We believe that dolls with just a hint of facial features, or even no features at all, are more likely to stimulate a child’s imagination and encourage more open ended play. A doll with a minimum of expressions can have various emotions, just as in real life situations. It can be happy or sad, bossy or strong and can imitate the child’s own range of feelings, ultimately giving the child control over the numerous play possibilities.
A plastic/vinyl doll on the other hand has one fixed frozen smile feature. One can argue that some plastic dolls have a positive role to play. Some fashion dolls have themes to them, such as vets, horse trainers or doctors. However, even with these themed dolls, the play is ‘fixed’ to the theme, resulting in limiting the child’s independent thinking. Alternatively a simple natural doll can help boost creativity as the child has to think and use his or her own imagination to create the play, as opposed to the doll dictating to the child how to play.
Another concern is that many manufactures of plastic dolls are quite happy with promoting early sexualisation with their dolls.
The plastic dolls which are suppose to be ‘positive role models’ have full make up, high heels and highly sexualised unrealistic body forms, which are not an ideal role model for any little girl or boy to look up to. There’s already enough pressure from the media and society to look a certain way without implanting these unnatural standards in to dolls.
Handmade dolls
We are accustomed to living in a throwaway society where toys are thrown out and replaced at an alarming rate. Rarely will you be able to repair a plastic doll with a broken limb. Instead, hordes of these dolls end up in landfill sites. Well-made heirloom quality cotton dolls can be cleaned and repaired and passed down to other children instead of being thrown out. They can be treasured in childhood, and remembered with fondness in adulthood.
Our fair trade dolls are all hand made. The dolls are created from 100% cotton which is hand loomed by age old production methods without any usage of electrical machinery. This produces a heavy high quality cotton that is beautifully tactile to touch. Each doll or soft toy is then lovingly handcrafted by artisans who work under fair trade conditions.
The dolls are beautiful in sight with a range of skin colours to compliment the diversity of people in the world. Without sounding too clichéd, each doll is made with care and love by the doll maker to be treasured by the child.
A wonderful quote that captures the value of a handmade doll is by the doll maker, Maricristin Sealey, “…a handcrafted doll is one of a kind, an individual which carries the spirit of the maker in its stitches and absorbs the spirit of the child who loves it.”