NEW YORK (AP) — Toy companies are working harder to think outside their usual box, offering more-inclusive items like dolls with disabilities, female superhero figures and characters with a range of skin tones.

Many of the products started with smaller businesses, but big names like Mattel and Hasbro are getting into the game and offering more options this holiday season.

What that means on the shelves is Barbies that have a greater variety of body types, eye colors and facial structures, a Lego mini-figure of a boy who uses a wheelchair, and an American Girl doll with accessories like a diabetes kit and arm crutches.

Elizabeth Sweet, a sociologist and lecturer at California State University in Sacramento, California, says it's important for kids to see themselves in the toys and objects they interact with.

[STORY BY: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

 

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