KMART INCLUSIVE RANGE OF DOLLS WITH DISABILITY

Last year Kmart introduced an inclusive range of dolls with various disabilities represented. It was highly praised for many reasons. I’ve talked many times about the isolation I felt as a parent looking at the media and seeing nothing which represented our family when BJ was younger. This is improving slowly but we need to continue to push for greater representation. Due to Covid I steered clear of shopping last year so I hadn’t seen the Kmart inclusive range of dolls until last weekend, and what a lovely sight it was.

KMART INCLUSIVE RANGE OF DOLLS WITH DISABILITY

Playing, and the modelling that can go along with play, is so important to children’s development. So many conversations come up as a result of sitting down and playing with our kids. It’s an opportunity to educate and to model inclusion while having fun.

The Kmart inclusive range of dolls introduces children to disability equipment including a prosthetic limb (see doll above) and a cochlear implant (see doll below). These dolls are also affordable at only $6 per doll.

The doll with a wheelchair is $12 but it’s a good size and comes with a cool coloured chair making it look less medical than the usual hospital style chairs.

For parents looking for a doll which represents vision impairment there is a girl doll with a cane and Luke who comes with a Guide Dog.

Kmart also created male and female dolls with Down Syndrome.

Baby Amelia and Baby Charlie are bigger dolls and are priced at $15 each.

When BJ was a year old he got his first pair of glasses. It certainly took a lot of convincing to get him to wear his glasses. In the process I gained a few grey hairs because BJ thought of many uses for them, other than actually wearing them. This included throwing them under his pram which bent the frame, chewing the nose pads and looking over the top of them like a little old man. It may have helped to have a doll to model with like the one below. Although not the Kmart range it is stocked at Kmart.

Kmart is also stocking a wheelchair using Barbie. I love the fact Barbie is independently positioned pushing her own chair with no push canes at the back. Being Barbie the price tag is a little steeper at $30.

No doubt there will be critics of the dolls for one reason or other but I think it’s wonderful to see diversity in a range of dolls. Hopefully they will prove popular so they continue to be stocked by Kmart Australia. I also wonder if the US Kmart, or other stores around the world, have similar ranges. Let us know here or on our Facebook post if you know of any.

You can find Kmart’s range of inclusive dolls with disability instore and online.

This is not a sponsored post.

If you are looking for gift ideas for someone with a disability we have several gift guides including this one.