How to choose Toy Dolls

Before choosing toy dolls, decide who the doll is for and how it will be used. People who buy dolls for collections or for decorative purposes will make different choices than a parent buying a doll for a toddler. Here are some questions to help you clarify what you want before buying a doll:

• Is the doll for decorative purposes?
• Do you plan on keeping the doll as part of a collection or for investment purposes?
• If the doll is for a child, what age is the child? Does the doll suit the age of your child?
• Is the doll safe for your child to use? Does it contain any small parts that would be unsuitable for a toddler or a baby?
• Do you want a soft cuddly doll or a more "rigid" plastic doll that can be positioned?
• Do you want a doll that performs special functions, like speaking or drinking from a bottle?
• Do you want a doll that comes with additional accessories? Do you want to add accessories in the future?
• Has your child asked for a particular doll? What popular cartoon or movie characters does your child like? Are dolls available that look like those figures?

Doll Accessories

Many dolls come with accessories or there are additional items that can be purchased to match the doll's size, style, and "persona." This is especially true of many mass-manufactured plastic dolls. Barbie dolls were one of the first of this type and consequently there are many Barbie "add-ons" available. American Girl dolls are another line with multiple accessories and extras. Typically doll accessories include personal tools like brushes or purses, action items like cars or horses, and setting pieces like beauty salons or houses. All are geared toward imaginative play that places the doll as part of a make-believe "world."

Doll Clothes

Another type of accessory that can be bought separately is doll clothes. Many mass-manufactured dolls sport entire fashion lines and in some instances with Barbie dolls the figures' value as a collectible can actually be related to specific "outfits." Clothes can also be bought or made for any doll from porcelain dolls to rag dolls and even hand-knitted dolls. Doll markets are a particularly good place to find home-made doll clothes.

Benefits of Dolls

There are many benefits to buying dolls for your children including:

• Dolls allow children to use their imaginations.
• Dolls allow children the responsibility of dressing and caring for their doll. A baby doll is a great investment for a young girl who is about to have a baby brother or sister.
• Dolls allow children the pleasure of being in control. They can choose what clothes their doll wears and what it does.
• Dolls allow children to practice values and to think about correct methods of behavior. Children will often tell dolls not to do something that is naughty.

Famous Types of Dolls

Many popular dolls have gained fame in their own right, sometimes disappearing from the market only to return as a favorite of another generation of children. Others never seem to fall from favor. Raggedy Ann and Andy have delighted children for years as have Strawberry Shortcake, the Cabbage Patch, Groovy Girl, and American Girl dolls. Whether it be homemade paper dolls dressed in clothes cut from catalogs or fully equipped Barbie dolls and her "boyfriend" Ken, dolls have long been a favorite childhood plaything.