Children of Type — shirin johari

'Children of Type' is an educational innovation for the pre-primary and early-primary years. It is currently integrated into school curriculums across 10 Indian cities. It consists of two parts: A delightful 6-minute animation film, followed by stimulating flashcards
︎ 90 second peek into the film.

The animation imagines a playful, relatable parent-child relationship between the big and small letters of the English alphabet. Created in collaboration with one of Pixar's best animators, it stimulates children's imagination and emotions.

The questions on the flashcards, designed on the principles of SEL (socio-emotional learning), enable educators and parents to help children express those emotions and engage in richer conversations.

Children often wonder,
“Why are there big and small letters?”

The Roman alphabet is the only writing system with separate capital and small letters. Educators say it poses an initial learning challenge for children.

Children of Type humanises the alphabet to create a loving parent-child relationship between big and small letters. This helps reduce the stress a child associates with learning English. It makes learning fun, exciting and memorable for kids.

Children often have unexpressed emotions,
and a rich imagination waiting to be tapped.

Watching the bond between the letters can stimulate these emotions and creative ideas. All they need, then, is a nudge from a parent or educator to help them express the thoughts brimming in their minds.

This set of Flashcards is an exciting and meaningful tool to facilitate and guide conversations about the alphabet, relationships, feelings and possibilities.

Schools are integrating it into their pre-primary and early primary programmes in two ways:
1. The Educator's Kit - used in classrooms / for 3+ to 6+ years
2. The Parents' Kit - given to parents as part of their Annual School Kit at the beginning of the academic year.
Also available as individual kits.

While using their kits, parents sometimes match their ‘Children of Type’ play sessions to the corresponding letters their children are learning at school at any given time. This reinforces their learning and helps parents understand the mental-emotional landscape of their child especially for the time they are away from them at school.

Besides facilitating natural curiosity-induced learning, this kit simultaneously works across various themes.

We have witnessed the instant impact that this innovation has had on children, parents, educators and schools across multiple cities. It is transforming the relationship of children not just with the alphabet but also with their own inner thoughts and emotions.

Letter ‘Ww’ at Safari Kid Preschool

3 year olds and Letter ‘Zz’

It’s lovely to see how it complements other programs in classrooms.
-Kumudini Mali, Academic Co-ordinator
Credo Joy Pre-School, Panvel

Often, when children come home from school, we ask them questions like “How was your day?”, “Did you eat your lunch?” and “What did you learn today?” But with the parents’ kit, we can go deeper. It is play therapy, really.
- Anesa Noorani, Educator for special needs kids
Co-Founder, Sameep Foundation

‘Children of Type’ really helped me see letters through a different perspective. Through play, they learnt about observing people’s emotions, how to react, how to care for others.
-Ms. Lisa, Senior Teacher, Safari Kid Preschools, India.

For example, one child shared that his father was away most of the time. I had not known this about his family, and it explained some aspects of his behaviour to me.
-Divya Rizvi, Level-in-charge-PrePrimary,
Delhi Public School

‘Children of Type’ stimulates the interrelated areas of cognitive, creative, social and emotional development in a child. It helps develop competencies in storytelling, concentration and observation.

Also, people with learning disabilities can find learning the alphabet traumatic. English is an ad hoc, phonetics-based language. If someone finds it difficult to learn – a person with dyslexia, for instance – that doesn't mean they are stupid. It just means they are wired differently. The trauma of an alphabet is deeply felt by a dyslexic.
-Shubhangi Swarup, Educator, Author, Journalist

Once there is a better bond between the teacher and child, receptivity towards learning almost anything transforms!-Shabnam Mullick,
Kindergarten Teacher, Delhi Public School, Kolkata

But the way this animation and the flashcard questions have been designed, children come up to us themselves and share all this in a very playful manner.
-Divya Rizvi, Level-in-charge-PrePrimary,
Delhi Public School

because the conversations are designed to be very different at home and in school, so parents and classrooms should use Children of Type simultaneously.
-Divya Rizvi, Level-in-charge-PrePrimary,
Delhi Public School

Children of Type is also particularly helpful for special needs kids!
-Alafia Zaveri, Head Classroom Teacher, Experimental Education Unit, Seattle, Washington, USA

Its visual design is minimalist, focusing on the shape, form and texture of each letter. This allows for the magic of self-discovery – of the endless possibilities of a child’s imagination.
-Pallavi Bhat, Early Childhood Specialist, India

Children and parents on Children of Type

Pre-Primary educators share their thoughts!

Children from around the world
on Children of Type

Mathilda, a 6 year old German girl, wrote a 10 page
story a few days after watching the animation.

Watch this quick video to get started with your new 'Children of Type' kit. We wish you a wonderful journey!

Parent’s Introduction video : 5min

Teachers’ Induction video : 4min

Tips and Tricks for Teachers : 2min

The Creators

As a child, I always imagined, that the capital letters in the English language were the ‘elders’ and that the small ones were ‘children’ who would one day grow up to become good capitals. This led to me to conceptualising ‘Children of Type’, with an aim to make children love the Roman alphabet despite their oddities. Just how families love each other.

Concept, Stories, Design : Shirin Johari
2D Cell-animation partner : Venkatram Viswanathan
Sound Design - Shirin Johari and Venkatraman Vishwanathan
Curriculum Development : Shirin Johari, Aarefa Johari, Thomas Johari,
Validated and furthered by:
Pallavi Bhat - Early Childhood Specialist, based in Mumbai, India
Alafia Zaveri - Special Educator based in Seattle, USA
Shalini Mukherjee Soni - Educator, Based in Toronto, Canada

The creators are experts and award winners in the fields of innovation, design, curriculum development, education, early childhood, storytelling, child psychology, communication, research, and anthropology.