I’m liking both the look and the affordability of the Groovy Girls dolls.
Check out, for example, Dela:
She has a really cute face:
And here’s Latasha:
Connor is advertised as a boy, but I like that s/he has kind of a lesbian vibe:
And then there’s Lycia:
Check out all the Groovy Girls, and let me know which one is your favorite.
A friend writes,
i can’t believe this but i’ve been searching for a asian rag dog for [my son] and i came across a site called the multicultural toybox. when i clicked on the about tab, guess whose name is there?? you’re awesome!! now help me find an asian rag doll for [him] that doesn’t have slanty eyes and wear oriental clothing!! 
My response (which I’ve expanded a bit for this blog entry):
This is indeed a frustrating search. You have my sympathies!
Your best place to look might be Etsy, though of course there are a ton of stereotypical Asian dolls there, too. You’re going to pay a bit more than in a chain store, but if you see a doll you like there–of any ethnicity–you might be able to get the creator to make a custom doll for you with the characteristics you want. It’s very common for Etsy sellers to make custom items. Definitely do a search for “Waldorf dolls” because I’ve seen those in all kinds of skin tones, hair types, and clothing styles. They tend to have this general shape:
photo by Céline, and used under a Creative Commons license
I also like this Etsy shop a lot — – though of course you’re going to want to be sure to get a doll w/o any detachable parts like buttons. If you like her style, but you’re crafty yourself, you definitely need to check out Hillary Lang’s Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love. Lang also offers relatively easy-to-sew–and very cute–doll patterns on her website.
If you’re looking for a baby rag doll, Amazon offers this Rosy Cheeks Baby:
Amazon also sells a girl version of the same doll:
Multicultural Toybox readers, what would you recommend to my friend or to others looking for similar dolls?
I’m loving this doll at Etsy by henandchick:
It ties in nicely with my most recent post: why can’t we more easily reimagine characters in other ethnicities?
If she’s still available, you can purchase her for $45.
Some might argue a kids’ movie packed with white characters is too easy a target in this multicultural age. I beg to differ.
My complaint about Toy Story 3 doesn’t stem just from a desire to see more diverse characters represented in a box office winner (and quality movie). Rather, my dissatisfaction has another dimension: merchandising. We all know how poorly represented people of color are in the mainstream toy market, and Pixar has missed a significant opportunity to address that gap in representation.
Critics of this idea might argue that including a toy of color in the film–and then creating an actual toy from the character–would be a losing proposition for Pixar, as toys of color are less popular than white character toys, even sometimes among children of color. I argue that Pixar has a large enough media platform and merchandising empire to influence the attitudes of all kinds of children toward multicultural play.
In this age, why must Jessie be a redhead? Or solely a redhead? Why can’t she be, say, Latina? Couldn’t Pixar’s merchandising division offer variations on characters so that children can see themselves represented in their everyday play, if not in the movie?
What are your thoughts?
I have a soft spot for eco-friendly toys. They’re toys! They’re eco-friendly!
I first saw these particular trucks in my local toy store, and I fell in love with them immediately. In addition to being attractive and appearing durable, they have an interesting origin: They’re made from recycled plastic milk jugs, and they’re made in the U.S., in California.
The manufacturer, Green Toys, has this to say about these toys on its website:
All Green Toys products are 100% made in the USA. To be more specific, they are produced in California, a state known for strict toy safety and environmental laws. It’s cool to buy USA, but also think about this: transportation is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gasses. We all know driving less is good for mother nature, b
ut did you ever think about how many miles a toy logs before it ends up in your local store? Continue reading →
Did you know that the first year of a child’s life is a critical period for establishing fluency in a language?
Don’t freak out, however, if the children in your life weren’t babbling in two languages before they could walk. There are developmental changes in the brain around puberty that may make learning language a bit more difficult, but that doesn’t mean children and adults of all languages can’t become proficient in one more more foreign languages. Bilingualism hasn’t been shown to cause any long-term delay in the development of English-language skills, even for students enrolled in language immersion programs at school.
Remember, too, that bilingualism has benefits beyond the second language. Children who are learning a second language, or acquiring two languages simultaneously, may also exhibit earlier reading, better problem-solving skills, and higher scores on both the verbal and mathematical sections of the SAT than monolingual students. Bilingualism also opens the doors to a broader spectrum of careers.
Why this gift matters
As you can see from the benefits discussed above, children benefit tremendously—in both the short and long term—from learning a second language. By setting a child on the path to bilingualism, or encouraging a child who is already on that path, you are enabling the development of crucial intellectual and social skills. Continue reading →
I’m starting a new feature here: I’ll regularly post the best articles, blog posts, reports, fun things, and other resources I run across each week.
You must take–and encourage others to take–this eye-opening quiz from EdChange. To get a sense of it, check out the first three questions:
1. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, what is the percentage of U.S. schools with no teachers of color on staff?
2. Compared with White women, how likely are African American women in the U.S. to die during childbirth due to a lack of access to prenatal care, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality?
3. According to a study by the American Association of Physicians for Human Rights, what percentage of physicians report witnessing a colleague giving reduced care or refusing care to lesbian, gay, or bisexual patients?
If the answers don’t get you energized to work toward social justice and a better world for your children or students, I don’t know what will. Continue reading →
I frequently reference multicultural crafts here at The Multicultural Toybox, so I wanted to create a quick reference site that folks can browse at a glance. Consider this a mini-mall for multicultural arts and crafts. You might also check out the multicultural crafts category to locate posts about arts and crafts.
By the way, if you do a ton of shopping at Amazon, I can’t recommend highly enough the Amazon Prime service. Currently, for about $6 per month (you get 13 months for the price of 12, since the first month is free), you get unlimited free 2-day shipping, and you can share the service with up to four people in your household. There’s no minimum order size, and you can upgrade any item to overnight shipping for only $3.99. Go check it out! Continue reading →
This post is a continuation of my post on multicultural crafts supplies that would make thoughtful gifts. While the first post focused on helping children represent the full spectrum of human skin tones when they draw people, this post looks more closely at folk arts and crafts from a range of cultures.
Combine this textile paper with the human paper shapes kit to give kids the opportunity to really express themselves as they create beautiful clothing for the paper figures. These papers reproduce a rich variety of African traditional fabrics, and each 32-sheet package comes with a project idea guide.
This 128-sheet pack expands on the African textile paper described above. These paper reproductions of beautiful textiles are based on Asian, African, Native American, and Hispanic cultural motifs from around the world. The package comes with a project idea guide. Continue reading →
When I was a kid, adults still frequently referred to the peach crayon as “flesh color.” Today, there’s no excuse for passing on to children such a narrow view of human diversity–both because we are in many ways more sensitive to issues of diversity and because there are some fabulous art supplies out there to solve the problem of the singular flesh-colored crayon.
Why this gift matters
Kids can learn pretty early on–by picking up on explicit and implicit signals from adults–how to view a society that is becoming increasingly diverse. It’s important to both be direct with your children about living in a multicultural society by working the topic into your everyday conversations and to model good behavior as a citizen of a diverse society. Arts and crafts are an excellent opportunity to have these kinds of discussions, as kids are relatively focused on a single task. Providing children with craft supplies designed with multiculturalism in mind makes it even easier to start these conversations–and lets you encourage your children to imagine the possibility of a vibrant world packed with interesting people from whose lives and experiences they might learn. Continue reading →
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