Russia’s ‘Native Toy’ contest promotes patriotic play among children

At Russia's state-backed toy competition, a plush cat dressed as a tank driver rubbed shoulders with characters from Slavic fairy tales, a model of a nuclear-powered icebreaker, and blue-eyed dolls in Russian army uniforms from World War Two.

Launched in 2024, the annual "Native Toy" contest seeks to promote domestically produced toys that reflect Russian culture, history, and its spiritual and moral values, according to organisers.

Eighty finalists displayed their creations on Monday at a vast exhibition centre in Moscow, where children carefully painted folk designs on wooden toys, played with a Lego-like replica of a Soviet space rocket, and built traditional cottages from multi-coloured bricks.

"Here, particularly in education, there is now a strong focus on ensuring that children learn to love their country through play. This is very important: not through force, but through play," said Valeria Mikhaleva-Ustinskaya, president of the National Association of Preschool Educators, who was wearing a folk-style costume and a headdress with RUSSIA written across the front in an old-fashioned font.

She posed for a photo with a self-righting doll painted in the colours of the Russian flag and bearing the words: "You can't take us down!"

The competition is part of a broader push by the authorities, since the start of full-scale fighting in Ukraine in 2022, to promote patriotism, Kremlin-approved versions of history, and what the state calls traditional values to children.

Rights group Amnesty International has condemned elements of Russia's educational policies as state indoctrination.

Winners will receive help producing and marketing their toys, as well as the possibility of inclusion on an Education Ministry list of recommended products for nurseries and schools.

“We want to tell children about important events in our country in language they can understand," said Tatiana Kashina, PR specialist for toy producer Vesna, whose "My Heroes" collection of dolls in World War Two regalia was one of the 30 winners selected.

The prominence of army-themed products is in step with the growing emphasis on military-patriotic education in Russian schools, where basic military training has returned and history textbooks reflect the Kremlin’s account of the war in Ukraine.

The crowd favourite had no militaristic undertones. An online ballot awarded the public prize to "Beaver Laboratory", a beaver-themed microscope kit.

Writing by Alessandra Prentice;Editing by Alison Williams/Reuters