This year has been incredible for toy companies both big and small including more disability representation in their offerings! As part one of this year’s Holiday Gift Guide, I’m going to highlight three major brands I’ve been especially impressed with – listing several items from each, and the condition or difference each includes. (These links are all affiliate links.) I am also going to be sharing four small businesses specifically focused on creating toys to help children better understand specific disabilities or illnesses. I am in no way compensated if you purchase through these small business’s websites.
Author’s note: I realize that some groups – such as the Deaf community or people with facial differences – may not self-identify as disabled. I have included toys that reflect these traits because I believe that representation of physical differences is so important, not because I wish to label or to negate anyone’s actual lived experiences.
Okay, now let’s go shopping!
LEGO
Earlier this year, a dear friend told me there was a new LEGO set featuring a minifigure with an ostomy bag. She had been looking for ways to explain ostomy bags to her own children, and this was a great way to start the conversation with them. The LEGO Friends Heartlake City Water Park includes four characters, including a little girl with a two-piece swimsuit making her ostomy bag and scar visible.
Some other disability inclusive LEGO products currently available:
- • LEGO Friends Heartlake Hospital (includes wheelchair user, wheelchair accessible building with elevator, person with a limb difference and prosthetic arm, and prosthetist office);
- • LEGO Space Science Lab (includes wheelchair user, wheelchair accessible space scooter and lab);
- • LEGO City Burger Truck and LEGO City Tow Truck (each set includes minifigure with cochlear implant)
Barbie
I know 2023 was the Year of Barbie, but it’s the end of 2024 and I’m still listening to the movie soundtrack, quoting the film, and loving the wide range of dolls that has come out this year alone! One of my favorite new releases is the Barbie Art Therapy Set. It includes two dolls – an art therapist and a young girl. I love this set for several reasons. First, the therapist doll’s legs bend so she can sit “criss-cross applesauce” on the floor at eye level with her client, like almost all of the early childhood therapists I’ve ever met. Also, the little girl doll has an “emoji spinner” on her chest to teach children about reading facial signals and identifying emotions. Mental health awareness is so important, and I appreciate how this set makes an often-abstract topic accessible to young children through play.
Some other disability inclusive Barbie products released this past year:
- • American Federation for the Blind Barbie
- • Barbie with Wheelchair and Service Dog Playset
- • National Down Syndrome Society Barbie
Fisher-Price Little People
Fisher-Price tends to go viral among Millennials for its Little People pop cultural figurine sets (think Saved by the Bell, Schitt’s Creek, and Britney Spears). This year, though, it was the Little People Play for All School that impressed me the most. This set includes a child who uses a wheelchair, along with a swing that accommodates the wheelchair and an elevator to give the wheelchair user access to both floors of the school building. It’s an inclusive school and playground in one!
Some other disability inclusive Little People products currently available:
- • Little People Classroom Figures (includes child in wheelchair, child with vitiligo, and child with no hair)
- • Little People Play for All Figure and Accessory Pack (includes child in wheelchair, child with no hair, and wheelchair-accessible wagon)
Small businesses
• Bitsy Atwold: I’ve discussed my love of Bitsy Atwold in this blog before, and I will continue shouting my admiration from the rooftops! Bitsy Atwold offers magnetic dolls and sticker sets to help explain big topics to children. The monthly Bitsy Buddy Club subscription makes a fantastic gift – each month the recipient gets a sticker sheet and activity book about a particular topic. (Full disclosure: I have shared my personal experiences to help create several past months’ content for topics like Mobility Aids and Feeding Tubes.)
• Brave Bears Club: Brave Bears Club offers books and stuffed bears to help increase awareness around infantile spasms and reduce the stigma of pediatric epilepsy. Waves the Brave Bear, for example, comes with EEG accessories to help children prepare for this intimidating procedure. Ripple the Super Sibling Bear celebrates siblings and other family members whose lives are also affected by epilepsy and other related disabilities.
• Stitches by Charlotte: Stitches by Charlotte’s namesake founder underwent numerous surgeries as a cleft-affected young child. She started this company to help other children prepare for and recover from surgeries. Each fabric doll comes with a sewing kit and instructions so adults can customize the doll with stitches to match their child’s, recognizing the beauty in each scar.
• The Butterfly Pig: The Butterfly Pig creates realistic miniature versions of medical devices and equipment to help children feel empowered. Many items – like feeding tubes and pumps, AAC devices, and noise-reducing headphones – are even available in multiple sizes to better fit a variety of dolls, stuffed animals, and other beloved toys.
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