Dolls with Down syndrome features donated to kids at the PREP Society

An early childhood educator's company, Bee You Kids, specializes in dolls from all cultural backgrounds, as well as some with Down syndrome features.

Andile Pfupa and her company, Bee You Kids, donated 15 dolls with Down Syndrome features to the PREP Society in Calgary.

Pfupa, an early childhood educator, says dolls are one of the most important toys to help children develop, and these dolls are having an impact on children, as well as their parents and caregivers.

“For many, it’s the first time that they’ve ever seen a doll that looks like them,” she said.

“I work with children with special needs, and I have been doing that since 2011, and I feel that they represent Canada, too, and they should be included, so I’m always thinking about children with special needs.”

Pfupa sells dolls from a variety of cultural backgrounds and says kids quickly identify with them.

“For most kids, they usually colour themselves as blond with blue eyes, but once you introduce (my dolls) as a resource, they colour themselves how they look, and then they start to colour their friends as well,” she said.

Pfupa started her company after searching for a toy for her niece and being unable to find any with African features.

“Now I do have dolls that have African features,” she said.

“But what’s so different about them is that they have textured hair, and it’s exactly like how Africans have textured hair, and then there’s some with vitiligo, albinism and all ethnicities and skin tones that represent Canada.”

The PREP Society is an organization that provides services and programs for individuals with Down syndrome, from birth well into their teens.

“A lot of the staff have said that from the second the dolls arrived and they got put into the classrooms, the kids just gravitated toward them,” said Curtis Slater, PREP Society executive director.

“They’re being used in our early learning program and our ECS program and in our therapy services as well.”

Slater says it’s long overdue to have dolls with Down syndrome features for kids to play with.

“We focus so much on belonging and inclusion here, and it’s hard to feel like you belong when you don’t see yourself represented out in the community,” he said.

“So having dolls, even just in this space, and just being able to say, ‘Oh, you know, that doll looks like me,’ it means a lot, and it’s important for that representation and that sense of belonging.”

Nicole McFarlane, a learning support facilitator, is working with a group of children aged three to five years old and says the kids love the dolls.

“As soon as we brought them in, they were all over them,” she said.

“They’ve just connected with them, and it’s neat to see them recognizing themselves in them, so we’ve picked certain dolls to be in certain classrooms so that the kids have a little more representation of themselves that they are able to play with and interact with on a daily basis.”