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A group of Year 8 students at Ōrewa College have put their imaginative and artistic skills to work, creating monster soft toys that are destined for children in war-torn Ukraine.
The “sew-a-softie” project also involved children from neighbouring Ōrewa Beach Kindergarten, who drew the pictures on which the toys were based.
By happy coincidence, the kindy kids were reading The Colour Monster as their term book, and learning about emotions and feelings related to colours, says Ōrewa College teacher, Gail Boshard.
“They drew monsters and my students each adapted the picture into a plan and then cut the pattern out to make a soft toy,” she says. “We will send these to the Ukraine for children who have lost everything.”
There was great excitement when the youngsters arrived at the college one recent afternoon to see the toys that their artwork had produced.
Gail told the children and parents that a college staff member who was previously in the New Zealand Army has a former colleague now involved in relief efforts in Ukraine and Syria.
He was sent a slide show about the project and has offered to take the packed-up toys and pictures when he returns soon to Ukraine. He will also hopefully be able to report back to the students later, letting them know how the toys were received, she said.
Gail invited the kindy kids to take a look at the creations inspired by their beautiful drawings – “feel them, touch them, talk to the students who made them”.
Year 8 student Libby Mabbett said it had been hard work stitching and stuffing the softie, but she was happy that it would go to children affected by war.
Her classmate Jonty Wellman said the project was challenging at first, when trying to understand how to interpret the picture into a toy, before “my imagination started to click in”.
Jonty said it made him glad to think their creations would help Ukrainian children to know “what it feels like to have a soft toy to cuddle while they’re scared – they get to have something to hug in case something bad happens”.
Ukrainian children would be encouraged to know that “people are supporting them in any way possible”, said Jonty, who added that he has been “following up a bit” on Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“I feel bad for the children stuck there in the middle of a war.”
“It’s obviously a fantastic cause,” said Ōrewa College principal, Greg Pierce. “We’re all well aware of the trauma and stress that is going on in Ukraine. And as we all know, little people like simple things in life, and things that are colourful and full of life, and that’s what we’ve got here.”
It was great that a college teacher had a contact in Ukraine, “so these will be going in very quick-time to children over there who may have lost parents and family members”.
He congratulated all those involved in the project, including “our students as well as our future students – and probably parents who were involved a little bit in initial project design”.
