As a new survey reveals that the average family has hundreds of pounds worth of unused toys at home, parents and children are being urged to donate them to a Barnardo’s toy amnesty.
Launched in partnership with the UK’s leading children’s charity Barnardo’s and AI and robotics company Anki, the amnesty aims to raise funds for services to support vulnerable children and young people across the UK.
The research by Anki, which is behind popular robot toy Cozmo, revealed that of the 67 toys the average family owns, parents claim their children play with only nine toys per week (13%), with 21% of parents saying toys are neglected after the first week.
It also showed that on average, children tend to lose interest in a new toy after two months and five days. Sports sets are the toys that children lose interest in the quickest, with their interest fizzling out after 10 days. This is followed by art and creative toys at 11 days.
Half of parents said the quickest their children has tired of a new toy was after just one hour, with 73% claiming the novelty wears off after just one day.
With this in mind, there will be a Christmas toy amnesty on 8th and 9th December, where families who donate their toys to their local Barnardo’s store will receive a £50 discount off a toy Cozmo.
Parents simply need to tweet a photo of themselves or their child donating a bag of toys to their local Barnardo’s shop to @anki and @barnardosretail with the hashtag #CozmoxBarnardos to receive a unique £50 discount code to buy a Cozmo through anki.com*.
Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan said:
In every community there are children who don’t have toys to play with, but at the same time thousands of pounds worth of toys sit unused in homes across the UK.
We hope that families will donate their unused toys to Barnardo’s this Christmas, knowing children will benefit from their kindness. Profits from donated items will go to our front line, helping us continue to support some of the most vulnerable children and families.
Anki said:
We’re really pleased to be able to support Barnardo’s at this important time of year. We’d also like to thank the children who donated their unwanted toys and hope that families feel Cozmo – with all his games, fun coding platform and regular updates – is a worthy replacement for their donations.
