flat stanley

i first heard of the flat stanley project when my cousin asked me to take his paper friend, "flat stanley" with me to bangkok, and take pictures of him all around the city. i'd never heard of this "flat stanley" guy, but agreed to take him with me in my suitcase. turns out, its a way that school children (and adults) are becoming aware of life outside the classroom. students make their own "flat stanley" and send them to friends and relatives near and far. he eventually returns to the student with stories and pictures of his journey.

i'd heard of similar teaching methods (a classroom having a doll that goes home with a different student every evening), but never a project which involved the whole class in an effort to increase global awareness. it turned out that flat stanley actually started in 1964...and that everyone knows about him! when i was taking photos of him around bangkok, i met many tourists who were as fond of "flat stanely" as i was--some people even offered to stand in with him!

here are some of the pictures i took with flat stanley during the 12 hours i spent outside of the hotel in bangkok. they were of course sent back with stanley to my cousin's classroom for show and tell.