Spirit of Play Foundation by Spielwarenmesse eG: Christmas delivery of toy donations in Brazil

The Spirit of Play Foundation, the new charitable project from Spielwarenmesse eG, has completed a special Christmas initiative in Brazil, with three local manufacturers – Xalingo Brinquedos, Usual Brinquedos and Doce Brinquedo – making donations of toys in mid-December to a social institution in the São Paulo metropolitan area. The toys were presented by BERG Eventos e Negócios, the representative office for Spielwarenmesse eG, which has excellent connections to local businesses. 

Educational toys for the festive season

A successful start for the Spirit of Play Foundation by Spielwarenmesse eG in Mumbai, India, in mid-September has now been followed by a Christmas surprise in Brazil. At the Instituto Eclésia (https://institutoeclesia.org.br), gifts were made to nearly 100 children and young people between the ages of 2 and 17 years. Toy company Xalingo Brinquedos supplied 2D and 3D jigsaw puzzles, along with drawing boards and dolls’ houses. Usual Brinquedos joined in with toy trucks and mini kitchen utensils, while the producer Doce Brinquedo donated modelling clay and slime play products. Débora Creutzberg and Adriana Martins, the Brazilian representatives of Spielwarenmesse eG, packed up all the donations in Christmas wrapping and gave them to the children in person at a festive party. “It brought a lot of happiness – the children at our institute do not necessarily expect to get their own toys,” says founder and director Jhonata de Sousa Pereira. His Favela Cultural project at the Instituto Eclésia provides a programme based on music, art workshops, sport, and social and emotional counselling – in an area of the city that is beset by many problems and has no other public space for children’s leisure and educational activities.

Year-round project

This is precisely where the Spirit of Play Foundation by Spielwarenmesse eG comes in. “On the one hand, it’s about helping and spreading joy. At the same time, though, as an international business, we are also seeking to raise awareness of the issue of ‘play as a basic need’,” says Christian Ulrich, Board Spokesperson at Spielwarenmesse eG. The next opportunity to take part in this charitable campaign will be for all exhibitors at the Spielwarenmesse (28 Jan–1 Feb 2025), who will receive information separately on this. The toys provided by those companies will benefit the Kinderhaus in Nuremberg and Kinderlachen e. V. in Dortmund.

Further information is available on the website www.spielwarenmesse-eg.de/foundation.