Article
Building a Pink Dinosaur: the Effects of Gendered Construction Toys on Girls’ and Boys’ Play
Sex Roles
(2018)
Abstract
Play with building toys such as LEGO® sets promotes spatial learning in children. The present study examined the effects of the color of the bricks (either pink or blue) and the femininity/masculinity of the object built on boys’ and girls’ play with LEGO® sets. Children (n = 116, M age = 7.27 range = 5–10) were given the opportunity to build with LEGO® brick sets, both instructed and free play tasks. For the instructed task, the type of object (feminine: cat; masculine: dinosaur) and color of the bricks (pink, blue) were counterbalanced across participants. Their play was coded for accuracy of following the instructions and time to complete the task. In the free play task, brick color (pink, blue) was counterbalanced across participants, and structures were coded for femininity/masculinity and the number of bricks used. Overall, children took longer to build a feminine object with blue bricks than with pink bricks. In the free-play task, boys built more masculine objects than girls did, regardless of the color of bricks they were given. Results showed that boys completed the LEGO® tasks faster than did girls, controlling for interest in and experience with LEGO® play. These findings suggest that toy color and type can impact how children interact and play with toys.
Keywords
- Gender,
- Children,
- Gender Identity
Disciplines
Publication Date
September 1, 2018
DOI
10.1007/S11199-017-0806-3
Citation Information
Megan Fulcher and Amy Roberson Hayes. "Building a Pink Dinosaur: the Effects of Gendered Construction Toys on Girls’ and Boys’ Play" Sex Roles Vol. 79 Iss. 5 (2018) p. 273 - 284 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/amy-hayes/7/