Chapter 1: A Playful Beginning
Executive Director, Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk, Ph.D.
The idea for ToyBox came in 2017, while Skwarchuk
played with her children at the park. Caregivers chatted about things they did to stay well, and shared ideas on how to create learning opportunities for their children.
This inspired a group of caregivers and educators to start a pilot project called Parents Be the Change. Participants brainstormed goals to support their children's academic development as well as physical and mental health.
In 2017, a team of ToyBox volunteers entered the Open Innovation Challenge to help improve literacy and numeracy skills across Manitoba. The team included wellness in their proposal, recognizing that health and wellbeing are key to learning.
The project placed in the top five, but did not receive an award. This unsuccessful bid fuelled the team to find funding, and so, the grant writing began and the inspired the design of our first logo...​
Chapter 2: Supporting a Provincial Call to Action
Chapter 3: Building Grassroots Support
The project's first funding came from the University of Winnipeg, to hire an education student as a Research Assistant and cover expenses for team meetings.
ToyBox gained traction through community organizations, and in 2019 the Winnipeg Foundation generously funded the project.
By the fall of 2019, the ToyBox team had developed 90 fully researched activities: 30 in literacy, 30 in numeracy, and 30 in wellness.
Students from the Seven Oaks MET and Maples MET Schools joined ToyBox in 2019, to gain education mentorship, write activities, and form the Graphics Team.
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Graphics students came up with three gender-neutral characters and started drawing images for each activity.
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An app storyboard was designed in 2020, and Grade 12 Sisler High School students spearheaded the creation of a prototype. The Sisler App Team created a short video demonstration of their progress on the mobile application, which can be viewed here!
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In 2021, the ToyBox team expanded to include two business development students and an intern on the Wellness Team.
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The Graphics Team continues to grow, through mentorship between senior members and newcomers to the project!
Chapter 4: Engaging High School Students
Chapter 5: Experiential Learning Opportunities
Community Members supported Dr. Skwarchuk's Developmental Studies students in 2019, who each authored ToyBox activities.
Seeing the project's success supporting student learning, ToyBox grew to include students from the University of Winnipeg's Developmental Studies, Psychology, and Business Faculties. Grants from the University of Winnipeg Experiential Learning Fund in 2019 and 2020 supported this work.
In late 2019, the first pilot study was conducted to collect feedback from ToyBox community members who tested Letter, Number, and Wellness activities with their children.
Research Assistants began testing these activities with children ages 2-5 at the UWSA Day Care, but testing was cut short due to COVID-19.
In response to the province-wide state of emergency declared in March 2020, the team went virtual. Meetings were held over Zoom and student interns were supervised through online platforms.
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Funding from Safe at Home Manitoba and SSHRC Partnership Engage grants were used to support email pilot studies from March 2020 to April 2021, for families seeking learning resources at home. Activity booklets were sent to families with limited or no Internet access throughout rural and northern Manitoba.
Chapter 6: Adapting to COVID-19
Chapter 7: Our Delivery Model
ToyBox continues to explore ways of making activities public. Our team has connected with educators in the Winnipeg, Louis Riel, and St. James Assiniboine School Divisions, as well as River East Transcona School Division’s Kinderlinks program. The Winnipeg Public Libraries Youth Services has also distributed ToyBox colouring books containing activities and supports for caregivers. In 2022, Pine Creek School Division will host a Wellness Fair supported by follow up workshop sessions around Letters, Numbers, and Wellness. This initiative is supported by the Manitoba Teacher Learning Fund.
With the support of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant, our project expanded to include additional support from professors at the University of Winnipeg and Carleton University. A steering committee was formed in 2021, to develop a strategic plan and support policy writing in governance, job descriptions, and the creation of a constitution.
A group of Early Childhood Educators from across Northern Manitoba began contributing activities to include Indigenous Ways of Knowing into the project, with the support of the Frontier School Division. More information about ToyBox's commitment to Truth and Reconciliation can be found here.
Chapter 8: Project Expansion
Team members from across the province met at Frontier School Division's
Winnipeg office, in August 2021.
Chapter 9: Strategic Planning Outcomes
In 2021, ToyBox committed to the following areas of continued project development:
(1) Communication Strategy: Our website was created and social media presence expanded to include Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
(2) Governance, Copyright & Legal Matters: Legal advice was sought to establish branding rights and copyright for all graphic designs and activities.
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(3) Research Planning: A publication development plan was made to evaluate literacy and numeracy learning activities, as well as to evaluate mentorship on the project.
(4) Business/Strategic Plan: The University of Winnipeg's Faculty of Business donated an office space to create a presence for the project in the heart of Downtown Winnipeg. Business students were recruited to provide marketing guidance.
(5) Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Team members have had the honour of visiting Tataskweyak Cree Nation/Split Lake and Misipawistik Cree Nation/Grand Rapids, to learn about each community's unique perspectives.
Chapter 10: Continued Progress
One of the main ways that new communities become involved in ToyBox is by word of mouth. Through such connections our team is now working closely with faculty at L'Université de Sainte-Boniface to translate activities into French, in collaboration with Canadian Parents for French- Manitoba.
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Toybox has also partnered with MOSAIC Newcomer Family Resource Network to help improve accessibility of quality educational resources for families.