Katriina Heljakka

In March 2020 teddy bears and other plush toys were brought to the windows in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and North America. The world’s most popular character toy sat in the windows, often holding hands or giving hugs to other toyfriends, depicting the longing for human closeness with its gestures. As an intergenerational form of material-digital and screen-based play, the playing enabled communication between players separated by the pandemic: Various toy personalities were used to share solidarity, compassion and channel a positive spirit. The play pattern based on toy displays and photoplay (toy photography) was also accompanied by a gamified goal— a challenge based on the spotting of teddies online and offline that attracted players of different ages. Inviting children and adults to make, narrativize, and hunt for toy displays, the challenge became a popular phenomenon widely covered by the media across the globe. This talk addresses the Teddy Challenge as an example of creative and intergenerational play, which developed into an international phenomenon in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Imagination, inclusion and communality were the most main features of the play pattern showcased by everyday players as well as enterprises and authorities. As proposed in the talk, the Teddy Challenge with its aspects of resistance, resourcefulness, and resilience, represents a form of toy activism, in which toy characters act as messengers of socially significant statements. By playing for the common good by combining character toys with online sharing, the imaginative acts of physical object displaying, socially shared photoplay and hybrid play culture thrive and channel a strong, message of ludounity: By playing together, we will survive. The appetite for play is a sign of mental strength and playful resilience—willingness to sustain well-being—human psychological endurance and survival. Where there is play, there is a way.