Why Children PL AY the Way They Do PART 4 Gender Differences After Age 3 by Nancy Zwiers, CEO, Funosophy Inc.
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n Part 1*, the Funosophy Play Theory described how biologically based play drive is nature’s way of helping children wire their brains optimally for survival, as they progress through three age-based stages of play. Part 2** examined core play patterns of children ages 0 to 2 years, and Part 3*** examined kids in the primary toy-buying years—ages 3 to 7—when play interests largely diverge by gender. Here, Part 4 focuses on exploring gender differences in more detail and covers how play evolves yet again at about the age of 8.
Gender Differences in Play Among Children Over 3 Years As kids approach 3 years old, their play diverges along gender lines. As discussed in detail in Part 3, while boys play
out empowering fantasies of physical power and prowess, girls seek feelings of empowerment through nurturing/social and beauty play.
Evolutionary Pressures These stereotypical “gender-ized” play patterns may make today’s enlightened adults squirm, but they are biologically based, having evolved over the 4 million years since we diverged from apes through natural selection: • Procuring Food: In the eons of human history dominated by hunter-gatherer societies, division of labor was the norm. Survival depended on the physically stronger males honing their hunting ability as females nurtured their young and also gathered edible plant-based food. • Finding a Mate: Mating strategies, central to survival of the species, differed among genders as well. Males physically competed with each other for mates and sought out females who demonstrated fertility and good health through outer physical cues we have come to associate with beauty. Females, for their part, chose their mates based on their perception of the male’s ability to protect and provide, given the heavy investment of energy required for child rearing.
Different Play Styles • In addition to the fantasies that drive imaginative play discussed in Part 3, the genders differ in style of play too, as shown below. Think about how these differences
22 • THE TOY BOOK
MAY/JUNE 2014