Parents of non-white kids have often had to search high and low for black, Asian, Hispanic and other ethnic dolls. While blond-haired and blue-eyed dolls are fine, parents and children want dolls that look like the little girls that are playing with them, and many parents want their children to have dolls with a variety of skin tones and features.

For transracial adoptive parents, finding ethnic dolls can be fun and can be a challenge. I was excited to see this article titled "KMart Launches Multicultural Doll Brands".

Next week, every KMart store will have almost four dozen different ethnic dolls on their toy shelves, and of course an advertising campaign will be going along with the new dolls. The article states that the advertising campaign and dolls should appeal to black, Asian and Hispanic parents, however I would definitely add transracial adoptive parents to the list of parents who will be interested in these dolls.

What sets KMart apart from other stores is that they are putting these dolls in every one of their stores, instead of just in areas where there are higher concentrations of black, Asian and Hispanic populations, as Toys R Us and Walmart both do. Since I live in an area that is predominantly white, I was really happy to read that these dolls will be in every store.

The article talks about the success of Dora the Explorer on Nickelodeon, the increasing "spending power" of the minority populations in the U.S. and the increasing demand for ethnic dolls and toys.

I also like the fact that they talk about making the dolls with diverse eyes, noses and mouths, instead of just using the "white doll" mold and changing the color of the dolls hair, skin and eyes.

From the article:

"People want a doll and a story that reflects who they are," said Julie Parks, a spokeswoman for Mattel's American Girl, which includes Native American, Hispanic and black historical dolls, as well as dolls with myriad skin, eye and hair color combinations. "There is something about seeing a reflection of themselves in that character and in that doll that they can relate to."

In our home we have a wide variety of dolls for all of our kids. We have blond, black and Asian Barbies, black and Asian Cabbage Patch Kids, way too many Dora dolls, action figures of every hue and a myriad of Bratz (I really don't like them), porcelain dolls, baby dolls and princess dolls.

I am always keeping an eye out for cute ethnic dolls for my girls, and so I was excited to read about KMart's new products. I will definitely be checking them out.

Here are some other places to find ethnic dolls and toys.

Adoptionshop

Dolls Like Me

Dolls and Toys For Adopted Children