Chapter 11 · Toy University
We Are
We believe the world needs places where imagination is taken seriously.
01 · The beginning
Toy University began with a simple question: What would happen if we created a university dedicated to toys?
Not a toy store.
Not simply a toy museum.
Not another course about toy making.
A university.
A place where toys could be explored through design, engineering, art, culture, technology, psychology, education, storytelling, entrepreneurship and, most importantly, play.
Toy University is a growing idea, an institution in the making, and an invitation to everyone who believes that play deserves a larger place in the world.
02 · Why toys?
Small enough to hold in your hands. Large enough to hold an entire universe.
A toy can teach, tell a story, introduce a child to engineering, preserve a culture, become a work of art, create a world, or spark an idea that changes a life.
To study toys is, in many ways, to study ourselves: how we imagine, learn, build, imitate, compete, cooperate, tell stories and make sense of the world.
03 · Why we exist
Human beings have made toys for thousands of years. They have travelled across civilizations, reflected cultures, evolved with technology, and carried memories from one generation to another.
Yet their world remains fragmented between industry, education, entertainment, collecting and childhood. We believe toys deserve a place where all of these worlds can come together.
What can this toy make possible?
A building set can introduce architecture. A moving toy can reveal mechanics. A role-playing game can explore society. A puppet can become storytelling. A puzzle can become systems thinking.
04 · What we believe
01Play is a serious human capability.
02Curiosity is not something education should eliminate.
03Imagination is not a distraction from learning. It can be the beginning of learning.
04Making something with your hands can change the way you think.
05Children should not only consume worlds. They should be encouraged to invent them.
06Adults should not lose their capacity to play.
The next generation of toys will emerge when disciplines begin speaking to one another: engineering meeting storytelling, technology meeting imagination, art meeting play, culture meeting design, education meeting invention.
05 · Why now?
Technology is changing the objects around us. Artificial intelligence is changing how we create. Robotics is changing how objects behave. New materials are changing what can be built.
What should a toy become next?
Children are growing up where physical and digital experience increasingly flow together. Toy University wants to be one of the places where this question is explored.
06 · Proactive I
Toy University is founded by Varun Chamadiya, Founder of Proactive I Initiative.
Proactive I is rooted in a larger belief: the environments we create influence the possibilities people discover within themselves.
A classroom creates certain possibilities. A laboratory creates others. A studio creates others. A playground creates others. Toy University brings these environments together around one of humanity's most powerful tools for discovery: the toy.
07 · Who it is for
Toy University is for anyone willing to play with possibility.