Toy4Participation Toolkit: How to Promote Child Participation and Democracy in Formal and Non-Formal Early Childhood
Participation is a way of relating to children that recognises their right to be heard, their capacity to contribute, and their place as active citizens in the here and now — it isn’t an “add-on” or a special project.
This Toolkit is designed to support practitioners working with young children in non-formal early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings to embed meaningful participation into everyday practice. It is comprised of three sections:
Pedagogical and Activity cards for Meaningful Participation
Annex 3: Case Studies from the Field
You can download the Toolkit in English. Additional translations will follow by early 2026.
Please note: These are pre-pilot drafts; new final versions will be published after the piloting, towards the end of 2026.
Toolkit to bring play and inclusion to refugees living in remote communities
The Toolkit is intended for organisations wishing to set up and run Mobile Play Hubs for children aged 0 to 10 years old. It is also useful to regular Play Hubs and other non-formal ECEC settings that want to make (outdoor) play more accessible to children of all ages. The Activity Cards provide inspiration to make outdoor play as accessible as possible.
You can download “Mobile Play Hub – Operating Guidelines and Outdoor Play” in English, Hungarian, Slovak, and Ukrainian and the “Mobile Play Hub – Activity Cards” in English, Hungarian, Slovak, and Ukrainian as well.
Activity Cards for the Toolkit on inclusive community based ECEC
The Activity Cards were created to be used in the Play Hubs by practitioners to promote inclusive formal and non-formal education with young children and their parents, paying special attention to children with disabilities and special needs. However, they can be used and adapted by any other formal and non-formal service.
It can be downloaded in English, Slovak, and Ukrainian, with Hungarian translation coming soon.
Toolkit on inclusive community based ECEC
This Toolkit is for practitioners in any non-formal setting for children 0-8 years old interested in strengthening inclusive education. More about this resource can be found here.
The Toolkit is available in English. Translation in Ukrainian will be available soon.
‘Play for Inclusion’ Handbook and Activity Cards
The Handbook and Activity Cards are for practitioners who work in non-formal early childhood education and care (ECEC) services supporting the integration and psychosocial well-being of young refugee children and their caregivers.
They are available in English, Croatian, Slovak, and Ukrainian. Translations in other languages will be available soon.
Results
Read about the amazing success of TOY for Inclusion in the project results leaflet!
More languages: HRV, HUN, ITA, LAV, NL-BE, SLK, SLV, TUR.
Frequently asked questions about the TOY for Inclusion Approach
What is a Play Hub? How do children benefit from Play Hubs? How do parents and caregivers and other family members benefit from Play Hubs? This document answers these questions and more. It is available in English, Croatian, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Slovakian, Slovenian, and Turkish.
Community Play Hubs: a cost assessment
This document provides an overview of the costs and resources to set up and run a TOY for Inclusion Play Hub.
Impact Evaluation and Policy Recommendations
Using a qualitative methodology for data collection and analysis, this report evaluates the impact of the TOY to Share, Play to Care project (a project which built on the work of TOY for Inclusion). The Executive Summary of the TOY to Share, Play to Care: Impact Evaluation and Policy Recommendations report shares key findings taken from the full report.
Brochures
These brochures explain the activities of the early childhood education and care Play Hubs in each country language, including Romani.
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What Works Guide
This guide gives recommendations to practitioners and to local authorities on how to implement Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Play Hubs at best.
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Toolkit
The TOY for Inclusion toolkit enables trainers and practitioners of different sectors to set-up and run play spaces for children and adults with different ethnic backgrounds and from a very young age.
Play Hub Posters
What are some of the activities implemented at Play Hubs? Who benefits?
Read the Play Hub posters, available in eight languages, to learn more about what happens inside.
ENG, HRV, HUN, ITA, LAV, NL-BE, SLK, SLV.
TOY for Inclusion – Voices of Children
The TOY for Inclusion – Voices of Children booklet shares the stories told by the children attending Play Hubs. Hear why the Play Hubs are so important from the perspective of children.
