As you all know I am embarking on a series of mainstream toy shop reviews to ascertain the level on inclusion amongst their range. This week I took a trip to my local Kmart.

Back in the day when I was a kinship carer I spent countless hours scanning the shelves of Kmart trying to find dolls and toys that reflected the appearance of my kinship daughter to no avail. To say that I was pleasantly surprised when I rounded the corner into the toy section this week would be an understatement. I could not believe how far this toy chain had come.

I was shocked to discover the number of black dolls they had along their shelves. It definitely was not just the token one or two. I found that the majority of their doll collections had a black doll represented in the range. However, I was still left wanting for a black boy doll.

In their other toy categories they didn’t do so great. In particular it was the lego, science and art ranges that didn’t seem to have diversity reflected either on the packaging or within the product itself. However, I did find a great emotions and feelings card set that showcased diversity both culturally and through gender. Additionally, I thought there were a number of children’s books that showed diversity in appearance of the characters within the narrative with a good representation of black identifiable characters throughout.

Overall I give Kmart 3.5 stars out of five!