On 25 June 2026, Cannons Creek Independent High School celebrated an early Mandela Day with a toy-making workshop, as facilitated by the Clothes To Good (CTG) team. The Grade 7-12 pupils made educational resources for children in a low-resourced early childhood development (ECD) centres. Pupils had great fun letting their creative juices flow, knowing especially that these items would bring great joys to those in need. The group made 35 bee hoppers (magnetic alphabet fishing game) , 52 music shakers, 43 sock puppets, 40 skipping ropes, and 31 octopus toys; which will be donated to EduTods in Maitland.
During the workshop, Ms Tammy Greyling (Occupational Therapist) reminded pupils “It’s not how fast you make the toy, but rather how well you make the toy”, reminding them that they were making a difference and to “keep a child in your heart”. These toys were able to be made through the school collecting 264 bags of donations (totalling 1900kg) after it ran a clothing, textiles and shoe clothing drive. CTG is a textile recycling and disability empowerment organisation, where it is also is a partner to the H&M retail group where the Clothes to Play programme has been created to empower community women through micro-business development, create jobs for people with disabilities and create educational resources for children in low-resourced early childhood development (ECD) centres. In addition, this programme creates awareness of the fashion industry being the second-highest polluter globally and enables pupils of all ages to take a more active role in caring for the environment, while having the opportunity to create toys for low-resourced ECD centres.
Some feedback:
“It was fun. The people were very nice. It was a nice feeling to be giving back.” – Stella Melunksy, Grade 10
“It was a brilliant opportunity to be able to take recycled materials to turn it into something impactful to a child’s life. It taught me to be more mindful and appreciative of the toys I used to have when I was younger.” – Qahlah Omar, Grade 10
“It was very fun and creative. I enjoyed making it ‘cos it helped other people get stuff I already have.” – Kaylee Hendricks, Grade 8
“It was a great experience realizing how easy it is to make even a difference so quickly from just our school.” – Oscar Davies, Grade 12
“It was a wonderful experience and it was interesting to see what can be made with recyclable materials and how it can benefit the next person. It was fun to bond with my friends.” – Saifya Rooknodien, Grade 10
“The experience was more meaningful knowing that the toys were going to people who would hopefully enjoy using them as much as we enjoyed making them.” – Nihal Bardien, Grade 11
