Your purchases from our visitor center national park stores and online site support programs and projects at our national parks partners. When Kiry Galapir stepped into the brand-new role of E-commerce Specialist for HPPA a few years ago, she began with fulfilling incoming online order requests from our new national parks commerce site. While nearly all of the orders for natural history and Hawaiian history books, national parks apparel, fun park gifts and hiking essentials were from individuals, school orders gradually became part of that workflow. What started as standard customer service has now evolved into something much more meaningful: supporting educators across Hawaiʻi with hands-on learning tools.
Recently, we received an inquiry from Kamehameha Preschools from an administrative coordinator who wanted purchase a large set of educational plush items for their classrooms to be used as interpretive teaching tools.
The request was significant.
100 each of the following:
Makana the Nēne Plush, Makamae the Plush Gosling, Naʻauau the Plush Pueo, Kahoʻokele the Plush Petrel, Hawaiian Happyface Spider Plush, Kamehameha Butterfly Plush, Hawaiʻi State Marine Life, Marine Native Species, and Hawaiʻi Native Species finger puppets—all custom created for our park partners. We also carry honu (sea turtle), and heʻe (octopus) plush.
In total, 1,100 plush were destined for 89 classrooms across the Hawaiian Islands.
Curious about how they would be used, Kiry asked her contact for more context. The answer was exactly what we hope for as a nonprofit partner of Hawaiʻi national parks—these items will go directly into preschool classrooms where kumu (teachers) will use them as educational tools for keiki (small children), helping bring Hawaiʻi native species and culture to life in a tactile and engaging way.
Kiry says, “It was an honor to contribute to that mission and I shared our appreciation and excitement. Fulfilling an order of this size meant that, for a moment, my office was packed wall to wall with plush animals and finger puppets. I packed every item carefully to ensure accuracy and care in each shipment. This is our largest school order to date.
Personally, I find something very grounding about this work. When I am packing these orders I find myself double-checking everything, wanting to make sure it is all correct. I feel a strong sense of responsibility, knowing these items are heading into classrooms where they will be part of early learning experiences.
I hope that more schools will seek to use these interpretive tools and find out about us from other teachers, and through our online store and social media. It’s exciting to think that something as simple as a plush animal can become a bridge to deeper learning about the native species and ecosystems of Hawaiʻi.
We’ve also recently fulfilled orders for Pūnanana Leo Preschools and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, all of which are using these items as classroom learning tools. There is a real sense of connection in knowing these thoughtfully-designed Hawaiʻi plush are going out into the community, and I often imagine the moment a young student sees one for the first time.”
Bring These Learning Tools Into Your Classroom
If you are a teacher or you know a teacher who would benefit from hands-on educational tools featuring Hawaiʻi native species, we would love to help!
Contact us at:
Let’s bring more Hawaiian natural and cultural heritage into classrooms across the islands, across the country, and across the world.
Anyone can shop our Hawaiʻi plush.
Read the press about our park support.
