Homeschooling: Paper Dolls
Paper Dolls. Who remembers playing with them as a child? I remember playing with a Little House on the Prairie set, complete with a little house and all the cute little dresses and bonnets to dress up Laura Ingles Wilder! Those were good days. Simple, imaginative, creative fun. It was the equivalent of those "Dress up" game apps kids have today - but it was much better.
I wanted something like that for my daughter. Something she could put her hands on, that didn't have a screen. I wanted a way for her to learn about other cultures without even knowing she was learning. I wanted something that could show her who her community helpers were, that would grab her attention and make her want to learn about them.
What could do that better than paper dolls? So I went on the hunt. I searched high and low for the paper dolls I once knew, hoping for a set somewhere that would bring all of those things to the table for her - but I came up empty handed.
So I did what I do best - I made my own.
They aren't the typical, tab-foldover paper dolls that I knew as a child. They don't stand up or live in little scenes that you put together. They are simply dress up dolls. Simple, yet so effective.
I drew them all up by hand using my iPad Pro. I wanted them to be uniform and a "one size fits all" for the doll bases (which come in many shades), so I made sure to size them all to the standard 8x10 printer paper that resides in most homes. After that, it was easy to trace the figures for their outfits. The outfits were important to me. I wanted to start with culturally diverse, traditional outfits so that my daughter could dive into the many unique cultures of the world and admire how differently they all dress. I created two batches of these, each with ten different traditional cultural outfits.
They were a huge hit with my daughter! Kid tested and approved! I hadn't actually planned on selling them, but I was encouraged to do so by everyone I showed them to - so I figured I would share!
The doll bases are free. Batch 1 of the clothes and Batch 2 of the clothes are each $5.00, and can be found by clicking on their names or by going to my shop, HERE. It is an easy, "no wait" purchase - you receive the dolls digitally right away, and can print, cut out, and laminate at your own leisure.
After creating the cultural outfits for the dolls, I decided there was an entire world of opportunity for their usage. What else could prove educational through the use of these dolls? The answer - so much! In fact, I'm still working through many ideas. A single batch of clothes can take weeks to create (It's all hand drawn, I'll remind), so I'm still hard at work on the most current idea! In the meantime though, I hope these cultural dolls will bring light into young eyes, and teach through play!
Other Clothing Batches that go with the doll bases and provide educational stimulation are; Body Systems, and the brand new Community Helpers, as seen below!
I hope these bring as much joy and learning through play for your children, as they did with mine. A lot of work and heart went into them (hence the cheesy name "Heartmade"), and it makes me happy to be able to share them. Enjoy!
