Black History Month is a time that spotlights the achievements of the Black community and its history. This history, however, is not just confined to October, but to raise awareness to ensure these conversations exist throughout the year
The owner of a jigsaw company in Bristol is helping to ensure a positive discussion begins from a young age in interactive yet informative mediums. Planet Jigsaw was born from a desire to tell untold histories that aren’t shared in classrooms or storybooks.
Charmaine Orchards, 30, who grew up in Brislington and is now in Eastville, previously told BristolLive that “the driving force is to engage all children with positive Black history”. Since launching the online jigsaw store in 2021, she is on a mission to tell stories through figures from the past and present, such as Dr Patricia Bath, who revolutionised the cataract operation, Alfonso I - King of Kongo and the founder of Notting Hill Carnival, Claudia Jones.
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She continued: “The purpose of the project is to help Black children build a positive inner voice to see themselves in a way that is positive but about their culture, identity and heritage. They need positive learning in that outside what’s taught in schools, and from a psychological perspective, seeing that representation in these smaller activities.”
She has recently launched a new collection of jigsaws based on countries in Africa and the Caribbean, currently offering puzzle packs featuring Ghana, Egypt, South Africa and Jamaica. Children can learn about the cultural heritage of these places through puzzles and recipes offered in activity packs suitable for nurseries, community centres and at home, Charmaine explained.
“It includes the traditional things that people from their culture would eat, certainly for the looked-after children who might not have that exposure to those aspects of their culture, including through storytelling. There are Black authors in the UK and across the world who publish books around loving your hair as a child, encouraging that representation from a young age that your natural hair is beautiful as it is.”
The puzzles start from £10.99 each while tailored activity packs range from £34.99 to £55.99. The biggest activity pack include four puzzles, seven recipe cards and an array of books.
Planet Jigsaw works in partnership with Konnected CIC, a Community Interest Company for Black and Mixed Race children in foster care across England and Wales. “I was providing the jigsaws within these packed and thought ‘why not set up a platform to reach out to the general public and children outside the looked-after generation? That’s when I set up the online store,” she added.
“It encouraged children to learn about lots of different communities that make up the Black community. One of the things we do in Konnected with the activity packs as well as we provide mentoring.
“We match children based on their heritage that then gives them the extra knowledge and to do these activities with that then nurtured the learning. The packs are customised on whatever the heritage is of the child.”
The themes of the jigsaws and activity packs create positive stories around Black history, something which isn’t often represented on screen and in the school curriculum. Colonisation and the transatlantic slave trade are often taught in schools through a European lens rather than through Africa’s history.
Charmaine said this was part of the problem in society’s views on Black history and that these stories can affect a child’s identity and belonging. “Poor representation starts builds a negative picture in your head,” she recalled.
“I remember learning about slavery when I was at school. I was terrified, then I was angry and then I was really concerned. I thought ‘is that it? Is that what people who look like me have been through and that’s our history?’ There’s so much more.”
The Black Curriculum, a community interest company, has done a lot to reshape the educational experience when it comes to Black History. She said European history taught in schools doesn’t seem to have that same approach when it comes to Black history.
“I think it’s important to give an insight into what inspired it but talk more loudly about what came from that and the positives that came from it. When it comes to education in schools, it’s largely negative.
“Some of the people we use in the jigsaws come from very difficult beginnings and dealt with societal issues around inequality, but they’ve carried on through and that’s their stories. People decades and decades before us still achieved these things. It was a different time back then.”
Charmaine recognised there’s still a long way to go in terms of more diverse representation in society, but that it was moving in the right direction. She cited the casting of Halle Bailey as the lead role of The Little Mermaid as a great example, although she was shocked by the people who publicly denounced the decision on social media.
She said: “I couldn’t believe the response. There was a lot of positive response of course but there were some people who were really struggling with that diversity, they couldn’t get their heads around it and that’s part of where the work needs to be done.”
The jigsaws and activity packs aim to platform diverse representation from a young age. To speak loudly about Black heritage and build a positive message from a young age. Konnected CIC also helps to facilitate these conversations all year round to improve young children’s sense of self.
At the moment, Planet Jigsaw has sold to nurseries in London and Birimingham, and hopes to provide to more communities groups in Bristol and across the UK. She hopes one day people will see her jigsaws on shop shelves in the future.
“I would love for it to get to a point where we could sell in toy stores all year round as well, which again would help to send that message out there. It doesn’t have to be under a Black history theme, it would just be there.”
Visit Planet Jigsaw's website to see all of its products and follow them on Instagram.
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