tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/educational-toys-13339/articlesEducational toys – The Conversation2021-12-21T20:50:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1731742021-12-21T20:50:19Z2021-12-21T20:50:19ZDon’t fret about buying the ‘right’ toy – any toy is educational if you support kids in their play<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437694/original/file-20211215-15-3w2jh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C20%2C6786%2C4527&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s that time of the year again, and besides the new COVID-era concerns about retail supply chains comes the age-old question: what’s the best educational toy to buy for the child (or grandchild) in your life?</p>
<p>There’s a vast range of toys that claim to stimulate learning, or foster creativity, or boost kids’ STEM skills. The <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/194395/revenue-of-the-global-toy-market-since-2007/">US$94.7 billion global toy market</a> offers a bewildering amount of choice, while parenting blogs warn against <a href="https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/185069865925349595/">“one and done” toys</a>, Instagram influencers make us feel like we don’t measure up, and kids, being kids, pester us for whatever their friends have, or they’ve just seen on YouTube.</p>
<p>But here’s a simple truth: you know your child (and your budget) better than anyone. And here’s some reassuring advice: it doesn’t matter whether you choose a prescriptive toy such as a chemistry set or science kit, or an “open-ended” toy such as building blocks or plastic bricks. Any toy can be educational when you play with your children and talk to them about what they are doing and learning.</p>
<p>All you need to consider is what toys your child already has, what age they are, and what you think they would most enjoy playing with next. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-robots-to-board-games-its-easy-to-do-science-this-christmas-88571">From robots to board games, it's easy to do science this Christmas</a>
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<h2>Favourite toys</h2>
<p>Each year, the <a href="https://www.museumofplay.org/exhibits/">Museum of Play</a> in Rochester, New York, inducts toys into its hall of fame. This year, <a href="https://www.museumofplay.org/exhibits/toy-hall-of-fame/inducted-toys/">sand</a> was recognised, following in the illustrious footsteps of the stick, which was inducted in 2006. </p>
<p>The full list includes Cabbage Patch dolls, Battleship, Risk, The Settlers of Catan, Mahjong and billiards, as well as the piñata, American Girl Dolls, Masters of the Universe and the Fisher-Price Corn Popper. One of my personal favourites, Uno, made it in 2018, and of course Lego is there, having been added in 2015.</p>
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<img alt="Child playing with Lego" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437496/original/file-20211214-13-1ntr248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437496/original/file-20211214-13-1ntr248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437496/original/file-20211214-13-1ntr248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437496/original/file-20211214-13-1ntr248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437496/original/file-20211214-13-1ntr248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437496/original/file-20211214-13-1ntr248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437496/original/file-20211214-13-1ntr248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Lego: one of the classics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aedrian/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Lego is in fact a good place to start! The blocks are good for a wide age range, and you can either buy highly prescriptive kits that involve closely following a plan, or general sets containing random blocks for building something totally new and improvised. Or, if you prefer, you can buy various other types of blocks on the market, such as wooden or magnetic ones. </p>
<p>Regardless of the specific type, <a href="https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2015/ten-things-children-learn-block-play">playing with blocks</a> encourages children to plan, construct and experiment with their engineering creations. And, crucially, they can learn even more if you help them along the way.</p>
<h2>Parent power</h2>
<p>While the children are playing with their blocks, parents or carers can play with them and engage them in conversation about the form and structure they are creating. Try using <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Early-Mathematical-Explorations-Nicola-Yelland/dp/1107618827/ref=asc_df_1107618827/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=341773657171&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11912873330503157062&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9112798&hvtargid=pla-674761606525&psc=1">positional and relational language</a> to extend their vocabulary by posing questions such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>do you think we can build this tower so it’s as high as the table?</p></li>
<li><p>how many blocks are around the base of this building?</p></li>
<li><p>what shape of blocks do we need to build a fence around this house? Or could we use other materials?</p></li>
<li><p>what are you going to put at the top of the structure?</p></li>
