I love to be able to surprise the girls with fun elements in their workboxes!  We are studying India — it’s the country Ariel chose, because her aunts have been there, doing missions work — and this doll was their surprise for the beginning of the India unit.

Hearts 4 Hearts Girls, a division of Playmates toys, produces a series of dolls representing girls around the world.  Each girl’s story is representative of that of a girl in her country, providing a terrific opportunity for our own daughters to learn about those places, and to recognize the struggles girls in certain locations experience.

In their words, Hearts4Hearts Girls “seeks to empower girls to become agents of change in their communities, their countries and around the world. The line features six dolls inspired by real girls from real places all over the world. Each authentically dressed and lifelike doll has her own story to share and is working to change her community in ways unique to her home country.”

Dell is from Appalachia (this is pretty close to us, so we might have to invest in this one next!), Rahel is from Ethiopa (this doll is my favorite — she’s so beautiful!), Lilian is from Belarus, Tipi is from Laos, and Consuelo is from Mexico.  (I would think that should be ConsuelA, but I didn’t name her.) [UPDATE Mar 2025: the Hearts4Hearts website is now defunct, although they have an Amazon store, and the links in this post have been updated to reflect that. Currently, I only see three dolls, including two from the US, but I don’t know if that’s all they still sell, or if others are out of stock.]

Back to India

Nahji is from India, and we are using her as a tool to help the girls learn more about India.  Because she “personifies” India, Ariel and Sophia can see India as a real place, and its culture as impacting real people.  Besides reading Nahji’s story, when they do their other studies, they can imagine this young girl in the settings they read about, and it will seem less “textbook” and more “real life.”