Best Anti-Racism Toys for Kids

INSIDE: The best anti-racism toys for kids! Build a fun and beautifully diverse playroom with this list of 25+ anti-racism toys and craft supplies for kids to help create an anti-racist home. An home that is against anti-black racism as well as racism against all visible minority groups.

In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be antiracist

by Angela Davis

As a black woman married to a white man with three bi-racial children, it was always important to me to make sure that the toys my children played with reflected them and their family. Since our family included, a diverse range of skin tones our toy room has always looked liked the world around us. But this is not the case with many toys rooms around the country.

It starts at home

There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race — scientifically, anthropologically.

Toni Morrison

Part of the work that needs to be done to combat racism and create a wholly anti-racist society starts at home with our children. The two most effective ways to bring up your child to be anti-racist is my having a variety of books and toys that reflect the diversity around you.

Not all in one day

To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.

Rosa Parks

As parents we all know that toy rooms aren’t built in a day, nor are diverse playrooms. It has taken me six years to accumulate the diverse range of toys, craft supplies and books for my children. So if you are looking to create a diverse play space for your children remember that you won’t be able to (and quite frankly shouldn’t) create one in a week or two weeks or even a year. It will and should grow with your child.

Furthermore, your diverse playroom should reflect your aesthetic and your child’s taste. Toys are toys whether they are black, white, brown, yellow or red. If you like wooden toys, look for diverse wood dolls and figurines. If your child is really into LEGO or Little People, try and include a diverse range of figurines.

List of toys to help create an anti-racist home

…’Black Lives Matter’ simply refers to the notion that there’s a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed. It’s not meant to suggest that other lives don’t matter. It’s to suggest that other folks aren’t experiencing this particular vulnerability

Barack Obama

First off, if you can find a local store that sell black and brown dolls, toys and books START THERE FIRST! Support your local community stores so that they will continue to bring in black and brown toys and dolls for all children.

If there are aren’t any local stores to shop from or if you are looking for specific toys, this list below will give you an idea of where to begin.

Anti-Racism Toy List for Kids

ByUs Box

A toolkit for raising anti-racist and inclusive kids. They currently have three sets of boxes available; The Black Box, The LGBT2SQ+ Families Box and The Gender-Expansive Box. Each of them is available in Baby, Preschool, and Elementary levels.

Multicultural Food

My toddlers love playing with their toy food. This little set featuring food from a variety of cultures is a great addition to our collection. When playing with them, don’t forget to mention where a particular food comes from!

Sushi Slicing Play Set

This adorable sushi set is a wonderful way to introduce a different culture’s food. I used to live in Japan and letting my kids experience the foods I loved to eat there as well as here in their play is amazing.

Multicultural Play Dough

Make play doh faces using colours that can match a variety of skin tones.

I Never Forget a Face Memory Matching Game for Kids

This memory game encourages kids to match a diverse range of faces. Memory games like this also help to sharpen recognition and memory skills.

Baby Doll

This cute Black doll would be a great addition to any doll collection and a great way to diversity your collection. It includes a seat carrier, bottle, sippy cup and rattle.

Native American Doll

A beautiful Indigenous or Native American doll and a great way to ensure that your doll collection is truly BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour). When you buy a Hearts For Hearts Girls doll, $1.00 is donated to World Vision, a global humanitarian organization, that aims to help better the lives of children and their communities worldwide.

Marvel Education Friends with Diverse Abilities Figure Set

Learning to be anti-racist goes hand in hand with learning about different people with diverse abilities. With this set your child can learn positive awareness and inclusive attitude towards individuals with physical challenges.

Mexican Food Play Set

Another adorable food set that is specifically Mexican food and a great way to allow kids to appreciate other cultures in a positive way in their play.

World People Set for Exploring Family

Do your kids love LEGO? Mine love their Duplo set and these little people are a great way to incorporate a variety of people that look like them and those around them.

Get Ready Kids Multicultural Family

Another cute set of diverse families and a great set to play with blocks, or playing with other toys.

Little Feminist Puzzle

A 500 piece puzzles, perfect for kids 5 years +. It includes images of key black artist like Maya Angelou and Ella Fitzgerald; and activists like Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks. It’s a wonderful way to highlight the contributions of all people in a fun and not overly educational way.

Snow Day Doll

This is one of our favourite books. This little doll makes are great accompanying toy the book. When I saw they had a doll I knew we had to get it!

The Helping Game Emotional Development Cooperative Game for Kids

Friends and Neighbours is a cooperative game where players try to find a token that represents something that will help a friend in need. This game is used to teach empathy and compassion for others. Good for 3 years +.

Big Helpers Family, African American

A black family Little People set. Diversifying your Little People toys is easier than ever!

Wonder Crew Superhero Buddy

A doll for boys! Wonder Crew was developed by a licensed therapist to promote social and emotional learning, build confidence and imagination, and empower boys to see themselves as caring, creative and strong people. Wonder crew combines the adventure of an action figure with the emotional connection of a stuffed animal to give children a best friend!

Basket of Dolls

Super soft plush doll has an adorable embroidered smile and comes dressed with a colorful outfit. Help children learn to embrace similarities and differences with other children and classmates. This toy encourages children to bond with others who may have a different ethnicity, hair color, gender or skin color.

Jumbo Puzzle

Educational toys that represent cultural and ethnic differences accurately and clearly to children can be hard to find. That is why Little Likes Kids made it their mission to provide fun, interactive, and colorful toys that represent children of all backgrounds interacting and playing together.

African American Wooden Doll House Family

Doll with Black Braided Hair

My Family Builders Happy Family Card Game

Happy Family Card Games Set uses characters from all walks of life to instill lessons about the countless family dynamics that exist. Depicting men, women, boys and girls of all races, cultures and gender identities.

