You might remember that our small and mighty team was looking ahead to 2018 with big goals (as usual) and one of those was to see our community of people using the Empathy Toy grow.
And holy moley, did our community ever grow.
5 months in to 2018, we’re breaking Empathy Toy records and sending more toys out than we ever have before.
This leads to our important update: we’re temporarily out of Empathy Toys.
This increased demand means that our current batch of toys has run out a little earlier than we expected. The good news is that Ilana travelled in May to visit the amazing family business that helps us to make the Empathy Toy. We have a new batch of beautiful toys, ready to keep this amazing momentum going, but they have a long journey to make (over 12,500kms!) to get to us.
So… when can I get an Empathy Toy?
If you’re looking for a Teacher’s Kit or a Facilitator’s Kit, you can order on the website as usual, and we’ll ship it to you in late July.
Oh no! What if I NEED an Empathy Toy before then?
If you have a toy emergency between now and the arrival of the new toys (we know they happen), please get in touch and someone on our team will be happy to discuss some options with you. We want to keep everyone playing as much as we can! Our team will also still be delivering lots of workshops, so if you want to play with us, let us know ASAP!
So are you curious as to where all of these Empathy Toys went??
Since January, more than 218 schools have brought the Empathy Toy to their students and staff, proving that toys are the new textbooks. In fact, the largest school district in Wisconsin, Milwaukee Public Schools, bought an Empathy Toy for every single one of their schools!
Wait, did any grown-ups get to play?
Don’t worry, we know that adults need play in their day too. In 5 months, we’ve also sent the Empathy Toy to 14 non-profits and governmental organizations, and 62 companies. We also played with more than 1250 people in Empathy Toy workshops, which meant a lot of laughter, selfies, and learning. These include some of our long-time partners who want to play even more, and lots of people who have just discovered the toy! We’re so excited to see so many creative ideas coming from all of this play.
Where in the world is the Empathy Toy?
The #21ToysWorld just keeps getting bigger! In the past 5 months, we’ve shipped Empathy Toys to people in:
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8 Canadian provinces (just waiting on NL and PEI…)
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17 US States, from California to Massachusetts, and from Arizona to Minnesota
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17 countries around the world, including Latvia and Austria for the first time!
We also worked with people who are playing the Empathy Toy in at least 12 languages, including Hebrew, Turkish, Korean, and Dutch. Empathic leadership is spreading like sunshine all over the place, and Empathy Toys are reaching more people than ever before.
Thanks for your patience, empathy, and excitement while the toys are travelling to us! We know that it might feel like a long wait, but we promise, it’s going to be worth it!