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<p>Talking with your child while they are playing helps them articulate their ideas and build their vocabulary. It introduces them to <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Early-Mathematical-Explorations-Nicola-Yelland/dp/1107618827/ref=asc_df_1107618827/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=341773657171&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11912873330503157062&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9112798&hvtargid=pla-674761606525&psc=1">mathematical concepts</a> such as numbers, space and measurement, and scientific processes such as observing, estimating, planning and problem-solving. It’s a wonderful chance to share ideas and talk with one another.</p>
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<img alt="Grandfather doing a jigsaw puzzle with two grandchildren" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437695/original/file-20211215-23-1k269vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437695/original/file-20211215-23-1k269vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437695/original/file-20211215-23-1k269vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437695/original/file-20211215-23-1k269vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437695/original/file-20211215-23-1k269vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437695/original/file-20211215-23-1k269vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437695/original/file-20211215-23-1k269vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Any toy is educational if you play and learn together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
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<p>In a similar way, I am an advocate for games such as Uno and board games that involve meeting a goal, whether it be getting rid of all your cards, or racing around a board. This lets children experience winning and losing, and gives them a chance both to plan and strategise, and contend with chance elements such as the roll of a dice. Snakes and Ladders and Ludo both involve counting and numbers, and the element of chance. They can often inspire children to make up their own games as well.</p>
<p>Then, of course, there are <a href="https://kidzinc.com.au/collections/stem-toys?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI09mR_5LJ9AIVxZNmAh2u7ABHEAAYASAAEgKYHvD_BwE">toys</a> and <a href="http://engino.com/">materials</a> designed specifically to foster learning about <a href="https://melscience.com/AU-en/">STEM</a> (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). But these aren’t the only ways to boost these skills.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-parents-can-do-every-day-to-help-develop-stem-skills-from-a-young-age-92927">Five things parents can do every day to help develop STEM skills from a young age</a>
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<p>Being an effective <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/au/store">STEM learner</a> is important and relevant to the modern world. STEM learning gives young children a chance to indulge their natural curiosity about the world around them, investigate concepts, use critical and creative thinking in systematic ways, and acquire skills and confidence. </p>
<p>This brings us back to the sticks and sand, and of course the box the toys arrived in, not to mention the packaging of any new appliances you might have bought yourself as a Christmas present! </p>
<p>The fact that kids so often end up playing with cardboard boxes – turning them into a cubby house, racing car or fortress – is testament to the fact anything can be a good toy with the right mindset. What really counts is the opportunity to play and talk with your child. This will equip them with knowledge, skills and confidence that will stand them in good stead at any age.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Yelland receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Minderoo Foundation.</span></em></p>Is a science kit, some Lego, or building blocks best for fostering kids’ STEM skills and creativity? Fear not – it’s not what’s in the box, but what happens after you open it, that’s most important.Nicola Yelland, Professor of Early Childhood Studies, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1697222021-10-13T04:40:09Z2021-10-13T04:40:09ZLego’s return to gender neutral toys is good news for all kids. Our research review shows why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426055/original/file-20211012-27-maq2wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4115%2C2733&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Hudson/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.lego.com/en-id/aboutus/news/2021/september/lego-ready-for-girls-campaign/">Lego announced this week</a> it would work to remove gender stereotypes from its brand, including no longer marketing toys distinctly to boys or girls and ensuring products are gender-neutral. </p>
<p>This move by one of the world’s most powerful brands comes in response to <a href="https://seejane.org/wp-content/uploads/LEGO-Ready-for-Girls-Creativity-Study.pdf">research the Danish toy manufacturer commissioned</a> to understand how parents and children think about creativity.</p>
<p>The survey of nearly 7,000 parents and children across seven countries found strong endorsement of traditional gender roles among both boys and girls, with 78% of boys and 73% of girls agreeing “it’s okay to teach boys to be boys and girls to be girls”. </p>
<p>71% of boys were worried about being judged or made fun of for playing with toys gendered for girls and 54% of parents worry their sons will be made fun of if they play with toys associated with girls, compared to only 26% of parents worrying about the reverse. </p>
<p>Overall, the results suggest boys feel more pressure to conform to gender roles and norms for creative activities than girls. But the perceptions and beliefs of others may also be holding girls back. When toys are gendered, all children pay the price.</p>
<p>We recently conducted a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1836939121999849?casa_token=lFd5hGC155YAAAAA%3A5ETMgtwCFUJ42vTBhMxP_swrS44IYVgkTRMuOdcX_4NZjLpbFQhAxAuXHehz3sAqxxOACbtTqjSGqg&journalCode=aeca">systematic review of gender stereotypes and biases in early childhood</a>. </p>
