The Toy Box Diversity Lab

Anti-Ableism through imagination and play

Discover how we can build anti-ableist practice into education through developing our capacity to talk and think about disability through addressing structural inequalities. On this website you can explore resources and learn how toys, books and other media can promote anti-ableist thinking in educational settings.

The Toy Box Diversity Lab

Funded by the QMU Innovation Fellowship Fund

The Toy Box Diversity Lab at QMU

There is growing evidence that toys and resources representing disability give non-disabled children windows into the worlds of disabled children.

We are building on this evidence base, using images of adapted toy prototypes (such as Barbie with a limb difference or Olaf the snowman with a cochlear implant) developed by ToyLikeMe alongside commercially available toys representing a range of disabilities, as part of a pop-up “Toybox Tales” exhibition in schools.

A group of 5 students discusing with Dr clare

A group of people at an exhibition with a picture of a disabled toy in the background

A group of students listening to a presentation with a picture of disabled toy in the background of the classroom

A group of students looking at the camera with a picture of disabled toy in the background of the classroom

2 students look at picture of a disabled toy in a classroom

A group of students looking at images of disabled toys whilst taking notes

A group of students pointing to a piece of paper featuring images of disabled toys whilst taking notes

Dr Sian standing beside a set of toys placed on a chair

A group of 6 children drawing on a blank piece of paper

A group of 4 women read a poster while Dr Clare looks on

3 young girls playing with a toy on a wheelchair

children looking at disabled toys on display

London science Musem used with kind permission

Using these images, we are iteratively developing an evidence-based resource bank which can be used by educators in primary schools and other educational settings to positively influence children’s responses to disabled people.

Research Team

Dr Sian Jones and Dr Clare Uytman were awarded QMU Innovation Fellowship funding in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.

Their project aimed to explore and develop fully accessible resources, co-created with invested stakeholders, for use in schools and community settings. These resources were specifically designed to be mapped to the Curriculum for Excellence.

These resources will directly tackle representation and understanding of disability through play and imagination as supported by previous research.

Access Our Resources for Free

Here you will be able to access our revised Chatty Pack mapped to the Curriculum for Excellence, alongside a suite of videos, a catalogue of literacy materials that link to the themes we explore, and an auditing resource for your classroom.

Feedback from Users

Can we get involved in developing these resources?

Yes! We would love to hear your views about our resources, how you use them and any suggestions for improvements we can make.