Hand Puppets

 Increase children’s cognitive skills with this multi-cultural hand puppet set. These 15″ tall boy and girl puppets are light, medium and dark skin toned to encourage dialog about diversity, and loving our neighbors.

Anti-Racist Craft Supplies

People Paper Cut Outs Culturally Diverse Family

Celebrate diversity and educate acceptance of our differences with this 5 different shades of paper cut into the shape of people and faces. They include most skin tones. You can also buy full sheets on construction paper for fun crafts.

Face Multicultural Creative Cut-Outs

Multicultural Construction Paper

Crayola Multicultural Markers

When your child coloring and making a picture of their family and friends they can do so with these skin-tone colors that add realistic hues to multicultural activities. When I bought these for my daughter she was excited to find her “colour” and everyone in our family. They are also available in crayons and pencil crayons.

Multi-Cultural Crayons

Multicultural Colored Pencils

I made sure my 6 year olds had these in her pencil case this year!

Natural Unfinished Wooden Peg Doll Bodies

Multi-Ethnic Washable Tempera Paints

Celebrate all ethnicities and skin tones with Multi-Cultural Washable Tempera Paints! Includes naturalistic skin tone colors ranging from light, medium, and dark hues.

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Musical Toys

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⬅️SWIPE LEFT⬅️ 16 multicultural musical instruments for a diverse playroom🎹 / 16 instrumentos musicales multiculturales para un espacio de juego diverso🥁⁣ ⁣ “Music is food for the soul”. – Arthur Schopenhauer ❤️⁣ ⁣ When we talk about sensory learning, usually what comes to mind is play that stimulates the sense of touch. However, sound is an equally important system that receives information continuously from our environment.⁣ ⁣ Likewise, when thinking about creating a diverse play experience, we should strive to incorporate multicultural elements pertaining to different areas of expression and ways of life. ⁣ ⁣ Music should be part of our everyday life, as it is an important manifestation of human spiritual expression. Music ignites the soul, and learning to PLAY an instrument 🎻 and DANCE 💃🏼to music helps the body and the mind work together. ⁣ ⁣ Some of the incredible benefits of musical experiences in early childhood are:⁣ 🎹Mathematical Learning⁣ 🎹Learning Word Meaning and Sounds⁣ 🎹Gross and Fine Motor Skills⁣ 🎹Coordination of Movement⁣ 🎹Self-Expression⁣ 🎹Memory Skills⁣ ⁣ The musical instruments listed in this post each have rich history and cultural background. Apart from providing an engaging play experience, they can ignite meaningful conversations about our world.⁣ ⁣ I believe that creating a diverse playroom and home environment is a process! The objective isn’t to buy everything we see, but to have the awareness that these resources exist and can be used. ⁣ ⁣ ➡️You can find the links for all of the instruments by clicking the link in my bio, then “Multicultural Resources”.⁣ ⁣ What other instrument would you add to this list?🥁 Was this post helpful? Share and save it for later!🏁⁣ .⁣ .⁣ "La música es alimento para el alma". – Arthur Schopenhauer ❤⁣ ⁣ Cuando hablamos de estimulación sensorial, generalmente lo que viene a la mente es el juego que estimula el sentido del tacto. Sin embargo, el sonido es un sentido igualmente importante que recibe información continuamente de nuestro entorno.⁣ ⁣ CONTINÚA EN LOS COMENTARIOS👇🏼

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There is still more

Acquiring a diverse range of toys and talking about race is just part of the work that needs to be done to combat racism and to become anti-racist.

Check out these amazing resources:

Maya Looks on the Bright Side by Stephanie Jean-Pierre

Multicultural Toys to Celebrate Diversity by Toy Ideas

20+ Black Moms to Follow On Instagram Who Share Kids’ Activities

20+ Anti-Racism Activities for Kids

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NOTE: I know many of you are purchasing tons of books right now. Please avoid purchasing books from Amazon. Shop Indie and/or BIPOC bookstores. If you have a go-to Indie bookstore, @ them below please and feel free to shop my bookshelf using the link in my bio. Full Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Now, on to my top children’s book to teach anti-racism. Above you’ll find a variety of books to spark conversations specifically on race. There is no magic bean to cure racism. Reading a few books doesn’t equate to raising anti-racist children. There isn’t a quick fix for this and that’s where the work begins. Just like learning to ride a bike or playing a new instrument, it takes consistent practice, conversations, and action. When you are reading these books and many others, have INTENTIONAL conversations about racism, DISCUSS where it comes from, why it hurts people, what it’s based on, and how to actively fight against it. ANSWER your children’s and students’ questions and if you don’t know the answers, find out. Most importantly your children are watching you, your students are watching you, they see what you are or aren’t doing when they or others are suffering at the hands of white supremacy. Lead by example. If you don’t know where to start, Google “How to be Anti-racist”, read books, watch documentaries, educate yourself and your family. Make mistakes, learn from them, and keep growing like your life depends on it, because Black lives do.

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THE BEST ANTI-RACISM TOYS FOR KIDS. PIN IT FOR LATER!

One thought on “Best Anti-Racism Toys for Kids

  1. Crystal

    Thank you so much for taking the time to compile such a great list. My son is 16 months old, and I was really looking for inclusive toys/books to educate him with regarding race, gender, disability, etc. We moved from a very diverse area to a small town, with little diversity, for my husband’s work. It was a huge culture shock for me, but It made me sad that my son wasn’t going to get to experience the incredible facets of other cultures around him. So this was exactly what I was looking for! 💕

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