<p>Awareness of gender as a social category develops early in life, and insight into some gender stereotypes begins early. For example, preschool aged children can <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1007084516910">hold beliefs</a> such as only boys can be policemen and only girls can be teachers or nurses.</p>
<p>Gender and racial stereotyping and prejudice can be observed in children as young as three to four years of age, as children take on cues from around them to decode and understand the world. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426084/original/file-20211013-23-1rg9tfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Boys and girls play with lego." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426084/original/file-20211013-23-1rg9tfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426084/original/file-20211013-23-1rg9tfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426084/original/file-20211013-23-1rg9tfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426084/original/file-20211013-23-1rg9tfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426084/original/file-20211013-23-1rg9tfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426084/original/file-20211013-23-1rg9tfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426084/original/file-20211013-23-1rg9tfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Teaching children construction toys ‘aren’t for girls’ can discourage girls going into STEM fields.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Shopping and ‘fixing things’</h2>
<p>When children observe different toys and tasks for different groups, they can <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11218-015-9320-z">learn stereotypes and prejudices</a>, such as viewing shopping as an activity for girls and “fixing things” and using tools as activities for boys. This can reinforce rigid binary views of gender.</p>
<p>Such stereotypes and prejudices can be carried throughout life, making early childhood critical for setting the foundations for lifelong attitudes. </p>
<p>The Lego research found parents were more likely to encourage their daughters to engage in activities that are more cognitive, artistic and performative (dressing up, dancing, colouring, singing and arts and crafts), and more likely to encourage their sons to engage more in digital activities, science and building.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/barbie-for-boys-the-gendered-tyranny-of-the-toy-store-34979">Barbie for boys? The gendered tyranny of the toy store</a>
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<p>Beliefs and expectations about what types of toys and play are appropriate for girls and boys can compound over time. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1007084516910">Some studies</a> show that play with some stereotypical girls’ toys, such as princess toys, is associated with more female gender-stereotypical behaviour among children. </p>
<p>Not engaging in play with construction toys may mean girls miss opportunities to develop spatial skills and mechanical reasoning skills necessary for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics: fields in which <a href="https://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/gender-equity-in-stem/">women continue to be under-represented</a>.</p>
<h2>Rigid gender lines</h2>
<p>Toys are only one way in which children learn gender roles and stereotypes: they also learn from who they see around them in their daily lives, from the books they read and the TV shows they watch. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426082/original/file-20211012-25-soi9sl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young girl in overalls, holding lego blocks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426082/original/file-20211012-25-soi9sl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426082/original/file-20211012-25-soi9sl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426082/original/file-20211012-25-soi9sl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426082/original/file-20211012-25-soi9sl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426082/original/file-20211012-25-soi9sl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426082/original/file-20211012-25-soi9sl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426082/original/file-20211012-25-soi9sl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Lego’s advertising, like this one from 1981, shows the company used to be a lot less rigid around gender.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lego</span></span>
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<p>Parents and caregivers have a key role in encouraging children of all genders to engage with a wide range of activities and toys.</p>
<p>But since the 1970s, toys have become <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/12/toys-are-more-divided-by-gender-now-than-they-were-50-years-ago/383556/">increasingly and rigidly</a> demarcated along binary gender lines. </p>
<p>Even Lego’s own marketing history demonstrates this: compare the gender neutral advertisements <a href="https://womenyoushouldknow.net/little-girl-1981-lego-ad-grown-shes-got-something-say/">from the early 1980s</a> to more <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/olivia-s-deluxe-bedroom-41329">recent gender specific marketing</a> with pink bricks and heart shapes.</p>
<p>The prevention of potentially harmful gender attitudes and stereotypes in childhood – before they become entrenched – is a key element in moves to achieve gender equity and to support health and wellbeing throughout life. </p>
