Anthill Creations is a not-for-profit organization based in Bangalore, India, committed to making play accessible to all children. They do this by converting underused barren lands within school grounds and cities into sustainable playscapes. Their work focuses on designing user-centric and contextual play elements with upcycled industrial materials such as scrap tires, metal and oil drums, recycled plastic boards and more. The design crew interacts with children and the community to consider their desires for the playground and gets them involved in the playscape construction with child-friendly tasks. They also invite volunteers and community members to be involved from the initial design stages to ensure ownership and sustained maintenance of the playgrounds. Anthill Creations has impacted over 200,000 children by building 300 playgrounds in 18 states across India.

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“Lack of structured play in schools is a major problem that is affecting the overall mental and physical well-being of children. Sixty-two percent of the government-aided schools in India do not have open playgrounds. And while some schools have open space, they are just barren grounds and these are completely unsafe for children to play in,” says Pooja Rai, Co-Founder & CEO of Anthill Creations.

Anthill Creations’ playscape designs align with the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) objectives in the new National Education Policy of India 2020 (NEP 2020). The policy emphasizes the importance of learning through play and recognizes play as a central element of high-quality early childhood education.