The four children gathered in a circle around a map of the United States stretched out on the floor at Little Feet Children’s Center in Thetford, their eyes on teacher Christine Tullgren, who was holding a package delivered from Michigan.
“Does anyone know where Michigan is?” she asked them. Their fingers moved along the map aided by small hints from Tullgren before pointing it out.
From the package, Tullgren pulled out a postcard with lighthouses on it, which she begins to pass around the circle, and a sheet listing facts about Michigan: the number of lakes; the state fish; and the state bird, the robin.
“We see some of those around right now,” Tullgren said. When the postcard gets to 3-year-old Heron Hill, he carefully traces his finger over each lighthouse.
“I saw some robins outside,” Elizabeth Agnoli, age 3, volunteers, connecting Vermont and Michigan.
Then out come the rocks. But not ordinary rocks.
They are Kindness Rocks, and they are part of an international movement using rocks painted with uplifting messages and images to spread a little brightness in the world, in addition to teaching the inquisitive 3- to 5-year-olds about geography.
For the children at Little Feet, these rocks came from a woman named Patsy, who hand-painted them and sent them from her home in Michigan. It was the latest package to arrive from across the country — or around the world.
In addition to a rock depicting Michigan, there were rocks painted white with a red heart and the phrase “be kind” for each of the kids to take home.
Tullgren first talked to me last August about her involvement in the Kindness Rocks project, started by Megan Murphy. Tullgren, of Thetford, found her first three Kindness Rocks last summer Sculptured Rocks Natural Area in Groton, N.H., and was hooked. Soon after, the children at Little Feet became involved in making their own.
On a whim, Tullgren posted a request in late December in a few Kindness Rocks Facebook groups asking other members from around the country to send the children rocks and postcards.
The response was swift. Soon, rocks were pouring in from dozens of states and countries.
“It has been very heartening and beyond what we think could have happened,” Tullgren said. “These are just strangers we didn’t know, and now they’re our best friends.”
Tokens of that friendship are spread throughout Little Feet. Shelves hold hundreds of rocks. A map of the United States surrounded by postcards connects them to each state they came from. A map of the world does the same.
Five-year-old Nalah Cornish excitedly named the states she recognized: Texas, California, Alabama and Washington, among others.
“Where do we live?” Tullgren asked her.
“Vermont,” Nalah responded, pointing it out before moving on to the name the states surrounding it.
“You guys are too smart,” Tullgren replied.
Nalah led me over to one set of shelves where rocks are displayed. She crouched and then stood up with one of her favorites in hand. “A little chickie,” she proclaimed. It is one of hundreds that have been sent to the kids.
A rock from Great Britain is painted like the country’s famed red telephone booths. A cow with a thought bubble saying “Little Feet kids rock!!!” came from Wisconsin. Snoopy and Woodstock stand on a boat on the icy Delaware River, mimicking George Washington’s famed Revolutionary War crossing in Pennsylvania on yet another. Humanity.
The kids have been getting a lot out of it.
That includes lessons about geography.
“They really taught us not to do geography with kids,” Tullgren said, noting that traditional lessons often are seen as too abstract for preschoolers to wrap their heads around.
Kindness rocks are different.
“It’s hands-on. It’s concrete. They’re holding Texas in their hand,” she said. “They are capable.”
And their parents have been equally delighted.
“I think it’s been wonderfully creative, kind of showing our kids how kindness works, and they’ve also picked up these amazing geography skills in the process,” said Jennifer Knapp, mother to 3-year-old Tenley Dasler. “She’s so excited to share with me about what she’s learned.”
They’ve also been able to connect the lessons to their own lives. For example, Elizabeth’s grandparents spend winters in Florida, a state that the kids have received Kindness Rocks from.
“She was very excited to point out the state of Florida and tell me, ‘That’s were Grammy and Pappy are!’ ” her mom, Sarah Agnoli, wrote in an email. “She will mention certain featured things about states. For example Crater Lake for Oregon, or rattlesnakes for Texas.”
While there is no set end date for the project, Tullgren wants to wait until they receive rocks from every state. As of Thursday, the kids had received 86 packages and they were missing only nine states from the map.
Long-term, Tullgren hopes the children take with them the importance “to be helpful, to be kind, even when you don’t know someone to help out,” she said. “It’s that our world is great, big and beautiful.”
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
