São Paulo – Project Pequenos Mochileiros (Little Backpackers) invites children seven or older to learn about different countries and cultures. It also revisits physical correspondence and analog games as tools for developing creativity and imagination. Activities are available in an online platform and otherwise, and Egypt and the UAE are some of the featured countries.
<
Business owner Mariana Lara Diniz started developing this subscriptions plan for kids two years ago, and the project saw the light of day on December 2. A native of Minas Gerais, Brazil, she has travelled to over 50 different countries. She has lived in the United States, China and Spain, where she earned a master’s in Asian Anthropology. She has lived with people from more than 19 nationalities, and this made her see the world – and herself – in a different light. “Interacting with people from different countries taught me a lot, because it makes you rethink yourself, your concepts and values,” she said.
After becoming a mother of two girls – Anna and Clara –, she came up with the idea for the project. “My first daughter went to China with me when she was 11-months-old. It was my way of being a backpacker, a businesswoman and a mother all at once,” she said. The purpose of Pequenos Mochileiros is to get kids in touch with different cultures from an early age, so they will be more thoughtful and respectful of difference. We want to plant a little seed so we’ll harvest more humane, tolerant adults in the future,” she explained.
Subscribers get monthly kits at home with the child’s name and items including a world map poster, a passport and a boarding pass; a 3D model of landmarks from different countries for assembly; a sticker album; a folk dish recipe, etc. “It’s also about a revival of correspondence. The kid gets a package to their name at home, and they can look forward to it each month,” explains Diniz. They also get a letter from Anna Clara and Lucas, the little backpackers who will be the storytellers.
The online platform includes memory games, puzzles and discovery missions, as well as curiosities about each country, enabling a playful learning experience. Pequenos Mochileiros offers 12 kits a year, including an overview of the entire world in the first month. From month two on, each kit will focus on one specific country.
Featured countries are, in this order: China, United States, France, Russia, Argentina, Egypt, Italy, Australia, South Africa, Mexico and Japan. A 13th kit that’s yet to be produced will focus on the United Arab Emirates.
Egypt is approached in month seven. Diniz explains that she’s been to Morocco and Dubai (UAE), but never to Egypt. Still, she picked the country for its “rich heritage, its mythology, the gods, the pyramids, and its strategic location, with the Sahara and the Nile. I believe that coming into contact with such cultural splendor is a must for any human being coming up in this world.”
The monthly plan goes for BRL 49.90 + BRL 10 shipping anywhere in Brazil. The six-month plan is BRL 44.90 + BRL 10 shipping. Find out more at pequenosmochileiros.com.br (in Portuguese).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum