A teacher transformed her kindergarten students' drawings of colorful, imaginary monsters into one-of-a-kind plush toys

His son, Oscar, and the rest of his 22-person class of 5- and 6-year-olds had been given unique, handmade toys from their teacher — each one based off of a "monster" the kids had been asked to draw.

Parker told Insider that the teacher — who, he said over Twitter DM, "feels 'very appreciated' by the positive response, but doesn't want any further attention" — had done this in previous years.

"Apparently during lockdown she rode around the neighborhood and dropped off the toys to each child's house," he said. But, Parker wasn't expecting the accuracy and quality of the toy his son received.

Earlier in the school year, the children had been instructed to draw a monster from their imagination, and their teacher would transform the idea into plush, durable toys — a memento of the individuality and creativity a 5-year-old is capable of.

Parker's December 19 Twitter thread has been viewed more than 3 million times and liked by more than 105,300 people.

He isn't sure how long the project took his son's teacher, but Twitter he said he's been told by spectators that it must have taken hundreds of hours. "I don't know if that was hyperbole, but knowing how long it would have taken me, that sounds about right!" Parker said.

In his tweet, Parker included a message to "pay teachers more."

Elaborating, Parker told Insider, "there's a perception that teachers are paid appropriately for the hours they work. I'm paid fine for my own job, but at the end of the day, that's to make a profit for the company and supply a service to customers. It's not going to change the world."

"Teachers are the people our children spend half of their waking hours with. They help to create the people those children are going to become," he continued. "I really think we need to pay teachers enough so the profession can attract and keep the best of the best and not lose them to better-paying jobs."

On Twitter, the vast majority of users have replied to Parker's thread with delight or a playful back-and-forth about the kids and their creations.

"Oscar is pretty damn scary," wrote one user.

"That's my son's name, but you're still correct," Oscar's father replied.

"If this crawled out from under anything I would scream in terror. I don't care about the smile. Cute though," wrote another.

A minority of commenters took issue with Parker's assertion that teachers should receive higher pay, adding conditions like "pay good teachers more."

Parker disagrees. "People may complain that by paying ALL teachers more, you end up rewarding the bad ones too," he told Insider. "I think if the pool of good teachers is large enough, there won't be enough room for those who aren't a good fit for the role."

In reply to a since-deleted tweet expressing the wish that the children had sewn the toys themselves to take the product from concept to reality, Parker replied: "She did this in her own time and the kids are 5-6. Maybe take their joy away when they're old enough to miss it."

Parents of former students who'd also received toys from this teacher replied, saying they'd "recognize her work anywhere."

"My kid is in grade 1 at the same school and his little handmade monster is a prize possession," tweeted @phalB.

At home, the latest recipients of are enamored with their own fantastical toys. Oscar and his peers "absolutely love" their gifts, and the "as-yet-unnamed," world's smallest-scale therizinosaurus is already enjoying his first family vacation with Oscar and the Parkers in New Zealand this Christmas.