Toys play important roles in the lives of young children. They stimulate pretend play, the development of cognitive skills, and social play with other children. Toys are also highly gendered. Boys and girls generally have different toys, and it is important to know how those toys impact their development.

More than 30 years ago, Rheingold and Cook (1975) observed the toys and other objects present in 1- to 6-year-old boys' and girls' bedrooms. They found that boys and girls had the same number of books, musical items, stuffed animals, and the same amount of furniture. However, boys had a greater variety of toys, and they tended to have more toys overall. There were also differences in the kinds of toys that boys and girls possessed.


Boys had more vehicles (e.g., toy cars and trucks, and also larger items such as wagons). There were 375 vehicles in the boys' rooms and 17 in the girls.' Not one girl had a wagon, bus, boat, kiddie car, motorcycle, snowmobile, or trailer in her room. Boys had more "spatial-temporal" toys (e.g., shape-sorting toys, clocks, magnets, outer-space toys); they also had more sports equipment (e.g., balls, skates, kites), toy animals, garages or depots, machines, military toys, and educational and art materials (despite the fact that these may be seen as gender-neutral).

Girls' rooms contained more dolls, doll houses, and domestic items (e.g., sinks, dishes, stoves). Boys almost never had domestic toys. Although dolls were more common for girls, it depended on the kind of doll. Girls had six times as many female dolls and nine times as many baby dolls as boys did, but boys and girls had about the same number of male dolls. In the boys' rooms, however, "dolls" were usually in such categories as cowboys and soldiers, probably comparable to today's action figures.

Since Rheingold and Cook's study, other researchers have reported on the kinds of toys boys and girls request (e.g., in their letters to Santa Claus), or what toys are purchased for boys and girls. Such studies have consistently shown that girls request and receive more clothing and jewelry, dolls, and domestic and musical items, whereas boys request and receive more sports equipment, vehicles, military toys and guns, and more spatial and temporal items such as clocks (Almqvist, 1989; Bradbard, 1985; Bradbard & Parkman, 1984; Downs, 1983; Etaugh & Liss, 1992; Richardson & Simpson, 1982). It is interesting that children apparently ask for more stereotyped toys than the ones parents spontaneously choose, which tend more often to be educational or artistic materials suitable for either gender (Robinson & Morris, 1986; Robinson, Watson, & Morris, 1984). Nevertheless, it is clear that both parents and nonparents purchase gender-stereotyped toys for children (Fisher-Thompson, 1993; Fisher-Thompson, Sausa, & Wright, 1995), especially for boys. Some studies have also shown that salespeople steer customers in the direction of gender-typical toys for children (Kutner & Levinson, 1978; Reynolds, 1994; Ungar, 1982).

There is evidence of some change over the years in children's toy requests. A recent study of children's letters to Santa showed that girls were as likely as boys to ask for real vehicles, sports equipment, and male dolls, and boys were as likely as girls to request clothing and educational or art toys (Marcon & Freeman, 1996). However, girls continued to be more likely to ask for dolls and domestic items, and boys were more likely to ask for toy vehicles, military and outer space toys, action figures, and spatial toys.

There are also many studies in which children were specifically asked about what toys they like, as well as observational studies of the toys with which children play (e.g., Blakemore, LaRue, & Olejnik, 1979; Campbell, Shirley, Heywood, & Crook, 2000; Carter & Levy, 1988; Martin, 1989; Martin, Eisenbud, & Rose, 1995; Serbin, Poulin-Dubois, Colburne, Sen, & Eichstedt, 2001; Servin, Bohlin, & Berlin, 1999). Although there are individual differences, the fact that boys and girls prefer and play with different toys is one of the most well-established features of gender development in children's early years. In fact, some recent research has shown differences in preferences for stereotyped masculine and feminine toys, even among young nonhuman primates (Alexander & Hines, 2002).

As boys and girls play with different kinds of toys, we certainly are interested in the impact of these differences in their play experiences. To understand the implications of boys' and girls' play with toys, we need to know how boys' and girls' toys are different. Some of the differences between boys' and girls' toys are obvious, but others are subtler. Some years ago, Miller (1987) examined several characteristics of boys' and girls' toys. With the assistance of preschool teachers, Miller selected 50 toys for young children to be rated by undergraduates on 12 different dimensions (e.g., Can the toy be manipulated? Is it used for symbolic or fantasy versus reality play? Can it be used to express nurturance? Does it encourage aggression? Can it be used to construct something new?). She also had the toys rated by the undergraduates as more suited to boys or to girls.