 percent of its profits from online sales to four non-profit organizations that are currently treating animals at their facilities. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, these organizations are lacking their usual funding and supplies.

Shore Buddies is supporting the Dolphin Research Center, The Marine Mammal Center, The Sea Turtle Care Center at the South Carolina Aquarium, and the San Diego Humane Society - Project Wildlife. Each Shore Buddy supports a different organization.

ZURU
ZURU paid for an Air New Zealand flight to carry 150,000 China-sourced N95 masks and 2.5 million disposable masks to Auckland, New Zealand in response to the COVID-19 crisis. It was the first of six cargo flights planned to land in the upcoming days, ZURU COO Anna Mowbray told Newshub in an interview earlier this week.

At-Home Learning & Play Resources

Excell Brands
Excell Brands has launched Instagram take-overs and is taking digital polls every Sunday and trivia every Monday on licensed product brands, which include Radz, BullsiToy, and Excell Marketing.

IMC Toys
IMC Toys is creating an assortment of at-home boredom buster games, such as branded tic-tac-toe games and fill-in-the-blank games, bucket-list style activity challenges, andweekly tips for parents.

Crayola
Families are invited to join Crayola for virtual crafting events on Facebook Live, while parents and parenting groups can also tune in to the company’s live and recorded web events that offer creative at-home learning tips and techniques. 

DC Kids Camp
DC, a division of Warner Bros., launched DC Kids Camp to help parents engage kids at home amid the COVID-19 crisis. Parents can tune in Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. (Pacific) to DC Kids’ social channels on Twitter and Instagram to download kid-friendly, superhero-themed activities and previews of past and upcoming DC middle-grade graphic novels to enjoy at home. The DC Kids' social channels will also feature videos from DC authors and artists for parents and kids to watch together, including draw-alongs to recreate kids’ favorite DC Super Heroes.

Distroller
Distroller has launched its Mission K campaign that promotes healthy habits and provides entertainment tools for families during these unprecedented times.

Dr Gummer’s Good Play Guide Play at Home Fest
Dr Gummer’s Good Play Guide will host a virtual family festival for families worldwide coping with school closures, lockdown, isolation, and social distancing measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The Play at Home Fest, to be held May 23 to 24, will feature themed virtual stages with activities, entertainment, competitions, and play. With a lineup of fan-favorite characters, celebrities, and brands planned, the festival is also designed to invite toy and kids’ entertainment companies to get involved.

Educational Insights
Educational Insights has partnered with Mensa for Kids to provide even more valuable resources that support learning in areas such as STEM, reading, and creativity. It's also launched a YouTube series, “Home’s Cool” for follow-along activities.

Fat Brain Toys
Twice a week, Fat Brain Toys is supplying parents with creative ideas through its #keepthebrainfat campaign, which is intended to keep kids productive, active, learning, mindful, and simply equipped with activities that families can enjoy together.

hand2mind
hand2mind’s new teach@home program features weekly lessons in math, literacy, and STEM for grades k-5. The lessons are all taught by teachers, and videos and activities are uploaded to the site for parents to download free of charge.

Harry Potter At Home
Author J.K. Rowling has teamed up with Warner Bros. and Wizarding World partners including Audible, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, OverDrive, and Pottermore Publishing, for Harry Potter At Home. The new digital hub was designed to help children, teachers, parents, and caregivers cast away boredom through read-along content, free audiobooks of the Harry Potter series (available in six languages), creative and craft activities, quizzes, and more. Bloomsbury and Scholastic are also offering a range of resources for children, parents, and educators online on their own websites.

Learning Resources
Through the Learning Resources blog, families with kids as young as 18 months old can find easy, hands-on activities to help kids work on their ABCs and 123s, keep up with classwork, or focus on language and reading skills.

Little Medical School
The Little Medical School and its social media platforms are featuring online classes and ways for kids to learn more about the coronavirus in a way that makes sense for them.

Mattel Playroom
Mattel launched its free online Mattel Playroom to encourage families to #KeepPlaying while adapting to life at home. The platform features play-from-home information for parents and caregivers and activities and content for kids based on its portfolio of brands, including Barbie, Fisher-Price, Hot Wheels, American Girl, and Thomas & Friends.

The Mattel Playroom, which will be updated weekly with more resources and content, will also feature learning-at-home tips from Mattel’s play experts and The Toy Association.

Nickelodeon’s #KidsTogether In March, Nickelodeon launched its #KidsTogether multiplatform prosocial initiative at NickHelps.com to engage with kids and families on tips for staying healthy and active at home. Featuring SpongeBob SquarePants, Blue’s Clues & You!, Henry Danger, Bubble Guppies, and The Casagrandes, #KidsTogether includes original short-form videos, interstitials, downloadable activities, and social content.Noggin – its direct-to-consumer interactive learning service for preschoolers – is also offering free subscriptions through June for millions of kids in need through national partner organizations including the National Head Start Association and First Book.

PLAYMOBIL
PLAYMOBIL’s new 5-minute video explains the virus, the disease, and what families can do to make things better. All told by a friendly PLAYMOBIL robot named ROBert, the video also explains why schools and daycares are closed and emphasizes why it’s of paramount importance that kids avoid contact with other kids.

Many of the resources listed here are also featured on The Genius of Play’s Learning At-Home Resource page. To have your resources and initiatives featured, please submit them to jlynch@toyassociation.org. Read about previously featured member initiatives here.