A solo made-object item in which one student makes traditional, locally rooted toys or game pieces, marked on composition, originality, technique, presentation and a write-up with a video.
Indigenous Toys and Games is the third of the four visual arts sub-categories on the national school arts festival template. One student in classes IX to XII makes toys or game pieces of the kind children have long played with in their own region, built from natural, handmade or recycled material rather than bought plastic or electronic parts. It sits beside the flat two-dimensional item and the three-dimensional sculpture item, but the maker is judged on traditional character as well as craft.
Like the other visual arts items, it is made on the spot. The source rules give the visual arts items three days of making and print no minute limit, so none is set on the template. The rules allow at most four toys, and each student works in a marked workspace of about six feet by four feet. Those limits are not modelled as fields on eTalenter, so the organiser counts the toys and checks the workspace at the venue.
On the template the item is an individual entry for boys and girls together, with no language, and it is marked out of 100 on five equal criteria of 20: Composition and style, Originality, Technique, Presentation / Narration, and Write-up and video. Alongside the toys the student prepares a short written summary and a short video explaining which tradition the toys come from and how they were made, and these are judged for 20 marks.
A finished entry is a small, tidy set of toys that work as toys: something that spins, rolls, balances, rattles or can be played with, displayed on the workspace with a short explanation ready for the panel. Organisers run the item because it keeps local play traditions alive and rewards patient hand skill, simple materials and a student’s ability to explain where a toy comes from.
Where Indigenous Toys and Games is run
On the eTalenter templates this item appears on one: a national school arts festival in India for classes IX to XII, where it is a visual arts sub-category. Traditional toy-making is taught and shown at craft fairs, school exhibitions and heritage events in many countries, but the three-day making period, the four-toy limit and the write-up and video marks belong to this festival’s rules, so organisers elsewhere should set their own.
- India
Key facts
- Individual item: one student, classes IX to XII, boys and girls together
- Marked out of 100: Composition and style 20, Originality 20, Technique 20, Presentation / Narration 20, Write-up and video 20
- Made on the spot over three days in the source rules; no minute limit is set on the template
- Source rules allow at most four toys and a workspace of about 6 x 4 feet (not modelled; the organiser checks them at the venue)
- A short written summary and a short video are prepared and judged for 20 marks
- Idea: a spinning top and a pull-along animal shaped from wood offcuts and string (an idea, not a rule)
- Idea: a set of clay or seed-based game pieces with a hand-drawn board for a traditional board game from your region (an idea, not a rule)
- Idea: cloth, coconut-shell or palm-leaf toys from your own area, with a note on who taught the craft (an idea, not a rule)
On eTalenter, Indigenous Toys and Games is filed under Art and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Indigenous Toys and Games is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100.
The scoring method the templates attach to this item, and what that scale means. The category this competition is filed under when a template is installed. Others in this category: Painting, Drawing, Sketching, Cartooning, Poster Making, Rangoli, Clay Modeling, Craft, Collage eTalenter matches an item to its criteria on the words in its name, and creates exactly these when the template is installed. No criteria match this name, so none are created automatically — judges score it on the event’s own criteria instead. Each organiser scores this competition on its own criteria. These are the ones the ready-made templates carry.How it is scored
Where it sits
Judging criteria installed for it
How organisers judge it
Kala Utsav (India National School Arts Festival)
What judges look at in Indigenous Toys and Games
What a Indigenous Toys and Games panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Composition and style (20): toys that are well proportioned, balanced and set out as a coherent group; a pile of unrelated pieces loses marks
- Originality (20): a toy or game rooted in your own region and made your own way; a copy of a popular shop-bought design or a kit earns less than a traditional form handled with a personal touch
- Technique (20): control of the material, clean joins and finishing, and toys that actually work, such as a top that spins or a figure that stands; rough edges and loose parts cost marks
- Presentation / Narration (20): a tidy display within the workspace and the four-toy limit, and a clear spoken account of the tradition behind each toy when the panel asks
- Write-up and video (20): a short summary and recording that match the toys actually made; marks are lost when they describe different pieces or give no source for the tradition
- Safe, child-friendly finish: sharp edges, toxic paint or fragile parts are visible to the panel and weaken technique and presentation
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Indigenous Toys and Games under Scoring Setup, or start from the full clay modelling and craft judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Indigenous Toys and Games
How entrants and their teachers usually get Indigenous Toys and Games right on the day:
- Start by asking elders, teachers or local craftspeople which toys and games were played in your area, and choose one or two traditions you can explain well
- Pick materials you can get easily and already handle, such as wood offcuts, clay, cloth, coconut shell, palm leaf, paper or waste material, and practise only with them in the weeks before
- Make each toy once at home first, timing it, so you know what can be finished in the days given and what must be simplified
- Keep to the four-toy limit: three well-made toys beat four rushed ones, and a small matching set looks stronger than a mixed pile
- Test every toy as a toy before the day: does it spin, roll, balance, rattle or stand without help
- Build a kit list in advance: cutting and joining tools, glue or thread, sandpaper, paints, cloth, a board to work on, and spares of anything that can break
- Write your summary around where each toy comes from and how it is made, and photograph the stages so the video shows the making, not only the result
- Practise explaining the toys aloud to a teacher who asks why you chose them and what children learn by playing with them
Events that run this (1)
Ready-made templates that already include this competition. Installing one sets it up for you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Indigenous Toys and Games judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Are the toys made at the venue or brought in finished?
The source rules describe the visual arts items as made on the spot over three days, so the toys are made during the festival rather than brought in finished.
How many toys can I make?
The source rules print a limit of four toys. eTalenter has no field for it, so the organiser counts the toys at the venue.
Do the toys have to be traditional?
The item is called Indigenous Toys and Games, so the panel expects toys or games rooted in a local tradition. Say which tradition each toy comes from in your write-up and when the panel asks.
Is this the same as the 3 Dimensional item?
No. The 3 Dimensional item is a sculpture or model chosen freely. Indigenous Toys and Games is about traditional toys and game pieces. They use the same five-criterion sheet but are separate entries, and a student takes part in only one category.
Similar competitions
Items whose names share a word with this one — usually the same discipline in another form.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full clay modelling and craft judging criteria guide, or browse every art competition item.
Try Indigenous Toys and Games in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Indigenous Toys and Games, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
