Just today my package came from the Greater Good store, which is tied to sites like The Rainforest Site and The Hunger Site. Included in the package were four pouches of tiny worry dolls, one for each of the kids.
These teeny tiny little handmade dolls are based on an old Mayan tradition of giving your worries to a doll and tucking it under your pillow at night. The doll is supposed to take away your worries while you sleep.
I got two sets of regular worry dolls and two sets of cat dolls (which are fully dressed with arms, legs and whiskers!). They’re made through fair trade labor that helps women support their families in Guatemala, are super affordable ($1.95 per set of 6 in a little drawstring bag) and a small portion of proceeds goes to whichever charity site you enter through (mine was through The Literacy Site that time). Every one is unique and they’re really sweet.
All four of my kids happily played with their worry dolls tonight. They had such fun! The boys lined them up and Jack put on a play with his. Anna started developing a family story for hers and Victoria thanked me about 6 times and told me how much she loved them. 🙂
Children are so drawn to tiny things and I have to admit that even I really enjoy these itty bitty people (and felines!). I love the way every one of them is dressed differently and how easy it is to want to start making up stories for them.
The only bad thing is that Victoria likes hers so much that she keeps worrying (ahem) about losing them! 😉
I loved worry dolls as a kid too… and yes they are tiny 🙂 wonder if our OXfam (free trade type shop) has any
-this girl loves to talk
Worry dolls
Sweet made some of these not too long ago with instructions from The double Daring book for Girls. You can see her dolls at http://homefrontlines.blogspot.com/2009/04/make-something-cool-project-6.html. They are really simple to make and she had alot of fun making them look like people in her life.
Re: Worry dolls
Oh, I love them! Great idea!
Victoria has “The Daring Book for Girls” but not the Double Daring one. I bet she’d love it.
How cute! My husband brought some back once from a trip – I think they were left on his pillow at his hotel! Anyway, my daughter was maybe 6 then and she sent some to her great-grandmother, the supreme worrier in our family. 🙂 Love the cats, too! I haven’t seen those!