<p>Efforts to reduce the gendered nature of toys and their marketing is one step we can take to give all children more equitable options for how they see themselves, the world, and their future.</p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-pink-and-blue-the-quiet-rise-of-gender-neutral-toys-95147">Beyond pink and blue: the quiet rise of gender-neutral toys</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Priest receives funding from the ARC, NHMRC and from government and non-government sources.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tania King receives funding from the Australian Research Council (DE200100607).</span></em></p>We reviewed research into gender stereotypes and biases in early childhood, and found gender as a social category develops early in life, and insight into some gender stereotypes begins early.Naomi Priest, Professor, ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National UniversityTania King, Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1593042021-08-11T09:03:43Z2021-08-11T09:03:43ZHome schooling is hundreds of years old – here’s what its history teaches us about learning through play<p>The UK government’s <a href="https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/2021/02/17/building-back-better-reaching-englands-left-behind-children/">COVID recovery plans</a> for schools have been criticised for prioritising <a href="https://theconversation.com/englands-education-recovery-plan-should-focus-on-wellbeing-not-on-catching-up-155263">learning</a> over wellbeing. Education specialists routinely extol the benefits sports, creative activities and the <a href="https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/post-pandemic-world-could-arts-rich-classroom-become-norm">performing arts</a> can bring to children. </p>
<p>This is particularly relevant <a href="https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/covid-19-and-nations-mental-health-october-2020">in light</a> of the disruptions to schooling and childhood that COVID has wrought. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/22/best-children-books-pandemic-katherine-rundell">Storytelling</a> has emerged as a powerful tool for children to process the crisis. COVID stories have encompassed <a href="https://www.storytimemagazine.com/we-are-heroes/">heroism</a> and <a href="https://www.wasafiri.org/article/covid-kids-by-kiera-vaclavik/">resilience</a>, <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/comparative-literature-and-culture/research/childhood-heroes-ba-covid-19-research-project/">myth and fable</a>, entertaining and educating simultaneously. </p>
<p>Historical home learning shows that there need be no dichotomy between play (to improve wellbeing) and learning (to satisfy educational needs). As my research into educational literature from the 18th and 20th centuries shows, learning through play is an age-old concept.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Engraving showing a mother and daughter sitting at a table laden with books, while son stands holding an atlas." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414165/original/file-20210802-16-1vpg7nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=305%2C1137%2C3758%2C3071&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414165/original/file-20210802-16-1vpg7nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414165/original/file-20210802-16-1vpg7nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414165/original/file-20210802-16-1vpg7nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414165/original/file-20210802-16-1vpg7nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1404&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414165/original/file-20210802-16-1vpg7nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414165/original/file-20210802-16-1vpg7nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1404&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration by Gilbert, entitled Domestic Instruction, from Maria Hack’s book, Grecian Stories (London: Harvey and Darton, 1840)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Historical perspectives</h2>
<p>For children aged between five and ten, attending formal school only became compulsory with the Elementary Education Act of 1880. Before that, charitable and religious organisations had provided basic education. Grammar schools theoretically were open to all, but children from poorer families mostly worked, and for those who studied, home was school. </p>
<p>The main educational format promoted in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/literature/english-literature-1700-1830/child-reader-17001840?format=HB&isbn=9780521196444">18th-century</a> children’s books in Britain and Europe was <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Home-Education-in-Historical-Perspective-Domestic-pedagogies-in-England/Bellaigue/p/book/9781138393035">domestic instruction</a>. </p>
<p>Written in script form, they generally featured <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03054985.2015.1048114">idealised educational conversations</a> between a mother and her children, sometimes involving <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Mental_Improvement_etc/olJlBvPvxp0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=wakefield+mental+improvement&printsec=frontcover">fathers</a>, or other family members or visitors. </p>
<p>Anna Laetitia Barbauld’s Lessons for Children Aged Two to Three Years, <a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/289766">published in 1778</a>, is arguably the earliest example. It is <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Lessons_for_children_by_A_L_Barbauld_cor/R9cDAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=barbauld+lessons&printsec=frontcover">a reading primer</a> featuring simple domestic questions and answers in large print: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Charles, what are eyes for?”
