Toys on Tour : Teddy Bears Journey to Faraway Lands to Delight and Educate Students

Once upon a time, a 9-year-old boy named Scott Eddington had a teddy bear called Chocolate Chip.

The small, brown bear was a birthday gift from a relative and lived in a big basket in Scott’s bedroom in his Santa Paula house.

One day, at the beginning of the school year, the boy’s fourth-grade teacher came up with a remarkable idea: Students could send their teddy bears on a seven-month trip around the world and the bears could write letters home.

So began the tale of Chocolate Chip, who is slated to hop on a plane to Ireland on Dec. 15.

Scott is one of 30 students in Marion Wilson’s combined fourth- and fifth-grade class at Briggs School in Santa Paula, all of whom have sent teddy bears on long voyages with travelers lined up through travel agencies. This is the second year that Wilson has used the program to teach geography, history and writing.

“It’s a wonderful way for children to learn,” Wilson said. “The program helps them to expand their vision of the world and it creates an exciting atmosphere for them to learn.”

Wilson said the program is particularly good for her students because the majority has not traveled, except to Mexico, and some have not even been to the beach.

Wilson distributes the teddy bears to several travel agencies, which find travelers to take the toys on trips. The clients pledge to send postcards to the students on behalf of the teddy bears.

It takes about two months for students to prepare the bears for a trip. First, they bring them to class. Then, with the help of parents, students sew backpacks for each toy.

Paperwork is also a necessity. For each teddy bear, students put together a package that includes a make-believe passport with the teddy bear’s name, age and weight, its owner’s name and address as well as a letter introducing the teddy bear and explaining the program.

The letter asks travelers to pass the teddy bear to another adult bound for a new destination. The traveler who has the bear on the week of April 22 is supposed to ship the toy back home.

Before leaving the classroom, passports and letters are tucked into each teddy bear’s backpack. Tags with the teacher’s business card are attached to each bear’s ear.

Last year, Lidia Sanchez, a student in Wilson’s class, received nearly 80 postcards from places as diverse as Alaska, China, Japan and Italy.

“We received all kinds of letters, photographs and cards from everywhere,” Wilson said. “And the children just loved reading the cards, finding out where they came from and sharing them with the rest of the classroom.”

When students receive the postcards, they read them aloud to the class, then place them in an envelope pinned to the bulletin board for all to see.

Students research the area from which each postcard is sent and write a paragraph about the location. At the end of the year, the students put together a book that includes the postcards and their writings.

But not all students are lucky enough to receive postcards or see their teddy bears again. Last year, half the toys that went on trips did not return, and several students never received a card.

“It’s sad, but when that happens, we try to compromise,” Wilson said, adding that the-not-so-lucky students keep a journal called the “bellyache pages.”

Bellyache entries, Wilson said, go something like this: “I wonder where my teddy bear is. That silly bear has not sent me a postcard. Look at [other student’s name] card. She received a card from London.”

At the end of the year, the class throws a party for returning teddy bears and invites parents and teachers.

Scott, who has 15 teddy bears at home, chose to send Chocolate Chip “because he looks like a traveler.”

Jane Kilpatrick, who is taking Chocolate Chip on his first trip, says she will send Scott several postcards before passing the teddy bear along to another traveler.

“I think it’s kind of nice that kids can learn through this sort of program,” Jane said. “I’m not packing him, but carrying him with me on the flight.”