Knitting for kindness: Trauma Teddies

Trauma Teddies

Knitting for kindness.

Over 1 million children have cuddled a colourful, comforting Trauma Teddy since we first started hand-knitting them back in 1990.

Trauma Teddies provide care in so many ways:

  • comfort to children fleeing a disaster
  • a warm welcome to refugee children
  • company in a speeding ambulance
  • friendly security in hospital
  • a happy face in a lonely time.
A teddy bears' picnic with Red Cross Ambassador Kate Ritchie.

At last count, more than 600 volunteer knitters in 75 knitting groups hand knit Teddies in Australia. They lovingly craft around 50,000 Trauma Teddies a year. That’s a huge number of children who each year receive the care of a teddy bear.

It takes about 5 hours to knit each Teddy. By our calculations, that's a whopping 250,000 volunteer knitting hours each year – or a mind-blowing 7.5 million volunteer hours over the past 30 years.

Every Trauma Teddy is lovingly put together. They must also pass a quality control test to guarantee comfort and safety.

For more information or to locate your local Trauma Teddy coordinator contact us.

Trauma Teddy pattern

Have a question about Trauma Teddies?

Get in touch

Answers to many common questions about Trauma Teddies can be found on this page.

Contact us to find out how you can start knitting, join a group or receive Trauma Teddies.

Would you like information on the closest knitting group?*
Are you interested in knitting or sewing Trauma Teddies, or both?

Trauma Teddy® (including Trauma Teddies®) is a trademark owned by the Australian Red Cross Society ABN 50 169 561 39.

Charity donations of $2 or more to Australian Red Cross may be tax deductible in Australia. Site protected by Google Invisible reCAPTCHA. © Australian Red Cross 2023. ABN 50 169 561 394