This is a new initiative and all of its features have not yet been
activated. Contact
Dale Hubert
for updates.
From the
creator of The Flat Stanley Project, Dale Hubert brings you My Travel Teddy.
My Travel Teddy is
a
new literacy initiative that connects and celebrates our global
village. It allows for explorations of cultures, travel, community and
other international connections through a personalized Teddy Bear that
can travel the world, follow Flat Stanley's footsteps and go up in
space, or just jog over to the next town or classroom. My
Travel
Teddy can be cut out of craft foam or card stock or even
hand-stitched using fabric by using the basic pattern on the website.
More complicated Travel Teddies can be designed and stitched by
children and adults alike before they send them off on an adventure.
Like the Flat Stanley Project, My Travel Teddy invites children to
connect with others through journal-writing. They are encouraged to
include a letter of introduction that introduces their Teddy and tells
the host a little bit about themselves and their place of origin. The
host receives the Teddy, along with a Teeny-Tiny Teddy Diary (template
also on the website) so that he or she may document My Travel
Teddy's adventures. The host is
encouraged to
return the journal and the teddy in a timely manner and even send some
"Holiday Photos" and / or local souvenirs. Electronic communication is
also encouraged.
Since 1995, Dale Hubert
has devoted countless hours of love and energy
to The
Flat Stanley Project and he is thrilled with his
international
success and recognition for connecting hundreds of thousands of
children and adults around the world through literacy, technology and
travel. Because teddy bears have no specific race or colour, they
transcend cultural barriers and remind us that we are all part of a
much larger community. The possibilities with My Travel Teddy
expand on the concept of The Flat Stanley Project
by adding an
element of warmth, play and creativity. Each My Travel Teddy
will be created with love and with an understanding that the bear will
go forth on new adventures, journal-in-paw, to create new stories
waiting to be told...
So, Teddy,
where would you like to go first?
How it Works
My
Travel Teddy is very
simple. Children create travel teddies
and send them, along with a cover letter, to recipients who treat the
visitors as guests. They take them places, do interesting things with
them, then return them, along with a completed journal. In addition to
sending the bears, participants could also send along images of the
owners so it could be a family trip. Girls, boys, grandparents and
parents could all make appearances as they accompany their bears.
My
Travel Teddies can be actual toy teddy bears or can even be pictures of
the bears. These pictures can be sent as attachments and printed on a
colour printer. This way, there is no expense in mailing bears.
There are several ways to set
up an exchange. The best way is to login
to the Bulletin Board and read the postings of others who are
interested in making contact. You can also post a notice describing
your class, your location, and where you are hoping to exchange.
The
next best way is to check
out the List of Participants. Click on the e-mail link beside the name
of the person to send an e-mail asking if it's OK to send My
Travel Teddy for a visit.
If you send My Travel Teddies
by regular mail, be sure to include a
cover letter telling the recipient about you and where you live. Also,
use the template on the site to create bears that are not too bulky and
therefore more affordable to send. This
is a wonderful opportunity to get the students involved in researching
their area and its history. Information that can be included could be
the population, places people work, things the place is famous for, what type of bears live in
your area, seasons, temperature and
anything of interest that someone else would
like to learn.
E-mail Only Option
While
it's always a big event for the students and home-schooling families to
receive packages in the mail, there is the expense of mailing
paper My Travel Teddies and the accompanying journals and souvenirs. That's
why an e-mail only option should be considered.
When making contact
with others through the List of Participants, simply request that
exchanges be made through e-mail only.
My Travel Teddies can be
scanned on a scanner, created using a graphics program, or photographed
with a digital camera then sent as e-mail attachments. Students who host the bears
can use a word processor to describe their adventures and paste their
creative writing into an e-mail.
The
recipient can print the attachment and take digital pictures
of it with students and in interesting places, then send the creative writing back to the sender by e-mail and the pictures as attachments. These
digital images can also be easily added to the My Travel Teddy Picture
Gallery blogs by either the senders or the recipients.
Students get to use current technology, expenses are reduced and My Travel Teddies still get to travel the world.
