Musical teddies help children learn about Sikhism

Pritpal Rai said he wanted the stories and toys to help people better understand Sikhism

An author hopes musical soft toys inspired by characters from his book can challenge stereotypes around Sikhs and particularly their turbans.

Pritpal Rai, from Coventry, was one of a group of fathers who started writing the Khalsa Family children's books to fight racism and teach children about the religion.

They feature a would-be superhero and his daredevil sister.

The characters have been turned into toys that play a lullaby and a prayer.

Mr Rai said they were already changing perceptions.

"Rather than say 'he looks like bin Laden' they say 'he looks like a Simran' [a character from the book]," Mr Rai said.

He said he had also wanted to give children a "different outlook" on the Khalsa uniform worn by Sikhs.

Mr Rai says he was inspired to create the toys when one of his children was in hospital

"For a long time, especially after 9/11, the turban had a little bit of bad image and the association with terrorism," he explained.

"I thought 'how can we change this narrative... especially for young children'?"

Mr Rai was inspired to create the toys after one of his youngest children became ill in hospital.

'Traditional outfits'

He said he had discovered the Gurus Song lullaby had helped to calm his son down.

"I thought 'how I can bring this lullaby into the children's bedroom'?"

Mr Rai worked alongside the book's illustrator Ben Barter to design the toys - based on Simran and his sister Kirpa Kaur - in a process he said had taken about a year.

He said he wanted the design of the turban and the outfits to be true to the "traditional outfits".

For fans of the books, he said they were immediately recognisable as the characters from the stories.

He described the design process as difficult and "very challenging" but said the final outcome was "fantastic".

"I've had to get two teddies for them each [his children] because they fight over them," he said.

"That's enough for me to know it's a great idea, and it works.

"I've had a nurse from New Zealand tell me she plays the lullaby for mental health patients."

He added the idea in the near future was to turn the two characters into a 30-minute animation.

There have been about 1,000 teddies made and all profits will go back into the IM1313 not-for-profit organisation.