Dolls can become life-long treasures. Helping children learn about caring for human-looking toys, dolls offer an outlet for nurturing instincts. They've also become quite collectible by adults. Boys may prefer a teddy bear or a hand puppet, but they all function as imaginary friends that sometimes need to go to the doll hospital.

How Does It Work?

A doll is a small-scale figure of a human being used especially as a child's plaything. Dolls are also keepsakes, collectibles, and sometimes valuable antiques. Repair of valuable antique dolls and porcelain dolls should be left to a professional or a "doll hospital."

Common play dolls come in three types. Soft dolls (or rag dolls) are made of durable fabric, usually with hair made of yarn. Cloth-body dolls have torsos made of cloth, heads and limbs that are plastic or vinyl, and hair that is either rooted or a glued wig. Some plastic or vinyl dolls are held together by flanged limbs or elastic.

What Can Go Wrong?

Unlike children, dolls suffer in silence. They may get torn or lose an arm or leg without complaint. After years of use or storage their stuffing may go flat, or they may need a gentle cleaning to revive them.

Fix-It Tip

Wash dolls with a mild detergent and a damp rag, then dry with a clean rag. If the doll's hair is rooted (fed through the scalp), you can shampoo it. Don't shampoo dolls with wigs because water may damage the glue.