Problem Solving with Persona Dolls

106 Young Children • November 2010

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Jan Pierce: What are persona dolls?

Cheryl Lynn Johnson: Persona dolls are dolls but not toys. These dolls are made and dressed as real people with a real-life history. Each one has a name, gender, race, and personality. A teacher introduces a persona doll to the class by saying, for exam- ple, “This is Mee Soo. She is from Korea and lives with her adopted American family. She is 4 years old and loves playing with playdough and eating ice cream.” Each doll’s life story remains in place throughout its use in the classroom, and the life story grows and evolves, just like a real-life character.

Problem Solving with Young Children

Using Persona Dolls Jan Pierce and Cheryl Lynn Johnson

Jan Pierce, MEd, is a retired teacher and author living in Vancouver, Washington. She writes about education and family life. Jan travels annually to India, where she teaches English to women and children. Follow her at www.janpierce.net and www. onehandfulofrice.org. [email protected] Cheryl Lynn Johnson, MEd, is an early childhood specialist at the Child Development Program of Washington State University in Vancouver, Washington. For her graduate research project she implemented the use of five persona dolls in her preschool class- room and documented the results from her lessons. [email protected] Photos courtesy of the authors.

emotional skills. We use the dolls intentionally, introducing them to the children to teach a particular lesson. It is a lot like introducing a new student to the class, because each doll comes with a complete identity, including abilities and perhaps a problem or challenge. As the chil- dren get to know a doll, we share more information. They learn about the doll’s family members, home language, religious affiliation, and rel- evant family events, such as a move or a new baby.

JP: What do young children like about persona dolls?

CLJ: Persona dolls let grown-ups enter into a young child’s make-believe

Early childhood Educators frequently look for new ways to help children build social and emotional skills. Teachers want to use effective tools and strategies whether they are redirecting aggressive behavior or encouraging self-esteem and friendship. Persona dolls are one approach to supporting children’s social- emotional development. I spoke with Cheryl Johnson, an early child- hood instructor at Washington State University in Vancouver, about her research on this approach.

Persona dolls are not the same as puppets, but they offer some of the same benefits. Children are extremely willing to talk with them, and group discussions that include the dolls are opportunities to reflect on important social issues in a safe and relaxed environment. Persona doll discussions provide a time when it is acceptable to express strong feelings and explore options for solu- tions to difficult questions.

JP: How are persona dolls used?

CLJ: Persona dolls are used by early childhood teachers to solve prob- lems and teach inclusive social-

Young Children • November 2010 107

world. Children enjoy meeting each doll and hearing about its life. The dolls have emotions and problems, just like they do. As I share with the children each doll’s age, family structure, and likes and dislikes, they make comments such as, “I like that too!”, “He’s just like me!”, or “I understand how she feels.” Children enjoy the fact that

while the dolls are similar to their toy dolls, they are special because the teachers use them.

JP: Why do you think children respond so positively to the problems of a persona doll?

CLJ: Children are immediately cap- tivated when a teacher or parent holds the doll and relates to it as to a real person. They want to partici- pate in finding a solution to the doll’s problem. The bond between child and doll is cemented instantly. The adult validates the emotions and issues related to the character, and the children receive the message that this is important and that we can help solve this problem together.

JP: How do persona dolls empower children in their social-emotional development?

CLJ: In each lesson I introduce a spe- cific doll, giving as much information as possible about the doll’s back- ground and personality. Then I tell the children about the character’s problem (which just happens to be a problem we are having in our class- room!). These are some examples of issues we address:

• Billy is sad when his mom leaves  him at school and he has to say good-bye.

• Tanisha is new to our classroom and  doesn’t know how to make friends. She is feeling sad and left out.

• Patrick is angry because he worked  very hard to set up the train set and someone knocked it down.

In each of these scenarios, after describing the problem, I ask the children to help solve it. I record their suggestions for solving the problem on chart paper to validate their thinking. After all of the ideas are recorded, I revisit each one, saying something like, “Patrick can tell Billy how much he likes playing  with the train set and how disap- pointed he is when it gets knocked down.” As a group, we decide which suggestion might be the best one for the persona doll to try the next time the problem arises, and I post that suggestion on the wall where we can refer back to it easily. When the issue comes up again, I say something like, “Remember what we decided was the best way to handle this problem?” I am amazed by how clearly the children remember

Group discussions that include the dolls are opportuni- ties to reflect on important social issues in a safe and relaxed environment.

108 Young Children • November 2010

• Introduce the persona doll and review his or her real-life history

• Set up the situation and lay out the prob- lem (make sure the doll speaks through the teacher in a normal voice, not puppetlike)

• Identify the doll’s feelings through discussion • Gather, restate, and record problem-solving

ideas • Use the children’s ideas to solve the problem

and often implement the solution without any inter- vention from me. They clearly get invested in the process. The doll’s issues become their own and the children are serious about being part of the solution.

JP: What was your most pow- erful persona doll lesson?

CLJ: A lesson about our African American doll, Tanisha, impacted our classroom the most. The lesson was inspired when a teacher overheard a child say that she didn’t want to take their pretend boat on a voyage to Africa because she didn’t like black people. After listening to this child play over a period of time, it became apparent that she had a strong racial preju- dice that needed to be addressed. This was a perfect opportunity to use a persona doll for some impor- tant diversity training. I brought Tanisha to circle time and stated that she had a problem and needed the children’s help to solve it. The children were all ears. I shared that Tanisha had been play- ing with some friends and that her feelings had been hurt when several

of them said they didn’t want to play with someone with black skin. I asked what she could do about this. The children immediately showed great concern for Tanisha and began to share ideas for ways to comfort her. The second part of this lesson dealt with our unique skin colors. We did a painting project for which each child matched his or her skin color to a paint color. Some children had to add red, some white, and some grey to get the right shade. It was amazing that no two skin tones were exactly the same. This activity gave us time to celebrate the beauty of all skin tones and to sensitize the

children to words that can hurt the heart. All of the chil- dren wanted to add their hand- print to the circle of prints around Tanisha’s to show her that she was loved and part of our class. The little girl who had made the nega- tive comments earlier asked if she could hold Tanisha and play with her. She took Tanisha to

Using Persona Dolls in the Classroom

a corner of the room and played alone with her very nicely and thoughtfully. That was a particularly poignant moment for me as I saw the potential power of persona doll lessons.

Reflections

Persona dolls are creative, interac- tive tools that allow children to produc- tively express their emotions and solve the problems that come up in everyday life. Teachers can use persona dolls to help a timid child speak up or to explore diversity. Early interventions such as the use of persona dolls may bring about changes that will benefit young learners for a lifetime.

Resources Brown, B. 2005. Equality in action: A way forward

with persona dolls. Staffordshire, England: Trentham Books.

Derman-Sparks, L., & J.O. Edwards. 2010. Anti- bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Jacobson, T., & D. Falcone. 2009/2010. Using  dolls to support children’s social-emotional development. Teaching Young Children 3 (2):  8–11.

Whitney, T. 1999. Kids like us: Using persona dolls in the classroom. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

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