Fall 2009
Children of the World
Children and Holidays Around the World
One of our favorite exchanges is Children of the World. Students of all ages around the world create “paper dolls” or “still action figures”. These paper figures are cut out and decorated with pasted on clothing. Students may also paint or color their dolls if this works better for their ability level or to meet time constraints. It is also a WONDERFUL take home project. Parents can participate and work with their children to create even more elaborate paper dolls.
Students will create paper dolls that represent the holidays they celebrate in their communities. They can also research the various holidays and tell about the history of their celebrations and traditions. Teachers will email a paragraph or series of paragraphs to Imagiverse. These paragraphs will be posted with a selection of Paper Dolls from your class. If English is not your first language, please submit in your mother tongue and I will find someone to translate and post your paragraph in both languages! (Please do not use online translators. They don’t work well.)
Please do not plagiarize! Paragraphs copied from other websites or sources can not be used. All paragraphs and stories must be original and not previously posted elsewhere.
Teachers or students can create their own paper doll shapes or use one (or more) of our templates:
The purpose of this activity is a cultural exchange. Please be sensitive to other cultures and religions when sharing your traditions and beliefs. For example, it is not appropriate to make comments like “America is the best” or similar comments about religion. This activity is about sharing and embracing culture and diversity. It is a wonderful learning activity for adults as well as children.
This is also a great way to share the names of characters like Santa Claus, Los Reyes Magos, Santa Lucia or others who bring gifts to children. Legends and stories told about these characters/people are also wonderful. Sharing the significance of religious holidays and celebrations is also appropriate for this exchange (but please respect the beliefs of others).
Past feedback indicates that the process of making the dolls was the best part of the exchange. Researching traditions and the meaning of holidays, students learned about things they celebrate and take for granted. Receiving dolls from other schools was the “icing on the cake”. Students appreciated the effort made by other students. Many schools sent photographs of their displays and many used the dolls to decorate the school.
If you belong to a strictly religious school, or for other reasons would be uncomfortable receiving dolls depicting the holidays of other religions, please consider participating in one of our other exchanges instead.
Dolls should not be larger that 8x10 inch and should be relatively light weight. Dolls will be sent to Imagiverse and we will distribute and mail to all the participants around the world. All ages can participate. Last year we had students as young as 3 and as old as High School. Some dolls were quite elaborate and others were simple. They were all wonderful!!
Generally, classrooms submit one paper doll per participating student. You are welcome to send more. The more you send, the more you will receive in return. Typically no more than 50 per teacher. If you send many more than we have participants, we may not have that many to send you in return. If more than one classroom in your school participates, please send SEPARATE envelopes for each class. You may receive dolls from other classrooms in your school. In some instances, you may receive some of your own dolls in return. If that happens, be sure to discuss how far the doll(s) traveled to Imagiverse and back!
Dolls must be cut out (unless the student is too young or unable to use scissors). The hands must be received at Imagiverse no later than December 15th, 2009. At that time, they will be distributed to the other participants.
On the back of each paper doll, please include the following:
-
1)Teacher name
-
2)School
-
3)City, State/Province, Country
-
4)age of student(s)
-
5)Optional: name of student may be included on front or back
(hint: if using a template doll, use your computer or copier to print this info on the back of each before giving the paper to the students)
With your dolls, please include:
-
1)a self addressed 9”x12” (or similar size) envelope and
-
2)$5 cash.
This envelope will be used to send dolls back to you. Please make sure it is not too large, yet large enough to contain the dolls that will be returned to you. The $5 will cover postage for your envelope and the additional cost of mailing to schools in other countries. If you are from a school outside the U.S., Imagiverse will cover the cost of your return postage.
If you are interested in participating in this exchange (or any Imagiverse Exchanges or Activities), and have not already done so, please register for our newsletter at:
This is our email mailing list and registration is required so that we can reach you by email with exchange information. Please DO NOT use a school email address. Schools periodically block incoming bulk emails and we no longer can send activity information to those addresses.
After you have registered for Lighting the Spark, please contact the Imagiverse Activity Coordinator, select “Fall 2009 Children of the World” as the subject and register for the exchange. Again, please DO NOT use a school email address.
You can have the dolls mailed to your school or home. If you use the school address for the envelope, please check with your administrators to verify it is the correct address. Many schools do not receive mail at the street address and mail addressed in that manner may be returned to sender.
Send your paper dolls to:
Michelle Mock
Imagiverse Educational Consortium
P.O. Box 7743
Norco, CA 92860
Please remember to send the dolls so that they are received at Imagiverse by the December 15th deadline. Once I have distributed the dolls, I have nothing to send to people who send theirs late.
