I love a touch of whimsy with my kids’ toys.  That’s why I adore these Topsy Turvy dolls from the North American Bear Company. Play with them one way and you have a perfectly adorable doll. But turn them upside down and you have something else again.

The dolls are made in beautiful tactile fabrics including felt, organza and taffeta for subliminal sensory play alongside the obvious imaginative stuff. There’s Dorothy with a flip-side Toto, Cinderella in her glad rags and her not-so-glad rags, Snow White and her nasty stepmother, Little Red Riding Hood with both the Big Bad Wolf and grandma in tow, Beauty with her Beast and his alter-ego Prince, Goldilocks with the three bears, and – so hot right now - the Good Witch and Bad Witch from Oz. Totally, umm, Wicked. 

My favourites - Cinders and Little Red - have both won coveted Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal awards along with other industry gongs. I couldn’t pick between them so my little girl’s getting both this Christmas.  You can get them too for only US$20 each from B Wares & Co, who I discovered will ship to Australia for an additional and very reasonable US$24.95.

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