The Simple Things

Power of play

A CLEVER SCHEME ACROSS INDIA IS SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF SCRAP WASTE AND A LACK OF PLAY SPACES FOR CHILDREN IN ONE GO

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Every year 31 million tons of scrap is dumped in India’s landfill sites. Back in 2015, when architect Pooja Rai was a student, she noticed children playing outside on broken concrete pipes, and using their slippers as badminton rackets. It sparked an idea that would tackle both the problem of waste and the lack of safe play spaces for children. She rounded up some friends as volunteers and together they built the children a proper playground that was safe, using the same waste materials.

That one-of-a-kind playground proved so popular that others from around the country, including communitie­s, schools and even the UN where they were working with Rohingya refugees, began to ask her to design and build similar playground­s for them. Six years on from that first play space and now

Rai is one of the founders of Anthill Creations, a not-for-profit based in Bengaluru that builds sustainabl­e, cost-effective places for children to play. They have built 283 playground­s in 18 states across India, all made with waste materials such as old tyres and concrete pipes.

Before they start building, they talk to the children to find out how they enjoy playing, so they can build a playground bespoke to their needs. “Play shouldn’t be a luxury,” she says. “We have a lot of focus on classroom education, but we forget how powerful play is. Every child, whether rich or poor, deserves the simple joy of a safe playground.”

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