Stuffed with love

Children were invited to a stuffed animal workshop at the Janesville Public Library the afternoon of Monday, July 7. With high temperatures outside, the air conditioning was working just fine inside as a group of ten children seated around a big table were instructed on how to fill their animals.

 

With only ten animals available for stuffing, this activity was limited to those children who had previously signed up. All the kids got to choose either a dog, a red panda, a beaver, a bobcat, a lion, goat, monkey, polar bear or panda. While Kelly Koplen, who was in charge of the kids, opened stuffing packages and called out instructions, there was non-stop chatter from the little ones, including “I’m doing this for my sister,” or “I can tell I’m going to need more stuffing for my guy. Do we have any more?” The filling was a white, cottony material that came apart easily as it was fluffed.

 

One young worker expressed concern, “The leg is blocked off, but I think I can get my finger to push some of the stuffing in there.” Koplen nodded her head with approval. Said Koplen, “This was all made possible because of a grant from the Janesville Area Foundation and the Pope Family Fund.” While the head librarian was tending to a little girl having trouble with her red panda, another child pointed at a little boy stuffing a beaver and asked, “Is your beaver trying to bite the table? And leave a big hole there?” To which the little boy responded assuredly, “It’s not that kind of beaver.”

 

Koplen went to her desk and soon returned with bags of little red cloth hearts and sheets of paper. She informed class members, “These hearts go inside of your animals before you close them up, think good thoughts when you do.” After the hearts were distributed, Koplen indicated the papers. “These are your animals’ birth certificates.” Children were allowed to write down the animal's name, and the date and time of its birth. Koplen added, “On the back, I want you to write a story of how your animals came to be here today, where they came from and how they ended up here.” The room got quiet as all the kids began thinking about their animal’s backstory. One by one, with looks of concentration on their faces, they began to write.