The Native Toy national competition for creators of domestic games and toys is being conducted pursuant to the instruction of President Vladimir Putin. The competition was launched on November 16, 2024, by First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Kiriyenko and Presidential Adviser Yelena Yampolskaya. The competition organisers are the Russian Znaniye Society and the Movement of the First, Russian public-and-state movement of children and youth. The objective of the competition is to develop and produce domestic games and toys inspired by and relying on traditional spiritual and moral values, which will assist children in gaining a deeper understanding of the centuries-old history of their country, foster creative and scientific-technical thinking, and promote the development of the children’s games and toys industry.
During the meeting, the results of the competition’s second stage – the modelling stage – were summed up, and 62 projects from 34 regions of the Russian Federation approved to advance to the next stage.
A total of 149 projects competed to qualify for the next stage. They were evaluated by an expert jury comprising over 300 specialists from various fields, including psychologists and technologists. The expert assessment also considered the results of the public vote, in which 46,000 individuals from all regions of Russia took part.
The next step for the competition participants is to create a working prototype of their game or toy in the workshops of partner companies. The results of this work will be presented at a large-scale festival of children’s games, to be held in September 2025 at the Russia National Centre. The centrepiece of the festival will be an exhibition of the approved prototypes, where children, parents, and experts would be able to test the games and toys created and vote for the best ones.
The winners of the Native Toy competition will get the opportunity to bring their ideas to fruition and produce original domestic toys, which will be mass-produced and distributed through retail networks of competition partners across Russia.
Presidential Adviser Yelena Yampolskaya emphasised that another key outcome should be the provision of the winning games and toys (that have also passed expert evaluation) to preschool educational institutions, children’s entertainment centres, and cultural institutions nationwide.