Gone are the days where dolls and tea sets were for girls, and GI Joe and LEGOs were for boys. Science has now proven that forcing children to play with toys that “match” their sex can have a detrimental affect on their development. In general, it has been shown that if you want to develop children’s physical, cognitive, academic, musical, and artistic skills, toys that are more gender-neutral are more likely to do this.
Luckily, toy companies and merchants are starting to listen. Below are a just a few of my favorite toys that totally shatter gender stereotypes. You can feel confident that each one of the featured toys will be beneficial for growing children, regardless of which sex they were born into.
Fisher-Price Kick and Play Piano Gym
Mega Bloks
ALEX Toys Little Hands Learn To Dress Monkey
Manhattan Toy Soft Nurturing First Baby Doll
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood-Deluxe Electronic Trolley Vehicle
Educational Insights Multicolored Alphamagnets and Mathmagnets
Melissa & Doug Let’s Play House Dust! Sweep! Mop! 6-Piece Pretend Play Set
Melissa & Doug Career Dress Up Sets
IAmElemental Courage: Complete Set of Seven Female Action Figures with Lunch Box Carry Case
Magna-Tiles, Magformers, & Other Magnetic Blocks
Klutz LEGO Chain Reactions Craft Kit
Ideal 100-Trick Spectacular Magic Show Suitcase
DC Comics Multiverse Wonder Woman 12″ Figure
Singer 1304 Start Free Arm Sewing Machine with 6 Built-In Stitches
My First Lab Duo-Scope Microscope
Osmo Coding Game (be sure to also pick up a base unit here.)
Little Ms. Crate: Introduces girls ages 5-10 to STEM and Leadership careers and women role models via a bi-monthly subscription crate of fun games, dress-up, and activities.
Groovy Lab in a Box: With this subscription, you will receive boxes full of everything you need to learn about and do hands on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experiments for ages 8+.
Creation Crate: With this service, you will learn how to build electronics without any prior experience. Projects are a combination of building hardware and programming software with a focus on helping you understand how it works. Each month, you’ll be given a new project that’s slightly harder than the last. Ages 12+.
Cooper & Kid: With the Cooper Kit subscription, a themed-box is delivered to your home every 3 months. Made for dads and their kids ages 5+, each kit includes toys, activities, and stories.
While all these gifts look pretty amazing, and I’m thrilled that there are more and more toys that smash gender stereotypes, try to remember that the holidays are about family and togetherness. One way you can help your kids keep an eye on the ball is by implementing the 5 Gift Christmas Challenge. If I ever decide to have kiddos of my own, I’m totally doing this!
