The other day I woke up my two daughters a bit early and told them to take a walk with me in the public gardens in Hyderabad. Both of them protested as children usually do and said, Why dad Why cant we walk in the evening of our lives

If you dont exercise your muscles when you are young, then you may not be alive to see the evening of your life, I replied.

What do you mean, dad

A balanced diet and some exercise in moderation are very important to live a rich and complete life. If you talk to any doctor or a health expert or read any newspaper and a magazine you will be told to avoid being a couch potato and be more conscious of your health. And the best way to be healthy is to have a balanced diet and exercise in moderation, I explained.

Also, what is good for the body is good for the mind. Meaning, a healthy body stimulates your mind to be sharper and to reach its full potential, mind also needs some exercise, I added.

Take a look at Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, for instance. He is suffering with a problem called the Tennis Elbow. When he swings his bat in the same direction repeatedly, he would be strengthening a certain group of muscles on one side of his body. To prevent injury and provide a balance Sachin must do exercises to strengthen his core muscles and those on the opposite side.

Developing this balance allows Sachin to excel at his craft. The same thing happens with the development of the mind in a child.

Children dream of becoming something when they grow up. Their passionate dream could eventually become their life career, provided they are focussed in their life. You can be focussed only when you have a healthy mind and body. If as a child you are healthy, then you may end up having multiple passions as you grow.

When my daughters heard this, they jumped out of their beds and said, Lets go for a walk, dad!

There are a number of other ways to channel the energy levels of children and help them become something in their future.

How you may ask. Well, it is very simple, says my friend Satish.

One day my son Suman was silently playing with an educational toy kit. He was constructing a bridge with his toy kit. When he finished it, he let out a shriek of cashing in on educational toys. Just then my neighbour Santosh walked in, Satish said.

Looking at my sons happiness, Santosh said, My son is glued to the idiot box. He never does anything creative and constructive. Tell me how you were able to get your son play with educational toys I asked Santosh this: did you ever play with your son using educational toys to built bridges Surprised, he said No. Thats the problem, I said. I explained to Santosh that children could learn adult skills by playing with educational toys along with their parents. Such cashing in on educational toys stimulate the youngsters to use their brains to strategise and execute plans, said Satish.

When Santosh asked me to explain further, I told him that there are several educational toys that help children to think logically, strategise in competitive environment with forethought and be creative at the same time. Santosh said that since all this will be a bit too technical for his son, is there a simpler method like magic tricks to woo my son into this process of learning. Yes, there are several such creative activities that your son can focus on, I said.

Ted Moryto, who is a mechanical engineer, father and proprietor of Brain Waves - The Intelligent Toy Store, once said, Educational toys are not just toys, they are life lessons. And the level of parent participation in capacity building of their children makes a lot of difference to the childs future.

One of the ways to introduce your children to educational toys is through interactive science workshops held at schools or even at science museums.

It is in such workshops that children learn about

· Enthusiasm

· Team work

· Competitiveness

Some of the educational toys children use to build bridges and towers at these workshops demonstrate engineering principles that university students study, says Ted Moryto.

In India, there are very few organisations that promote educational toys. Some of them include the Mumbai-based NGO named Children Toy Foundation (CTF), the Bangalore-based charitable trust Sutradhar and the leading education technology and e-learning company Educomp Datamatics Ltd.

The aim of CFT is to educate children to read, write and to go beyond that and acquire real skills. In addition, CFT also helps children to acquire a sense of pride, to develop a positive attitude and to learn in a fund way. Established in 1982, by Devendra Desai, CTFs prime objective is to encourage children to genuinely love toys and games.

Similar initiatives will enable the individual entrepreneurs to harnesses the potential force of educational toys to mould the character and temperament of children.

When I was an undergraduate at the Arts & Science College in Secunderabad, my professor the late Shivaji Mokkapati told me that toys and games not only amuse, but also stir ones imagination. They also stimulate creativity and spontaneity. Apart from this they encourage a free flow of thought, improve the power of observation and concentration and also teach values like discipline, honesty, truth, and courage.

The charitable trust named Sutradhar - established in 1995 pools to distribute learning media like learning cashing in on educational toys, science kits, and books to children in hundreds of schools, and in other learning institutions.

Why learning toys

Child psychologists say that educational media are vital to a child's learning process. By their very nature, children are playful. They opine that teaching children through the promotion of this natural instinct is a highly effective methodology.

What do learning toys accomplish Three things, says experts, and they are -

1. They grasp a child's attention immediately.

2. They engage the child fully in the process of learning by utilising visual, auditory, and motor involvement.

3. They easily explain abstract concepts like math and science.

Teachers in village-level schools are generally forced to create learning tools from household items that would otherwise be discarded. But in todays world, teachers are unable to dedicate enough time to develop the right learning media due to their ever-growing responsibilities.

Other factors that hinder the teaching communitys work include

· High costs of material

· Cost-ineffectiveness to make their own materials

· Lack of time to research and acquire appropriate materials

Therefore, there is an urgent need for relief in this sector. And this is where you can pitch in and fill the gap and also make money in the process.

There are very few people in the domain of educational media because you require the right background in both design and education. Interestingly, Sutradhar fulfils this void by linking creators of learning media to the vast number of schools who require their creations.

Now you may be wondering, How can I benefit from educational toys

Before I answer your question, let me tell you briefly about Anjana Batra. Anjana is an educational toy designer and manufacturer. She has been developing a range of toys and other educational aids that address the specific learning needs of children with disabilities.

It is universally accepted that play is central to a child's world. But, if this potent realm of discovery becomes a struggle, like in the case of a physically challenged child, then it is all the more important for us to design toys that impart basic concepts to the differently able children. It is this simple insight that has prompted Anjana to develop toys for the disabled.

In 1979, she took her first steps into designing and producing toys and teaching aids for normal children. A number of her creations have been purchased by the National Science Museums. Under the New Education Policy, the central government made Anjanas mathematics kit mandatory equipment for state-run schools. NCERT has adopted some of her preschool materials for use in their early childhood learning centres in rural and tribal areas.

Anjana's experience confirms that there is a great need for specialised toys and aids.

The daughter of a diplomat, Anjana received a master's degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics. She worked as a social worker at Mobile Crèches in Delhi, a respected private voluntary programme serving the children of the city's poor, generally migrant construction workers.

Her experiences gave her key insights into the needs of children of every sort. She began producing her first needs-based educational aids in 1979. They were made of wood to last and they were designed for institutional use and not for the mass market.

Now, coming to your question, How can I benefit from educational toys the answer is simple, become a home-based educational toy entrepreneur. There are plenty of avenues open for you in this segment. For instance, you can be

· An educational toy designer and manufacture

· An affiliate of educational toy manufacturers and promote their products in schools or any other place

· An owner of a home-based educational toy museum

· A trainer and teach school educators on how to motivate young brains

· The owner of a mobile learning toy museum

But whatever you do, first you should love children and enjoy playing with kids and have the passion to build and create something. Once you have the heart of a child, then everything becomes easy.

Have fun and make money, just like that!