November 2004 -- There's never been a better time to hold hands!
Thanks to the happy faced hand holding characters called People Holding Hands®, kids, counselors, teachers and parents have positive personal assistants to make their lessons, stories, sessions and activities come alive with hand held characters, representative of multicultural peoples and "diversity-in-the-play-place."People Holding Hands® are tools useful for encouraging children to lead their own lessons. Allow kids to choose characters that 'look-like' themselves. Encourage kids to create, participate and present stories and lessons utilizing People Holding Hands® support materials or create their own...whatever your personal, professional or individual needs may be!
Who are these People Holding Hands® characters?
Plush and cuddly puppet characters, these 12" manipulative people were designed and created to represent actual people. Every character has a name and a story. The first four People Holding Hands® characters were designed to represent the four largest ethnic groups identified by the 2000 United States census. Trace is an Anglo American boy. Gail is an African American girl. Jesse is an Hispanic American boy. Connie is an Asian American girl.
What makes these little people unique?
They were designed to be alike and different. They each have happy embroidered faces and hands that connect. They each have an embroidered name pocket on their back to hold their stories, which can be printed from the web site, or for little fingers to use in puppet theaters and for child directed presentations. Imagine how rewarding it will be for kids to create stories and express their true feelings of differences and inclusion through these little people. Designs are being finalized for future people, to be added to the collection, who will represent people from various countries and with special needs. The goal of People Holding Hands® is to allow all children the opportunity to directly interact with diverse characters representing the ENTIRE world in which we live.
Is there a web site to learn more?
The web site is an important part of the People Holding Hands® community. There is information, stories, an internet shop, free lesson plans, and more! Visit: http://www.PeopleHoldingHands.com
People Holding Hand aren't just another plush toy in the marketplace!
People Holding Hand® represent the importance of goodness, unity, and support of people. Nan Ray, the creator of People Holding Hand® said, " What better way to begin teaching our children, and allowing our children to teach us, about people through multicultural awareness. We believe there should be diversity in every classroom and a willingness to offer your clients and pupils characters and lessons that incorporate ALL people and address real issues all people face. Every day inclusion and an appreciation of ALL people will one day allow each of us to truly be global participants and peaceful players."
LET'S HOLD HANDS...because we want to!