“To see with.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other books, this type of dialogue was used to explore <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5522814_Domestic_science_making_chemistry_your_cup_of_tea">chemistry</a>, history and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1j7x5g0">geography</a>. For example, the family in Priscilla Wakefield’s 1794 <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Mental_Improvement_etc/olJlBvPvxp0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=wakefield+mental+improvement&printsec=frontcover">book</a>, Mental Improvement; or, the Beauties and Wonders of Nature and Art in a Series of Instructive Conversations, discusses the challenges involved in tea and chocolate cultivation. The conversation leads into a discussion about character perfection, historically illustrated with an anecdote about the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. </p>
<p>This style of learning revolved around having fun. While the context was usually an idealised middle-class home, where <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Written-Maternal-Authority-and-Eighteenth-Century-Education-in-Britain/Davies/p/book/9781409451686">parents and siblings</a> alike were at leisure to converse or read aloud, the key message was more widely relatable. It was about using everyday objects, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Opening-The-Nursery-Door/Hilton-Styles-Watson/p/book/9780415148993">impromptu homemade games and crafts</a> and informal chat as the main tools for learning. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.manchesterhive.com/view/9781526128904/9781526128904.00009.xml">Magazines encouraged children</a> to imagine their hobby horses as the Trojan horse or to play at Noah’s ark in their kitchen sinks. They used a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Victorian-Culture-and-the-Origin-of-Disciplines/Lightman-Zon/p/book/9780367228422">geological explanation of coal</a> to describe the 19th-century archaeological excavation of Troy, Homer’s mythical city.</p>
<p>Though Greek and Latin were so often the bastions of a stereotypically elite education, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/victorian-epic-burlesques-9781350027176/">my findings</a> shows how the classics were gamified for audiences of different ages and social backgrounds. There were toys primarily marketed at middle- and upper-class families but also magazines featuring stories of girls learning Greek at grammar schools, reading lists for autodidacts, and popular comic and circus performances.</p>
<p>What’s more, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/troy-carthage-and-the-victorians/not-classic-but-quite-correct-the-trojan-war-at-the-circus/C7A10B845CCBECF707CCA8F8FE0938C7">toy theatres</a> repackaged the classics as boisterous <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7208/9780226676821-009/html">home entertainment</a>. Between 1750 and 1914, puzzles, toys, board and card games, magazines and community plays were all used for educational purposes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415281/original/file-20210809-19-dbjah4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A paper theatre set from the Victorian and Albert Museum of Childhood" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415281/original/file-20210809-19-dbjah4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415281/original/file-20210809-19-dbjah4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415281/original/file-20210809-19-dbjah4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415281/original/file-20210809-19-dbjah4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415281/original/file-20210809-19-dbjah4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415281/original/file-20210809-19-dbjah4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415281/original/file-20210809-19-dbjah4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toy theatres, puzzles, boardgames and magazines repackaged the classics as both entertainment and learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kotomi-jewelry/5507659796/in/photostream/">Kotomi_ | flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The power of storytelling</h2>
<p>Storytelling was just as important as dialogue. In their six-volume collection, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/206196/summary">Evenings at Home (1792-96)</a>, Barbauld and her brother John Aikin <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/53323/53323-h/53323-h.htm#Page_9">explained</a> that the characters of their story – the fictional Fairborne family – had many children. Some were educated at school and some at home by their parents. Frequent visitors would contribute stories to the family library too, to be enjoyed on holidays. </p>
<p>Parents today could well struggle to know what to make of many of these stories. They both perpetuate offensive content (racist accounts of travelling the globe) and incorporate radical ideas (pacifism, women’s contradictory position as politically disenfranchised educators). Ancient history and fable were told from an anti-war perspective, as later in Maria Hack’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320301929_Maria_Hack_1777-1844_Contrivance_and_Conversation">Grecian Stories</a> (1819), which also condemned ancient slavery and celebrated abolition.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429277139-8/subject-peculiarly-adapted-cyclists-rachel-bryant-davies?context=ubx&refId=40f544a2-9167-4be0-88e1-f034c8a12b7a">Historical magazines</a> were a cheaper format through which many more children encountered <a href="https://eidolon.pub/encounters-with-classical-myth-in-childhood-and-beyond-d115f3c69b45">classical mythology</a> and archaeology, or experienced fictional Latin lessons, than could have learned classics at schools. They are a major, though under-appreciated, part of the long tradition of reading classical myth in childhood. </p>
<p>Stories often featured ancient heroes and heroines as role models for <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780333641729">boys</a> and for <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Constructing-Girlhood-through-the-Periodical-Press-1850-1915/Moruzi/p/book/9781138270848">girls</a> to promote cultural expectations. Examples included contentious figures such as the Roman general Marius, or British queen Boudica.</p>
