storytelling / persona dolls for your early childhood...
TRANSCRIPT
Persona Dolls
Storytelling / Persona Dolls for your Early Childhood centre
The Background Story
Persona Dolls were created by Kay Taus, a Californian pre-‐school teacher. She had little material in her classroom, that reflected the different cultures and ethnicities of the children in her class, so she made several dolls, designed with specific features to help the children develop respect for each other. The South African nursery teacher Babette Brown (2001) introduced Persona Dolls to England after her political exile from South Africa. Browns work with Persona Dolls has since spread around the world including Aotearoa/NZ
What are Persona Dolls?
A Persona doll is a soft bodied doll, designed to be life-‐like, roughly the same size and age as the children in the Centre. The doll is a ‘child visitor’ to the Centre who sits on the teacher’s lap when he/she visits. (Usually at mat time) The doll is a friend with whom the children can bond. The doll comes with a story to tell the children, firstly who he/she is and then later to share an issue the doll has and to ask for the children’s’ help in resolving the problem.
Persona Dolls work with all individual and group identities including all the similarities & differences of human kind. These include: the genius, the obese, the short, the glass-‐wearers, those with a teething ring, cleft palate, different colour skins, differently abled etc
Why use Persona Dolls?
Persona Dolls help children:
• develop a sense of identity • develop emotional literacy: resilience, self esteem, confidence and encourages children to
respond with respect and sensitivity
• develop languaging around emotions and social skills • explore and express strong feelings (happy, angry, sad) • understand what others feel. • deal with experiences of exclusion and discrimination • respect people with different identities. • become critical explorers, decision makers, problem solvers and activists. • reduce bias aimed at themselves and others • recognise and challenge inappropriate behaviour Persona Dolls help teachers:
• explore everyday issues that arise in interactions and conversations in ECC. (resolve a problem a child experiences in the Centre, eg: teasing, exclusion from play)
• explore a range of issues like gender, racism, disability in a non-‐threatening way. • expose and unlearn biased attitudes & misconceptions • challenge inequality and bring about change. • make visible what is invisible in the Centre • celebrate events eg: festivals, birthdays, weddings, a new baby, moving house
Persona Doll Training is required to develop the practice of using Persona Dolls in your Centre. For information on the next Persona Doll Training (go to the Calendar and look for the course: Developing whanaungatanga, supporting children's mana through positive and fair interactions using the practice of storytelling and Persona Dolls.
Information on how to buy Persona Dolls once you have completed the training is listed below
Storytelling / Persona Dolls for your Early
Childhood Centre
I make a range of dolls that can be used in your Centre to explore issues of exclusion, bias difference and diversity. They include:
Pakeha dolls, Mãori dolls, Samoan dolls, Chinese dolls, dolls with disabilit ies: eg: hearing aids, cleft palates, visual impairment, in wheel chairs, differently sized dolls, dolls with disfigurement through birth marks or accidents
To buy a Persona Doll or design your own doll that is relevant for your centre contact: Julie Staunton: [email protected] 04 9381760 or 0273343687 Cost of basic doll is $225