A window to the world � reality learning Why and How

The Itsteddy website (www.itsteddy.com) is an effective way to open the eyes of children to the world and to open their minds to different ways of life, different points of view, ideas, beliefs, values and attitudes. The concept is to help children understand the world so that one day they can make it a better place.

The website follows a journey that inquisitive, intelligent Teddy Tamaiti makes around the world.

It tells children about the real world around them, the people and their hopes, dreams and struggles, diverse cultures and different lifestyles.

Children have a natural tendency to centration (focusing on themselves) but some never grow out of it. Teddy Tamaiti shows them other points of view and different perspectives on life, takes them out of their narrow-mindedness into a wide world with its diversity.

Intellectual stimulation while having fun

�Many over burdened families do not have the time or even the information to spend in stimulating play with their child. So if the extraordinarily receptive brain of a child lacks the stimulation for which it is ready during their early years, the possibility for various types of learning may be substantially reduced�.(UN study)

Teddy Tamaiti can provide this stimulation through his website. He writes journals and blogs from his journey and puts his discoveries into various sections on customs, food, games, clothes and houses etc. Tamaiti loves to learn and shows children that one can learn not just in school but from everyday life and that finding things out is exciting.

Moral and social responsibility

Teddy Tamaiti is a deep, thinking creature who, when he sees injustice and intolerance, questions what he finds and calls for action. He has a strong sense of what is right or wrong, strong ethics and morals and stands up for what he believes in. Teddy is a little activist who wants to change the world. Children will learn from him by copying him, by following his example. He will encourage them to think and question. They can still have the fun and freedom of a normal childhood but they will grow up with a strong basis from which to learn.

The website is aimed at children between 5 and 9. In this age children broaden their social horizons, learn self-expression and develop responsibility. It is also at this age that their minds are at their most receptive. It was Charles Darwin who said �A belief constantly inculcated during the early years of life, whilst the brain is impressionable, appears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct, and the very essence of an instinct is that it is followed independently of reason.� So why in our education system is there so little emphasis put on teaching children MORAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.

Furthermore if we make children tolerant of other opinions or behaviours, ever open minded to new possibilities and if we introduce and encourage this behaviour early enough this should become habitual, natural and instinctive for them. Almost every fairy tale has a moral and contains elements of good and evil with good always winning. Fairy tales, as we know, teach children morals. Teddy does this too but takes it into the real world and extends it further. He shows children that people from other cultures are just like them in many ways. Violence often comes from ignorance and fear. Teddy makes children comfortable in the world with its variety of cultures, attitudes and beliefs and familiar with different ways of life.

Itsteddy is a revolutionary, also in its literal sense, concept, designed to make young minds more perceptive, inquisitive and open to change and to provoke them to think, question and act.

Teddy Tamaiti brings cultures together and encourages empathy

Teddy Tamaiti takes children from different parts of the world on the same �journey of discovery�. Furthermore he engages them and asks them to contribute work to the website and help him portray their culture. He essentially asks them to take responsibility for how their culture is perceived and understood. He wants them to feel that their life, their experiences and what they know is important and that they too can change the world.

Tamaiti brings personality into learning and creates links between young people. He gives faces and names to the strangers on the other side of the world. We want through our project to help little Johnny in New Zealand to find out about little Abdul in Iraq, about his life, his struggle, his hopes and then we hope that in 15 years time big Johnny, who watches the news before the 30th anniversary episode of Shortland Street, will no longer see impersonal deaths in a faraway place and have no feelings for the victims; he will question invasions led by the interests of big businesses and political agendas because these invasions and wars kill people who he calls his friends.

An association that is brought into young minds and can be replayed at a later time when they make their own purchase decisions. Have you noticed playground corners in every McDonald's, or toys given away, kid's meals? For many children, McDonald's will be associated with this and perhaps other positive emotions like having a good time with the family when there are no worries only fun. Later, every time they bite into their big Mac, this feel-good memory is recalled.

Kids from different parts of the world, whether they share Mac Donalds or not, can be brought together by Teddy Tamaiti and his discoveries. They can create the same thing, share their culture through the same medium, learn about each other. They will follow the same exciting journey and find the same joy in each new discovery and creation. When they grow, then hopefully they can recall the same warm innocent good feeling when they think about a person from the country of the little childhood friend that Teddy Tamaiti introduced to them.

Tamaiti helps children cope with traumatic situations and problems and become strong, self confident adults

Apart from introducing children to basic social and cultural concepts, Teddy will also help them deal with their problems and with events that may significantly affect their later life. Most of the problems come from the early developmental stages but we don�t learn to deal with these things till much later in life. Some never even realize the source of their problems and insecurities. Teddy will help children develop good self esteem and respect for others.

�Charity sees the need not the cause� says a German proverb

We ask you to look further and not to wait till you need to reach to your pocket to donate to a next refugee camp or to rebuild a country destroyed by war but to help educate children so in the future there will be less poverty and no wars. Educate them so they will not only have more knowledge but that they will want and know how to use this knowledge to make the world a better place

�Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity� says a Greek proverb and that�s why our website is free and available to everyone. That�s why with initiatives like 1 laptop per child we can reach those who need it the most, we can give them a refuge for their minds and souls.

For these children that live surrounded by violence or ignorance, Tamaiti will provide an alternative and an access to knowledge as well as intellectual and creative stimulation.

So how does Teddy do this? In just the first two countries he visited, Fiji and Tonga, you can take children through the following discoveries.

At http://www.itsteddy.com/fiji/people1watch.shtml - you can read about Fijian people and watch a short video

At http://www.itsteddy.com/fiji/people3.shtml - you can learn about immigration issues, multicultural societies and equality of people and indigenous people�s rights

At http://www.itsteddy.com/fiji/people5.shtml - you can take a fun quiz and see who is from Fiji

At http://www.itsteddy.com/fiji/houses7.shtml - you can see Teddy helping people with their work

At http://www.itsteddy.com/fiji/traditions7.shtml - you can learn about the traditions and the power of belief and dreams

At http://www.itsteddy.com/tonga/traditions5.shtml - you see Teddy questioning certain rules and in simply way talking about commercialism and materialism

At http://www.itsteddy.com/tonga/people6.shtml - Teddy talks about body image and diets

At http://www.itsteddy.com/tonga/people9.shtml - Teddy talks talks about respect that younger people should have for the older ones

At http://www.itsteddy.com/tonga/people8.shtml - Teddy shows he appreciates a world where people take care of each other and jointly care for all the children

At http://www.itsteddy.com/fiji/discoveries3.shtml - Teddy learns about pollution and the environment. He is really concerned about dirty beaches and asks about who should take responsibility

At http://www.itsteddy.com/tonga/traditions6.shtml -Teddy explains how hard it is to balance things, between old and new or one culture and another, one belief and another

At http://www.itsteddy.com/tonga/discoveries2.shtml - Teddy looks at endangered species

At http://www.itsteddy.com/tonga/discoveries11.shtml - Teddy goes to school to see if the children enjoy learning from the website and to see if it fits the curriculum.

And at http://www.itsteddy.com/tongs/thingstodo.shtml - have some finding out more from Teddy's writings

All of this from a little bear who really cares about our world.

Join him and show you care too, help your children to find out more and learn their responsibility to society and what they can do to MAKE A DIFFERENCE