Meet American Girl’s new line of five characters, called the WellieWishers: Ashlyn, Camille, Emerson, Kendall and Willa. This new line is created for the younger girls, ages 5 to 7 years old as they develop social and emotional skills like empathy, compassion and thoughfulness. The WellieWishers also have early chapter books (sold separately) that teach life lessons on sharing, cooperation, respecting feelings and just being a good friend.
I attended an event as media and received a WellieWishers doll and book for my attendance.
The WellieWishers dolls are 14.5″ tall and retail only $60 (versus the 18″ and $100+ price point of the regular American Girl Dolls) they are fully made of plastic so they hold up to all the love and play from the 5 to 7 year old younger set.
The WellieWishers accessories are all garden themed and include a magical theater stage and a premium wooden playhouse. There is also dress-like-your-doll clothing including pajamas and peek-a-boo wellies and socks!
The WellieWishers books (retail $5.99) are written by American Girl author, Valerie Tripp, who I swear can be awarded best grandma in the world. Not only is she sweet, but boy is she talented! She has over 40 years of writing and has an impressive resume: B.A. in Child Psychology from Yale; Masters in Education from Harvard.
Tripp created the WellieWishers to be curious, messy, goofy and jolly. The stories are age-appropriate and teach children to be empathetic, have respect and to be a good friend. In other words, the books help build emotional intelligence which in turn help build confidence and life skills. Tripp also wanted to make sure that WellieWishers didn’t have magic wands or super powers that the young reader does not have. Instead, she focuses the stories on just the power of imagination and friendship.
Besides the WellieWishers doll and books, there’s of course a whole slew of accessories and apparel along with an animated series and an app where your child can be immersed in the WellieWishers garden:
The Wellie Wishers animated series, American Girl’s first, will air this fall 2016 (details are not announced yet). Each episode is 11-minutes long and follows along the characters adventures in using their imaginations.
The WellieWishers app (free) helps the users engage in an interactive garden through three mini games.
Visit the WellieWishers website more information and to check out all the WellieWishers products and accessories