Parents’ and children’s favourite toys
This overview lists the ten toys most often selected as favourites (by mothers/daughters and fathers/sons respectively).
One way we can contribute to mapping toy market development over a couple of decades is by comparing today’s favourite toys with the toys parents state were their favourites (1993). This research was in fact undertaken before the explosion within the PC games, video film and CD-ROM market.
To add further information to this comparison we include 6-11 year olds’ favourite toys at Christmas 1996 (Source: KIDTRENDS TM/December 1996).
(This source is from one of the many market research institutes which register and analyse consumer wishes and purchases on the toy market. It is of course not strictly accurate to compare the Christmas wishes of American children with those of Danish children. There are cultural differences - even though toys are generally marketed simultaneously all over the world.)
The girls’ and the mothers’ favourite toys
High on the mothers’ list are dolls (baby, girl and boy dolls) along with dolls’ clothes, dolls’ house and dolls’ pram.
For their daughters, the favourite doll is adult female doll (Barbie and copy products). Other favourites within soft toys are teddy bears.
One toy the girls have which their mothers didn’t is the cassette tape player.
The boys’ and the fathers’ favourite toys
The fathers’ and sons’ choices of toys are more or less the same. They own more or less the same types of toys and the same toys are favourites.
Differences are to be found in that the boys have action figures (guardian dolls) and, of course, personal computers.
At Christmas 1996 (source: KIDTRENDS TM/December 1996) the research concerned favourite wishes:
Girls: 20% video games, 10% selected Barbie items, 9% dolls generally, 8% drawing/cutting out materials, 8% books, 8% video games and 8% soft toys.
Boys: 47% selected video games, 12% action figures (guardian dolls)
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Boys’ and fathers’ favourite toys 10 most frequently mentioned toys |
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Toys |
275 fathers
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86 3-5 year olds |
119 6-10 year olds |
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|
number |
% rating |
number |
% rating |
number |
% rating |
|
cars bicycle LEGO/DUPLO products farming football Tekno train set gun/air rifle Bilofix teddy bear toolbox castle/station/fort Playmobil electric keyboard tape cassette player Action Force computer/PC skateboard
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56 23 22 21 16 16 7 6 6 5
|
20 8 8 8 6 6 3 2 2 2 |
11 4 10 3
3 5 3 3 2 2 |
13 4 12 3
3 5 3 3 2 2
|
15 3 33 4 7
2 4
9 5 2 |
12 2 27 3 5
1 3
7 4 1
|
Source: Steenhold (1993,d)