The soft-bodied Empathy Dolls have already proved so successful that the EYDCP in Leeds, West Yorkshire, has bought one doll for each of its 40 maintained nursery settings across the city.
Judie Dawes, a former nursery teacher at Parklands Children's Centre in East Leeds, who was seconded by the Department for Education and Skills to co-ordinate a project on promoting equality and acceptance for the under-fives, instigated a pilot project using the dolls in three integrated centres in East Leeds in 2003.
Working with senior practitioners from the centres, Ms Dawes has now developed an Empathy Doll training programme that is being rolled out across the city.
Although she has not undertaken any formal research on the project, Ms Dawes said that the ongoing evaluation by early years practitioners has been 'extremely positive'.
She said, 'The dolls invoke an all-round reaction from practitioners, children and parents. This is partly to do with how they're made - they have weighted bottoms and they sit comfortably on the hips, just like a toddler.
'But on a deeper level, because they are part of continuous provision - and they are not just used at circle time - they help develop young children's sense of self and others, and they support some of the challenges and successes in the Birth to Threes Matters Framework.'
The dolls were originally developed in Sweden by Britt-Marie Egdedius-Jakobsson, an educationalist and family therapist who drew on the loss of her son to develop a doll that would help children find comfort and explore their feelings. As with Persona Dolls, each doll is a character that has its own unique background, which is developed by the practitioner.
Kirstine Beeley, marketing and development manager from ASCO Educational Supplies, who also runs training sessions on Empathy Dolls, said 'With the Empathy Dolls, practitioners are able to experience a wider range of issues with the children, such as anti-bias, bullying and emotional upheaval, without the need to focus on any one particular child.'
Ms Dawes said that she thinks Empathy Dolls are 'more appropriate for the under-threes'. She explained, 'They rely more on non-verbal communication, as opposed to language skills.'
Empathy dolls are available through ASCO on 0113 270 7070 or www.ascoeducational.co.uk/ empathydolls.html.
