Zurich city council defends ‘toy-free’ kindergarten initiative

Zurich city council has defended the decision to eschew toys in kindergartens for several weeks. In the "Toy-Free Kindergarten" project, the children have access only to boxes, cloths, chairs, tables, ropes, planks and natural objects. All conventional toys are put away for a period of eight to ten weeks. The Swiss People's Party had criticised the project harshly, describing it as an “experiment” on children and “deliberately induced stress to shape behaviour”. The city council responded that…