It wouldn’t be Christmas without a must-have toy. But when it comes to girls, the essential gift for 2015 isn’t from Barbie, Disney or Lego, but from Shopkins; miniature figurines of items you’d find in a supermarket. How are these tiny, cute, plastic characters fuelling girls’ imaginations?

For decades, Barbie's iconic boyfriend was bestowed with sculpted abs and perfectly coiffed hair. Now, in a bid to reflect the modern man, Mattel has relaunched the Ken doll in 15 versions, offering a range of races, body types and hair styles in the brand’s most diverse line-up to date.

The days of inanimate toys are long gone, as a new breed – from kid-friendly Amazon tablets to artificially intelligent Barbies – take the stage. But with nearly half of parents worried that tech is becoming too central to the children’s leisure time, can Hatchimals bring the magic back to play?

In some kindergartens, Barbies and toy trucks stand apart – but in Sweden, robots wear tutus, and gender pronouns are neutral. Rather than using education to put children in boxes, Sweden is breaking down divides between boys and girls, in the interest of their future interpersonal skills.