Out shopping with my daughter the other day, at Burlington Coat Factory, I stumbled across this Kenya Doll.
I instantly knew I had to get it for my daughter.
Just the other day I was talking with a few other moms in my Facebook Group, The Mixed Mama Community (Get invited when you subscribe to my blog!), about how hard it is to find a doll that looks like our children.
Unfortunately there are not very many multicultural, multiracial dolls on the market.
We brought her home and my daughter has not stopped playing with her since. She comes with beads, rubber bands, a comb, styling guide, and a “magic needle” to put the beads on. My daughter has been trying different hairstyles and has been loving it. I love it too. We love that she has a doll to practice hairstyles on that is similar to her.
Beads, Rubber bands, comb, “Magic Needle”, & Hairstyling Guide
Also, apparently you can get her hair wet and her curls will come out! Some of the dolls come with a “special lotion” to relax their hair. To be honest I’m glad ours didn’t come with that because I don’t want to have to deal with my daughter asking for her hair to be relaxed. Not ready for that and I want her to keep her hair natural and beautiful as it is, for as long as possible.
Please understand I’m not saying relaxed hair isn’t beautiful… I just want her to be proud and confident with her curls. We’ve already dealt with her saying she wants her hair straight like mommy’s. We want to instill self-pride her our children.
Kenya
She is 13″ tall and is apparently part of a line of dolls called Kenya and Friends.
There is also Korina, Kenzy, Baby Keyara, Keyondra Lockett, Teen Kenya, and they’ve even partnered with WNBA Basketball Star Player Aerial Powers.
When you check out their website it shows the dolls are for Pre-Order only. How I got this doll I’m not really sure. But I’m glad I did.
On their Kenya and Friends site they range in pricing from $14.99 + $8.50 shipping to $24.99 + $11.00 shipping (Aerial Powers). The one we purchased is listed as $19.99 + $11.00 shipping. We luckily got her at Burlington though for only $9.99. The only thing thought with Burlington is that you never know what you will find. They had a few more of Kenya and two of Baby Keyara.
If you pre-order by November 30th of this year they guarantee delivery by Christmas.
We were not sponsored for this post, and the doll was purchased with our own money. I just was so excited to find a doll that looked like my daughter, for an affordable price, that I had to share it with you.
Let me know your thoughts? Would you get this doll for your multicultural, multiracial child? What about for your for your child even if your family isn’t multiracial? I think it’s a great idea. Let me know below!
Thanks for reading!
TheFallibleQueen
I’m glad that they have more multi racial dolls, when I was growing up it was a rare thing. I believe any child should have one regardless of their race, it’s important at a young age they realize that everyone’s hair texture and how they style their hair is different.
themixedmamablog
I completely agree! 🙂 It unfortunately is still rare to find a multiracial doll.. with curly hair. They dolls still usually have straight hair. :/ At least at the stores I’ve been to. I think kids should have dolls of all styles. 🙂
TheFallibleQueen
Definitely it’s great exposure to children. All natural hair is beautiful whether wavy, curly or straight.
themixedmamablog
Absolutely! 🙂
stylelullaby
Love that there are more diverse racial dolls out there now. I still remember when I was growing up… I only remembered there being Barbie, but my parents always instilled in me the importance of appreciating my own culture. xo, sharon
http://www.stylelullaby.com/fashion/free-people-lace-peasant-top/
Tevin
I bought some of these in rite-aid in the last 7-10 days and they also had Kenzy and Korina but the one by my house only had 1 Kenya and she was the lightest later I bought another lighter Kenya and darker one but those were the only 2 Kenyas they had and that rite-aid only had 1 Kenzy and 1 Korina the one by my house and plenty of those 2 I may have to stock Burlington for the very dark Kenya with the school girl uniform
KAREN JONES
I wouldn’t have gotten a doll like this as a child. I was not aware of dolls from other heritage. However, as a full grown senior citizen and mom, I would definitely buy this doll for any child who loves dolls. When you have dolls that do not all look alike, it is good for your imagination and helps you to exercise your creativity. When they look different, you can pretend play that they have different personalities and interests. Mom and dad can coax the child along to let them know about the heritage of people who look different than ourselves – USING ONLY POSITIVE INFORMATION is best… we don’t want to raise a little smarty pants that has hate on the brain. Thank you for the article because I was not aware of the different versions in this particular doll (family) . I was considering a purchase of a few of the hair growing kerya to give to the Christmas campaign here in our little town. I know they will make the kids happy. Now I see there are quite a selection and that makes me happy as well! ☃️