5-year-old Toby Little is ‘writing to the world’

Toby Little, 5, of Sheffield, England, wants "to find out lots about the world."

To learn about the world around him, he's writing a letter to a person in every country — and hopes to receive a letter or postcard from each country in return.

"I'm really interested in fossils, archaeology, explorers, history, stars and planets, science, wild creatures, and how people help other people and protect the environment in lots of places all over the world! I also want to know how people live, and what food they eat, and what school is like!" Toby wrote on his website.

"He wanted to write to everybody in the whole wide world," Toby's mother, Sabine, said. "I thought he might do 5 or 10, then lose interest, but he just kept going and going."

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"I want the world to be a better place," Toby explained to Good Morning America.

Toby's parents are helping him chronicle his letter-writing adventure on his website, Writing to the World.

"I write all letters by hand. Mummy is looking after this website for me. Each country gets its own page, and you can read all the letters I have written, and all the replies I am getting. I am also raising money for ShelterBox, because they help people all over the world who need help," Toby posted on his site.

So far, Toby has written 239 letters, including to 187 of the United Nations' 193 countries.

He's received 66 letters or postcards.

His parents wrote that Toby decided to turn his letter-writing into a charitable endeavour after he learned that living conditions in some of the countries were difficult for kids like him:

"Obviously, the more letters we wrote, the more likely we were to encounter 'tricky' countries, countries where understanding their circumstances is difficult for grown-ups, never mind a five-year-old boy. We research these countries just like all the others, and it didn't take Toby long to decide that he wanted to help."

He has already raised more than 200 per cent of his target for ShelterBox, an organization that provides tents, tools and toys to families who've lost everything.

Follow Toby's quest to connect with the whole world on Facebook.