Originally uploaded by ritagoodbook
Three years ago I decided to apply for a mini-grant from the local school system to get a new doll for the library. We did a lot of hands-on literacy activities in this early childhood school, and my one doll was really popular.
However, this doll was a licensed book character (I won’t say which one, but her best friend is an enormous red dog). She had white cloth skin and yellow yarn hair, and her oversized cartoon-character head made her difficult to dress.
I did some research and remembered the Magic Cabin doll kits. I had made one for my daughter several years earlier. They are made of all natural fibers, with soft cotton knit skin and pure wool stuffing and hair. I thought the children in my school, 90 percent of whom live in poverty, would enjoy better-made dolls. Plus, I thought, I could make buttons, zips, ties, snaps, etc. that would be developmentally appropriate for preschoolers. I ended up with the materials to make six dolls of varying skin, hair, eye, and mouth colors.
In the fall of 2004 as I sculpted the heads, the dolls began to take on personalities. Some wanted to be girls, some boys, and some were willing to be transgendered as the kids required. They also wanted their names to rhyme so the children would remember them (and possibly support the new Phonemic Awareness curriculum). Honestly. I would never have come up with names this silly on my own. So I brought into being Polly, Molly, Tali, Jolly, Holly, and Ali. It just took a little longer than I thought.
To help me say goodbye to them, I took their pictures and put them on Flickr.
