The Gift of Paper Dolls
by Mary Jo Kurtz
My youngest son, Joey, is turning 8-years-old in a few weeks. As I was recently shopping online for gift ideas, I stumbled upon StarDoll.com. Here, on this free site, were virtual paper dolls that – for a brief moment – sparked happy memories of the many dolls I made as a child.
“What are you doing?” he said with concern as he walked into my office.
“Joey, look at this. I’m looking at a site where you can dress up characters, like they are paper dolls,” I said excitedly.
“Mom! That’s a girl thing! I’m not doing THAT!” he announced with horror.
“That’s a shame,” I sighed, “because I was just about to find the right uniform to put on Tom Brady for a home game. Incidentally, would that be a blue shirt or a white one?”
“Let me see that!” Joey said, sliding onto my lap.
I showed him how, even on this admittedly girly site, there is a section with sports characters. Though he has no idea who Dennis Rodman is, Joey found his wild collection of clothes quite comical.
StarDoll is like a fashion version of WebKinz, and it was fascinating Joey – because it had sports characters on it, of course.
But what made the site especially valuable on this rainy afternoon was that it opened up Joey to the creative and imaginary world of paper dolls. He left the computer and went to his craft box, cutting out people and clothes – and sports equipment.
I showed him how to put paper tabs on the clothes so that they stayed on the doll. We laughed as we glued a picture of Joey’s head to one of the bodies. We made a paper family. We made baseball uniforms.
Over the next couple of days, Joey expanded on the idea by creating a paper world. He taped together mounds of construction paper into a house with a backyard and swing set. He made paper airports with Southwest, FedEx, UPS and USAirways planes. Baseball fields and football grids were placed near a paper school.
The dining room, he explained, is Philadelphia. His bedroom is Providence. And the heap of Scotch tape, masking tape and cardboard in my office is now Washington, DC. Flights soar from room to room, carrying little paper people dressed in little paper outfits.
Joey sat on the floor yesterday in front of my desk announcing an upcoming flight to a line of paper passengers. I sat nearby on my computer sneaking a peak at a large plastic airplane toy to possibly order for his birthday. The irony of his free play was not lost on me as I looked at the price of the plastic plane.
In these budget-conscious times, I found it intriguing that my son was having so much fun with toys that cost so little. It reminded me of the piles of paper dolls that I kept in a shoebox under my bed when I was his age. They were free and they were fun, and I was so proud to have made each one of them.
It was then that the birthday gift idea came to me so clearly.
Today I filled a shoebox with construction paper, computer paper, masking tape, Scotch tape, glue sticks, markers, and scissors. Who needs a plastic airplane when you can have the entire airport!
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Start a Paper Doll Collection
Paper Fun for a Rainy Day!
Paper dolls have come a long way from the days of Betsy McCall. Today, personal computers have made it easy to find websites with printable doll patterns and reusable coloring sheets filled with wardrobe options. Try some of these tips to enhance your paper doll play:
v Check out the websites of your favorite storybook or television characters. Many have paper doll versions of their stars - making it easy to print and play!
v Turn your friends and family members into dolls by pasting their photo to a pre-cut doll template.
v For a more durable doll, print onto heavy card stock if your printer allows. Or paste your pattern onto cardboard before cutting it out for use.
v Print onto magnetic paper for dolls that can be displayed on the refrigerator. Post the wardrobe there, too, so the entire family can have fun dressing the doll.
v Trace clothing templates onto construction paper or scraps of wrapping paper for a fanciful wardrobe.
v Decorate the dolls and wardrobe with glitter, scraps of ribbon, beads, yarn, and other craft box finds.
v Spill proof your dolls by laminating with clear adhesive paper. This not only extends the life of the dolls, but it also creates a surface that can be used with dry erase pens for wipe-off play.
v Make a special birthday gift for your child or friends by creating a doll and wardrobe. Place the collection in a tissue-lined box and wrap with a big ribbon for a special treat.
v And, finally, be sure to share stories of your childhood paper dolls with your child. The paper doll tradition has been around for generations and will most likely still be popular in generations to come. Keep the magic alive by sharing your treasured traditions.
To get started on your paper doll collection, try some of these free Internet websites:
www.scholastic.com/dearamerica/myamerica/paperdolls.htm
v Fans of the My America series of Scholastic books will enjoy these paper dolls. Each is inspired by the dolls featured with the characters in the stories, and each is set in a different period of history. Includes four printable characters with clothes.
pbskids.org/caillou/activities/paperdolls.html
v Perfect for introducing paper dolls to younger children, PBS Kids features Calliou and Rosie with pages of outfits to cut and color.
www.janbrett.com/costumes_main_choice.htm
v The stunning artistry associated with Jan Brett books is brought into the paper world with two favorite characters, Hedga and Hedgie. Two paper hedgehogs with wardrobe templates. Be the first in your neighborhood with matching hedgehog paper dolls!
v This site offers a very simple doll template that can be colored in any way that you like. Pages of clothing options included.
www.allthingschristmas.com/web/kidzone/printables/paperdolls.html
v With a collection of multi-ethnic boy and girl dolls, this site is appealing for all. There are also pages of wardrobe to print and color here.
For paperless play, try these two virtual paper doll sites:
v Here you can dress your favorite celebrities, like the Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, or Tom Brady. The website features musicians, athletes, movie stars, television characters, models, royals and more. You can also make yourself into a doll and try on fashions from a number of top designers.
www.americangirl.com/agcn/paperdoll/
v Fans of American Girl dolls can enjoy dressing these virtual models in their matching historical clothes. A twist to standard paper doll sites is a game created by finding the correct clothes for each doll. See if you can match up the wardrobe to the character and win!
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“The Gift of Paper Dolls” has appeared in Forsyth Family magazine (
For information on assignments or reprints for your publication, please contact
Mary Jo Kurtz at thebluehouse@charter.net.