Children Choose Gender Specific Toy

Kasey Baltz, Madeline Cafarella, Michaela Guard, Sarah Robertson

Introduction

Toys are created with specific genders in mind and are marketed to appeal to specific genders. This reinforces the gender stereotypes that people have been trying to eliminate with out success. Our hypothesis is that children will chose gender specific toys and siblings will influence the types of toys they like to play with. Playing by the Rules: Gender Roles and young Children. (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://sexualityandu.ca/uploads/files/CTR_GenderRolesAndYoungChildren_MAY2013-ENG.pdf

Abstract

• What the Research Says: Gender-Typed Toys | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC. (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://www.naeyc.org/content/what-research-says-gender-typed-toys

Method: Survey We surveyed all 12th grade students in their English classes and asked about

gender, what toys they liked to play with and if their

siblings influenced their toy choices. We then took a

random sampling of the 12th

graders and choose 50 girls and 50 boys. The influence

of siblings would be a confounding variable but we identified it before hand and

hypothesized the affect siblings would have on toy

choice.

Method: Experiment For the experiment

portion of our project we got permission from Mrs.

Tully, the preschool teacher to allow us to survey the preschool

students. We then walked the preschoolers through

the steps of the experiment and asked

them what their favorite toys was. We then

analyzed the data from their toy choices.

Results of the Survey

The majority of the students with older siblings where influenced by

their siblings toy choice. More girls where influenced by boy toys

where as boys could have been afraid to admit that they played

with girl toys.

Sweet, E. (2012, December 22). Guys and Dolls No More? Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/opinion/sunday/gender-based-toy-marketing-returns.html?_r=0

Results of Survey

29%

14%

21%

36%

Influence of Siblings

influecend female

influecend male

not influeced female

not influenced male

Results of Experiment

We found that the preschoolers mostly chose the gender neutral

toy or blocks or the gender specific toy which was a doll or the truck. Only one girl chose the toy of the opposite gender which was the

truck.

Girl toys, boy toys, and parenting: The science of toy preferences. (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://www.parentingscience.com/girl-toys-and-parenting.html

Result of Experiment -Siblings

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Siblings female Siblings male no siblings

Older

Younger

Results of Experiment –Toy Choice

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Blocks Doll Truck

Female

Male

DiscussionChildren tend to choose toys that

are gender specific and also tend to choose toys that are used by their

siblings.Gender Roles and Toys. (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/toys-gender-roles/

Do children's toys influence their career choices? (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25857895

Bibliography

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Bibliography

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Bibliography

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Bibliography

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Bibliography

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