I would like to give my kids (9 and 12) a gift that gives to others that would also educate them a bit about the issues but would also be a little more elaborate than just a card or email for themselves. I did try things like the Oxfam Unwrapped goat or donkey https://secure.oxfam.ca/unwrapped/popular.php (but I think my kids were too young to "get it" a few years ago) and might try the AMF email this time around https://www.againstmalaria.com/Gifts.aspx but would ideally like something that was both educative for them (and maybe a little fun?) as well as good for the recipients. Any suggestions? Is there an EA book or online learning aid for kids?
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The updates on the Give Directly site might be good to look at together - they're people's real responses about what they do with the money they receive and how it's changed their circumstances.
We also love the book "Children Just Like Me", with pictures and interviews of children around the world. I haven't read the new edition, but the 1990s version I grew up with featured the whole range from children living in developed countries to in children living in extreme poverty (for example one child whose family survives by picking trash from a dump in India). I like the approach of presenting them all as children with similarities (featuring their answers about their favorite foods, what they like to do with their friends, etc.) But it also gives a lot of food for thought about the different environments the featured children live in.
You've reminded me about Dollar Street: https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street/matrix which does the same thing as Children Just Like Me but online and interactive.
Wow, that's a great resource.
The book is different in tone in that it doesn't explicitly point out things that are lacking (like running water) in a given household, and I don't remember picking up on the class differences as a kid - partly because we looked most at the children with prettiest clothes! So definitely more in the "global solidarity" vein more than the "look how different things are" vein.
An interesting way of using Dollar Street is filtering by income, rather than country. You start to notice that people all over the world with a similar income level have very similar homes. People at my income level have homes similar to mine; people making, say, $15k a year have homes very similar to when I was in uni. It's interesting to be able to distinguish between what's a cultural difference and what's an income difference.
Yeah I noticed with "cleaning equipment"there's a very clear distinction between 1. homemade brushes, 2. storebought brooms, and 3. vacuum cleaners.
I just saw this post and came onto this comment thread to post that (had the Amazon link open and everything)! I'm home living with family for the holidays and while moving my bookshelf a few days ago I came across 'Children Just Like Me'. It led me down a whole pathway of reflections about how much I loved that book as a kid and whether it was something that prompted me toward EA values.
I must have read it at least half a dozen times as a child, as I can remember parts verbatim. I am so amazed that other EAs grew up reading it! Wow, this has made my day. I'm tempted to order a copy for my little cousin now.
Last night my 4-year-old saw a photo from a water charity of a baby bottle filled with dirty water. She was very interested ("What IS that?"). Especially for kids with an interest in germs, the idea of not having clean water might be an interesting one that could be tied to a donation to somewhere like Dispensers for Safe Water: https://www.evidenceaction.org/dispensers/
A little of date, but you could pair a tracked AMF donation with the "If the World Were a Village" book. https://www.amazon.co.uk/world-were-village-David-Smith/dp/0713668806
If I were you, I would check over here for some cool colorings. My 10 years old son loves this stuff we colorize together. Especially when our father writes magic fairytales and creates our little wonders...
I met with the founder of https://www.kindergifts.co.uk/, which enables to celebrate (e.g.) birthdays in a kinder way, e.g. involving charitable giving. I tried to encourage her towards a more EA approach to charitable giving from a young age, but she was keen for the children to support something local so that they could go and see the impact the of their donation. So it's not very EA, but otherwise is meeting the encouraging children to think philanthropically.
"The Lucky Iron Fish is a small iron cooking tool that infuses your meals with a healthy amount of natural iron to help prevent iron deficiency and anemia. It’s simple to use, and provides a natural source of iron that’s perfect for everyone, especially those with an increased need for iron: athletes, vegetarians, vegans and women.
Buy One Give One:
When you buy a Lucky Iron Fish, we give one to a family in need in the developing world. Since we’ve started, Lucky Iron Fish Enterprise has donated over 40,000 Lucky Iron Fish, helping over 200,000 people address iron deficiency." https://luckyironfish.com
Cool Earth also has a gift shop, with jewellery, t-shirts, chocolate and the ability to sponsor trees in the rainforest where you receive a certificate.