Toys and children’s ages
(based on Steenhold (1993,d))
4-10 year olds
Children own far more toys than they and their parents say they do. Many children and their parents say, for example, that baby toys and old toys which are no longer in use have been stored away. But they don’t always know exactly what they have stored away or how much.
Furthermore, children regard many of these “miscellaneous toys” as useless. Other toys lose their value for a variety of reasons.
For the project’s survey, the children and their parents were asked to list maximum 15 toys which the child played with at the time of the survey. However, many children wrote down only 6-12 toys. The toys from the children’s toy collections which are registered in the survey are the toys which have some kind of value and significance for the child. By this we mean the toys which are significant “here and now”, at the age the child was at the time of the survey. They are also registered because they are the toys the child played with at the time of the survey. They are not necessarily the child’s favourite toys but some of them may be favourites. (See Chapter 6, Favourite toys.)
Table 5.7.1. is not immediately surprising. However, where toys for the 4-10 year old children are concerned, the subgroup Weapons is notably under-represented in both this table and the following tables. This is not because the children do not own many weapons but that toy weapons are apparently not especially “top of mind”.
Table 5.7.1. 4-10 Year Old Children’s Toys - distributed by main groups and subgroups (1% or more)
The children were asked to list up to 15 toys which they played with at the time of the survey.
|
Main/subgroups |
No. |
Pct (%) |
|
Implements props/accessories transport/machinery drawing/collecting inventory listen and learn tools/implements weapons music
Systems LEGO/DUPLO products Playmobil
People dolls guardian dolls war dolls
Animals symbolic animals animal figures
Nature natural materials/play wood
|
2165 726 362 359 211 209 106 94 47
474 327 111
443 266 88 56
248 150 53
179 110 43
|
61.7 20.7 10.3 10.2 6.0 6.0 3.0 2.7 1.3
13.5 9.3 3.2
12.6 7.6 2.5 1.6
7.1 4.3 1.5
5.1 3.0 1.2 |
The subgroup Props/accessories includes games (6.4%), jumping, rolling, playing hopscotch (2.8%), dressing-up (2.4%) and all playground equipment for athletics/sports.
Source: Steenhold (1993,d).
Wegener-Spöhring (1986:797-810) reach the same conclusion. We have to differentiate between toy weapons and war machines (war toys) because the survey defines weapons as “hand guns”. Wegener-Spöhring defines war toys as “toys which present an image of war and with which children play war games”.
Toy weapons are only rarely used in play: only on specific occasions when children playing certain roles have to act out/demonstrate aggression, power, courage and strength. Otherwise toy weapons are only used now and again in games like “cops and robbers” and “cowboys and Indians”. Furthermore, the acquisition of a toy weapon occurs in many cases as an impulse buy.
Toys 4-5 year olds play with
The survey included 159 four and five year olds’ toy collections, distributed by main and subgroups (only those which accounted for 4% or more of toy collections) plus the 12 most frequently listed.
Table 5.7.2.1. 82 Four year olds’ toy collections by main and subgroups (figures are percentages)
|
50 boys
|
32 girls
|
||
|
Implements transport/machinery props/accessories tools/implements drawing/collecting listen and learn inventory weapons
Systems LEGO/DUPLO products
Animals symbolic animals
Nature
People |
66% 20.6 16.3 6.0 6.0 5.8 4.2 4.0
17% 12.3
7% 4.6
5%
3%
|
Implements props/accessories drawing/collecting inventory listen and learn
People doll
Systems LEGO/DUPLO products
Nature natural materials/play
symbolic animals |
63% 21.0 16.1 14.2 4.8
15% 12.9
10% 8.7
6% 5.5
5% 4.5
|
|
No. of choices individual toys
|
|||
|
Boys, 496 choices
|
Girls, 310 choices
|
||
|
cars games LEGO products toolbox farming books DUPLO products drawing/cutting out/sticking bicycle Playmobil castle/fort/station teddy bear
|
drawing/cutting out/sticking games doll adult female doll household implements bicycle dressing up doll/doll’s pushchair teddy bear jumping/rolling/hopscotch LEGO products books
|
||
Source: Steenhold (1993,d)
Dolls are absolutely not attractive toys for small boys. They don’t even rate guardian dolls. Symbolic animals and soft toys (the teddy bear being the most prevalent type) have no great priority in small boys’ consciousness. Small boys are interested in transport/machinery and props/accessories in the form of cars, LEGO/DUPLO products, tools and agricultural machinery for use on the farm. Games and drawing materials are of secondary importance.
