Applications open for the second season of the contest "Native Toy"
A meeting of the Organising Committee of the All-Russian
Contest "Native Toy" took place at the National Centre RUSSIA on 11
March. During the event, the second season of the contest officially opened.
Applications from game and toy creators will be accepted until 5 June for the
nomination "Ideas for Games and Toys", and until 14 August for the
nominations "Game and Toy Prototypes" and "Finished
Products". The initiative is implemented by the Russian society Znanie and
the Movement of the First on the instructions of the President of the Russian
Federation, Vladimir Putin.
The meeting of the Organising Committee was opened by
Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation and Chair of the Organising
Committee of the contest, Yelena Yampolskaya. She noted that the goal of the
contest is to stimulate the development of an industry of major importance for
the country’s worldview, so that engaging, modern games and toys based on
Russian spiritual and moral values appear in Russia. By instruction of the
President of Russia, the second season of the contest has been made thematic
and will be dedicated to the creation of games and toys for the preschool
education system.
"I believe that the result of our work should not only
be the creation of new games and toys for the preschool education system, but
also the future provision of all our kindergartens with these games and
toys," Yelena Yampolskaya said.
She also proposed the creation of a unified digital platform
for preschool upbringing and education that both educators and parents could
use, where everything would be brought together — from methodological guides
and recommendations to books and audiovisual content.
Natalia Virtuozova, Director General of the National Centre
RUSSIA, also took part in the meeting of the Organising Committee of the
All-Russian Contest "Native Toy".
"This May, the National Centre RUSSIA will open the
project "Treasury" — a series of small-format expositions created
together with regional museums. The first exposition will be dedicated to our
native Russian toy, which has played an important role in children’s upbringing
for centuries. Part of the collection will be presented by the Sergiyev Posad
Institute of Toys — a remarkable place whose holdings include more than 30,000
exhibits. Why Sergiyev Posad? Because even Saint Sergius of Radonezh, during long
prayers, carved wooden toys and gave them to the children of Posad," said
Director General of the National Centre RUSSIA Natalia Virtuozova.
Director General of the Russian society Znanie Maxim Dreval
presented a brief overview of the results and achievements of the first season
and outlined the key innovations of the second season of the project: "At
the end of 2025, the first seven games and toys among the winners of the
project 'Native Toy' were produced. Their print run amounted to 162,000 units,
and about 27,000 games and toys have already been sold. In addition, the first
episodes of multimedia projects — winners in a separate nomination — were
released. They have already received 812,000 views on online platforms."
The main change in the second season is a new structure of
the contest divided into three nominations corresponding to different stages of
product readiness. The first nomination — "Ideas for Games and Toys"
— is intended for authors of concepts, sketches and descriptions who do not yet
have a finished sample. The second nomination — "Game and Toy
Prototypes" — is for initial working models that require further
development before being launched into production. The third nomination —
"Finished Products" — is for toys already available on the market.
What previously were nominations by type of game or toy have now become
categories. The themes of the contest remain the same; however, in the Year of
the Unity of the Peoples of Russia, declared by the President, one new
direction has appeared — "Unity of the Peoples of Russia".
The head of the Russian society Znanie outlined the
advantages for winners in each nomination. Winners in the nomination
"Ideas for Games and Toys" will receive the opportunity to develop
and refine a prototype together with mentors and present the project to
manufacturers. Winners in the nomination "Game and Toy Prototypes"
will receive support for launching the first production run together with
technological partners with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade
of Russia, as well as market promotion. Winners in the nomination
"Finished Products" will be able to count on priority placement on
store shelves, the opportunity to be included in the list of recommendations of
the Ministry of Education of Russia for equipping kindergartens and schools,
and special loan conditions from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.
In total, up to 45 projects are expected to receive support in the second
season — up to 15 winners in each nomination.
It is important that support will be provided not only to
the winners. Finalists in the nominations "Ideas for Games and Toys"
and "Game and Toy Prototypes" will be included in a special Bank of
Ideas and Prototypes, where manufacturers will be able to see their work; if a project
is launched into production, the author will receive remuneration. Finalists in
the nomination "Finished Products" will be able to apply for
inclusion in the register of verified products bearing the "Native
Toy" label and for recommendations for equipping kindergartens and
schools.
The Movement of the First will play a special role in
evaluating the projects. In the second season, the co-organiser of the contest
will continue to support the project in a new capacity: with the participation
of the Movement, a special Children’s Jury will be formed to evaluate
participants’ works alongside adult experts.
"The launch of the new season of the contest 'Native
Toy', initiated by the President of Russia, is an important direction for
educating children and young people in the spirit of Russia’s traditional
spiritual and moral values. Participants in the contest, organised by the
Movement of the First and the Russian society Znanie, traditionally dedicate
their ideas and projects to important and significant events in the life of the
country. It is encouraging that last year many of the 28,000 projects were
devoted to the Year of the Defenders of the Fatherland and to the feats of
outstanding Russians. I am confident that many works this year will also resonate
with members of the Movement of the First," said Hero of Russia,
participant in the presidential personnel programme "Time of Heroes",
and Chair of the Board of the Movement of the First, Artur Orlov.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian
Federation Ivan Kulikov spoke about measures to support manufacturers of
children’s games and toys, including a programme of preferential financing and
work on forming a register of recommended games and toys, which will allow
contest winners to receive government orders. He also discussed plans to
integrate "Native Toy" projects into the programme of the country’s
largest industry and business forums.
In order for toys to reach their main recipient — children in kindergartens — systematic work at the level of preschool education is required. At the meeting of the Organising Committee, First Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Alexander Bugayev spoke about the Ministry of Education’s plans in this area. He recalled that within the education system, 2026 has been declared the Year of Preschool Education. According to Alexander Bugayev, it is important not only how children are raised and on which spiritual and moral values educational programmes are based, but also what they play with. In this sense, the contest "Native Toy" has become a flagship initiative, and its results will be taken into account when forming the mandatory list of educational and upbringing tools for preschool children. In the near future, a procedure for expert evaluation of games and toys will also be developed and approved to ensure children’s safety when using them.
Event photobank
The National Centre RUSSIA congratulates Paralympic champions Varvara Voronchikhina, Anastasia Bagiyan and Ivan Golubkov.
The Governor of the Jewish Autonomous Region, Maria Kostyuk, shared her impressions from a visit to the National Centre RUSSIA.
The legendary "Russian Seasons" played an important role in shaping the image of Russia in Europe, and became a unique phenomenon of world culture.
