Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve heard so many heartwarming stories of teachers finding creative ways to stay connected with their students. Like the teacher who drove by her students’ houses with messages of love, or the principal who decorated her school’s driveway with huge senior photographs to honor the year’s graduates.
The latest terrific teacher tale comes all the way from the Netherlands, where Ingeborg Meinster-Van der Duin teaches at an elementary school in the city of Haarlem. Miss Ingeborg, as the kids call her, missed her class of 23 children so much that she decided to spend her free time during lockdown knitting tiny dolls to represent each of them.
She apparently even nailed the little details of each kid, like their freckles, glasses, hairstyles and an outfit they would wear to school. A photo of the dolls was posted by the Facebook group Stuff Dutch People Like this month and got a huge response.
Speaking to NH, the country’s public broadcaster, Miss Ingeborg said she was inspired by a knitted doll she saw on Pinterest, and decided to recreate her students during the school closure that was caused by the pandemic. It was a huge task, as each doll took her three to four hours to complete.
Miss Ingeborg said that when she finished the dolls, she showed a picture of them to her students and their parents. None of the dolls had names beside them, but each student was able to pick out their doll.
However, they reportedly then asked, “Where is Miss Ingeborg?” So the teacher spent a couple of hours creating a doll in her own likeness to complete the class.
The school where she teaches shared a photo that included a look at the crafty teacher and her own doll on Facebook. When translated to English, you can see the post jokes that she’s going to be famous and should get started making dolls of her colleagues.
The adorable picture of the dolls has gone viral, and anywhere it’s been shared, floods of positive comments have followed. “I love the teacher’s creativity and her dedication to her students during this pandemic,” wrote one Facebook user on Stuff Dutch People Like’s post, while another remarked that “amazing people have come to the forefront of late amidst all the sadness.”
Other people suggested that Miss Ingeborg’s creations should be preserved as a permanent display in the school or the local community to remind people of the creativity the coronavirus pandemic inspired. That’s if her students are willing to part with their adorable little likenesses, of course.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