Where small girls are concerned, “handicraft” toys - i.e. the materials necessary for drawing, painting and collecting - and the accessories needed for play with dolls and doll accessories are the toys most often chosen. The smaller girls also choose natural materials and sandbox equipment for playing shops and Daddy-Mummy-Baby games.
Adding up the total number of items, People (including dolls) has a significant position in the toy collections of the smaller girls. The different types of dolls (both Barbie and the classic doll types) are important elements included at the same priority level as other accessories. Dolls take up most space on the shelves and are undoubtedly the smaller girls’ favourite toys.
Table 5.7.2.2. 77 Five year olds’ toy collections by main and subgroups (figures are percentages)
|
36 boys
|
41 girls
|
||
|
Implements props/accessories transport/machinery weapons drawing/collecting listen and learn
Systems LEGO/DUPLO products Playmobil
Nature natural materials/play
People
Animals |
61% 18.4 18.1 6.4 5.8 5.8
17% 11.4 4.2
7% 5
7%
6%
|
Implements props/accessories drawing/collecting inventory listen and learn
People doll
Systems LEGO/DUPLO products
Animals
Nature natural materials/play |
61% 19.0 14.6 12.6 6.0
16% 13.7
8% 6.0
7%
6% 5.2
|
|
No. of choices individual toys
|
|||
|
Boys, 359 choices
|
Girls, 365 choices
|
||
|
cars games LEGO products books bicycle Playmobil farming drawing/cutting out/sticking teddy bear pistol DUPLO products toolbox
|
drawing/cutting out/sticking adult female doll games bicycle LEGO products rag doll dolls’ house/furniture doll/doll’s pushchair household implements cars books doll |
||
Source: Steenhold (1993,d)
In general terms, where the four and five year olds are concerned Implements (objects and props/accessories) and partly also Systems are the groups which dominate the children’s toy collections. However, girls and boys own different types of implements and systems.
In the case of the boys, their collections include transport (small/large toy cars), copies of machines, tools and implements which can be used with items from the Systems group (especially LEGO/DUPLO products and Playmobil). Weapons, which did not appear in the collections of the smaller children, now account for 6.4% of the toy collections. These are ordinary types of weapon used in play where the children “go hunting” (after each other - or objects which represent animals in the game) and in play which includes fighting and shooting. These weapons include pistols, rifles, swords, bows and arrows, etc.
The 36 boys’ war toys included eight pistols, four Action Force dolls, four daggers/knives (used in connection with a fishing rod or net), four bows and arrows and one cowboys-and-Indians figure.
The girls did not own any weapons, except for a dagger/knife (in connection with a fishing rod/net). Where the girls’ Implements are concerned, they use a great variety of play and handicraft materials including dolls’ house furniture and accessories, drawing/collecting things, ornaments. Within the Systems group, the girls owned LEGO/DUPLO products and Playmobil. In their play with dolls, the adult female doll (Barbie type) has overtaken the lead from the classical doll types.
Toys 6-10 year olds play with
The research included 242 six to nine/ten year olds’ toy collections split into main and selected subgroups. Only those subgroups which represented more than 4% of the toy collections and the 12 most frequently chosen individual toys are listed.
Around the age of five to seven years there is a general change in both girls’ and boys’ toy collections in terms of the Implements the children own.
The importance of equipment associated with physical activities in children’s play increases and focus on these implements in the children’s everyday lives also increases as the children become more independent and self-sufficient. Roller skates/roller blades, hopscotch stones and skipping ropes are particularly important for the girls while the boys take an interest in soccer. In fact, the boys’ interest in the Implements group is more or less unchanged. They continue to be interested in transport, machinery, outdoor play equipment and balls.
In the Systems group, LEGO/DUPLO products and Playmobil continue to be heavily represented. However, new interests appear in the form of guardian dolls, tools, special implements, dressing up clothes and drawing/colouring/collecting. The children collect all kinds of things and small objects/ornaments in whatever form the current “craze” dictates.
At this stage, the girls’ “collecting and swapping” play includes beads, stationery, coloured stickers, stones, pressed flowers and leaves. The girls’ outdoor play equipment includes bicycles, balls, roller skates/roller blades, skipping ropes, etc.