Skipper Roberts is a doll created by Mattel in 1964 to be Barbie's young sister. Since 2009, she has a purple streak in her hair and is shown to have a tech-savvy and clever personality. Compared to her sisters, Skipper is shy and quiet, but also very sarcastic. In some of the Barbie films, she likes to work on her photo blog or DJing. She had a starring role in the 2023 television film, Barbie: Skipper and the Big Babysitting Adventure.

Skipper's appearance has changed significantly since her introduction. The first Skipper doll was eight years old. She was designed as a response to requests for Barbie to have children; Mattel felt that a little sister would be a better choice instead. Skipper was later changed to a teenager, and a controversial "Growing Up Skipper" doll with growable breasts was created to demonstrate the change.

According to the Random House novels of the 1960s, Skipper is the second child of George and Margaret Roberts of Willows, Wisconsin (their first child being Barbie). In these novels, she attended Baker Elementary, while the Marvel Comics of the early 1990s had her at Central Junior High School.

Since Skipper was re-released in 2009, she has had a new personality to match her redesigned appearance. She is described as a technology lover who likes "being a gadget girl and trying out the hottest techie toys." Skipper is shown to be 14 years old in the TV series, Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures.

Skipper current design has also been rendered in computer animation for her appearances in the Barbie film series and the television adaptations of the Barbie media franchise including Dreamhouse Adventures, where she and fellow younger sisters were given "a realistic and modern CGI look" that was different from previous entries in the franchise.

Since Skipper was introduced, the dimensions of the doll have changed significantly. She was 9.25 inches (23.5 cm) in height (compared to Barbie's 11.5 inches (29 cm)) when she was introduced, and then as newer versions were released, she gradually became taller with a teenage appearance. Usually, Skipper dolls have blue eyes. Skipper currently most often has pale skin and brunette hair with a purple streak.

Skipper was created, along with Midge, to counteract criticism that claimed Barbie was a sex symbol. Midge's facial appearance was gentler than Barbie's, whereas Skipper was a response to requests for Barbie to have children; however, instead of having a married, pregnant Barbie, which would make her too domestic, Barbie would babysit Skipper. As Barbie's little sister, Skipper was Barbie's first family member sold. Since their introduction in 1964, Skipper dolls have changed drastically.

In 1975, Growing Up Skipper was released. The gimmick of the doll, which led to much controversy in the newspapers, was that if Skipper's arm was rotated, the doll would become an inch taller and small breasts would appear on her rubber torso. This concept was later used for Mattel's My Scene brand in 2007 with the "Growing Up Glam" line, which was also controversial. In 1979, Skipper's entire appearance changed. She was advertised as "Super Teen Skipper". She had a new body mold which included small, permanent breasts, and a different head mold that made her look slightly older. In 1985, Hot Stuff Skipper was released, which had another new head mold that included the addition of dimples and a longer face.