Giant Hawaiian monk seal inflatables help keiki comprehend creatures’ plight

Sitting inside a larger-than-life inflatable Hawaiian monk seal pup is like being in a nylon tent — with flippers, two dark eyes, a nose and one zippered mouth.

Mark Jeffers, executive director of Storybook Theatre of Hawaii, a Kauai-based nonprofit, calls them inflatable classrooms, ideal for teaching kids about the critically endangered species.

Twogiant monk seal pups dominated the Ward Warehouse Amphitheater May 30 as part of an introduction to an endangered marine mammal educational school tour.

The goal, according to Jeffers, is to give school-aged children a more memorable way to learn about endangered species.

"With young children, what happens is their strongest sense of learning is experiential," said Jeffers. "So you provide an environment or activity that helps them to understand it experientially."

Sitting inside the inflatables, Jeffers covers the anatomy, biology and behavior of monk seals through activities. Kids can bring imaginary fish through the zippered mouth, pretend the seal is sleeping on the beach or move the flippers from the inside.

It’s more fun and more effective than giving kids a lecture about monk seals.

Instead of using words like critically endangered or threatened, Jeffers tells stories.

"What I talk about is, ‘Wow, these guys are having some problems and the problems they’re having, a lot of them are caused by people,’" he said. "It’s our rubbish, the way we play in the water with our boats, or leaving our nets in the water."

Storybook Theatre of Hawaii, founded in 1979 and based in Hanapepe, is dedicated to promoting environmental and arts education while sharing cultural diversity and encouraging global citizenship. It also produces "Russell The Rooster," a children’s education program on OC16.

Jeffers is planning to tour with the monk seal pups at schools this year.

The past three years, Storybook Theatre’s "Imagination with Responsibility" tour brought Harmony and Melody — two life-sized, inflatable humpback whales — to schools in the state for a half-hour show that taught children about their life cycles and migration from Alaska to Hawaii.

"It’s teaching values of interacting with nature in a very positive way," he said. "Children start to recognize that they have compassion for other creatures on Earth, and that brings about problem-solving-style thinking."

The two monk seal pups, which have yet to be named, can be paired with the whales for the presentation, available for a $50 set-up fee, during scheduled visits to the different islands during the school year. The presentation also includes songs and games.

The inflatables are hand-sewn by textile artist Evelyn Roth of Australia, who flew to Kauai in May to create the pups. Each pup measures about 24 feet long from tip to tip, while the mother monk seal is 30 feet long.

Roth created the pair of humpback whales for Storybook Theatre in 1997 but also has a fleet of other inflatable animals in her portfolio, including the sea turtle, octopus and salmon. Storybook Theatre hopes to feature the entire fleet in a Pacific Rim tour one day. Roth has crafted more than 200 inflatable creatures.

She creates the creatures freestyle, with no pattern, on a sewing machine on her kitchen table. For the two monk seal pups, she estimates she used about 50 yards of blue and gray nylon fabric.

She paid attention to details, like the grooves in the foreflippers, but also added her own touches, like a blue stripe along the side of the body and clear portholes that kids can look out of.

Kauai artist Patrick Ching, author of several children’s books about monk seals including "The Story of Hina" and "Honu and Hina," painted the faces on the inflatable monk seals.

Sarah Snavely, who lives part time in Sweden and Kailua, enjoyed visiting the seals at Ward Warehouse with her daughter, Maude, 2, and son Evert, 4. The pair explored the monk seal, both inside and outside.

"I thought it was a wonderful exhibition, and really provided a concrete, hands-on experience for children to begin to comprehend the plight of the endangered monk seal," she said. "By being able to climb right into the body of the seal, they felt like they were a part of it and felt more compassion for its life and survival."