Toy Shop Visit Essay Example

animals, military toys, educational-art materials and spatial-temporal objects e.g. shape-sorting toys, clocks, magnets and outer space toys. The messages being promoted in these toys were that boys should fight, be aggressive and competitive. They were encouraged to be in control, have power, build new worlds, use their imagination and be creative.

Stereotyped gender roles were very evident in boys and girls toys as there was strong and clear messages to children about group differentiation. Nevertheless, stereotypes were less evident in the infants’ toy section, as most of the toys were gender-neutral. Most toys did not even have pictures of babies on the boxes, but even the babies on the boxes could not be identified as boy or girl.

The babies also tended to be dressed in neutral colours such as green, red, and yellow. The toys mostly played music or said words when a button was pressed. There were also a couple of shape sorters. The toys were in a variety of colours, not just pink and blue. The list of toys included: Jungle Pal Music Mirror, Attach 'n Play Monkey, Jungle Sounds Shape Sorter, First Words Phone, Sparkling Star Beads, Brain Learning Clock and Wooden Abacus.

Toys play a vital role in the development of children and are very essential to healthy child development. They are an important source of education for young children. However, gender specific toys which are targeted at children at a very early age are deeply restricting and severely limit the development of boys and girls in different ways. It was found that playing with feminine toys fosters nurturance, proximity and role play, while playing with masculine toys leads to higher mobility, activity

and manipulative play. While linked to the public sphere, men will continue to have a higher status than women as they have more power and control over the women.

Since more gender-specific toys have been introduced to young children, the existence of gender bias has been highly conspicuous in our society. It is widely accepted that children play with toys that has long-term consequences for later development. In particular, girls get to play with toys that are clearly linked to the private sphere while boys’ toys are related to the public sphere. Unfortunately, sexism in society is exposed through children’s toys which are highly stereotyped. A resolution for this is to allow children play to choose their own toys and introduce them more to the gender-neutral toys.

Toys are vital tools that help foster the mental, physical, emotional and social development of boys and girls. Toys are basic instruments for the development of children’s fantasy, thoughts and creativity.

Outdoor baby toys support the right to play in childhood which is essential to healthy child development. Children gain a strong foundation for learning through play. Playtime is fun. Young children love to explore and discover new things about the world around them and about themselves.