<p>Looking back at this playful learning from the past can help us move forward more confidently, to the real benefit of children. In particular, dissolving any perceived boundaries between play and learning - between creative activities and curriculum - should lift some stress from parents and teachers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Bryant Davies has received funding from
The British Academy Covid-19 Special Grant COV19\20144
Addison Wheeler Research Fellowship, Durham University
Friends of the Princeton University Library Research Grant (Stanley J. Seeger Fund)
Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences Strategic Lectureship, Queen Mary University of London.</span></em></p>Historical perspectives on learning at home show that play, toys and storytelling have always been woven into learningRachel Bryant Davies, Lecturer in Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1083252018-12-13T17:41:19Z2018-12-13T17:41:19ZLooking for a high-tech gift for a young child? Think playgrounds, not playpens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250500/original/file-20181213-178579-jvj9pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=536%2C287%2C5307%2C3851&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It can be hard to tell whether what's in the box will encourage development or just be a waste of time.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Toys-And-Autism/ff71a5f175be4210a484cc56f036a9a0/1/0">AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Shopping for a new high-tech gift for the child in your life this holiday season? It’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the options. Bright boxes, colorful apps and cute plastic robots will promise that learning outcomes will improve if your child plays with x, y or z.</p>
<p>You might be tempted to believe them. Maybe if your child plays with that robot, she’ll learn to code. Maybe if he plays with that computer game or that app, he’ll improve his literacy and math skills.</p>
<p>If you like technology, you probably think it’s a good thing for children to be exposed to it at an early age. After all, studies show that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1098-237X(199901)83:1%3C55::AID-SCE3%3E3.0.CO;2-O">by fifth grade, stereotypes regarding who is good</a> at math and science, technology and engineering <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43604473">are already formed</a>.</p>
<p>It’s important to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00371">get in there early to counter</a> the formation of these stereotypes, by piquing everyone’s interest when they are young. That way doors aren’t preemptively closed for them later on, when choosing a field of study or a profession.</p>
<p>But it’s confusing to browse all the tech toys on the market, looking for one that will support a child’s budding STEM knowledge. I coined the metaphor of “playgrounds versus playpens” as a way to understand the best developmentally appropriate experiences with technology. As new gadgets, robots, apps and games are commercially released, going back to this metaphor can guide you beyond the bells and whistles to focus on how a tech toy may support learning and development.</p>
<h2>Cozy coddling or exhilarating exploration</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250289/original/file-20181212-110261-1uvxjrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250289/original/file-20181212-110261-1uvxjrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250289/original/file-20181212-110261-1uvxjrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250289/original/file-20181212-110261-1uvxjrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250289/original/file-20181212-110261-1uvxjrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250289/original/file-20181212-110261-1uvxjrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250289/original/file-20181212-110261-1uvxjrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250289/original/file-20181212-110261-1uvxjrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Quality playgrounds let kids explore and stretch toward new skills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/1Jg-_nekJT0">Annie Spratt/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my latest book, “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Coding-as-a-Playground-Programming-and-Computational-Thinking-in-the-Early/Bers/p/book/9781138225626">Coding as a Playground</a>,” I invite readers to recall the playground of their childhood. Children were able to run, to explore, to invent new games, to engage in pretend play; to communicate, collaborate and problem-solve with others; and to make their own choices.</p>
<p>Now, think of a playpen. These safe, confined spaces are in stark contrast with playgrounds. The playpen conveys a lack of freedom to experiment, lack of autonomy for exploration, lack of creative opportunities and lack of risks. It’s a place where a child can be stowed to pass the time.</p>
<p>While playgrounds are open-ended, playpens are limited. The <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/designing-digital-experiences-for-positive-youth-development-9780199757022">playground promotes while the playpen hinders</a> important aspects of human development.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, from a developmental perspective, many of today’s technologies for young children are playpens and not playgrounds.</p>
<p>Of course, computer games, like playpens, deprive children of physical activity. But the metaphor goes further than that. Some computer games are marketed as educational because they promote academic skills and teach about shapes, colors, letters, sounds and numbers. Most software provides tasks with right and wrong answers and thus doesn’t encourage problem solving and logical thinking or exploration and creativity. Most robots provide prepackaged challenges for children to complete, and in the process, learn to code. These are all examples of high-tech playpens – they’re limited and do not tap into many important dimensions of healthy positive development in children.</p>
<h2>Six C’s to look for</h2>
<p>Over <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MR75asoAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=2">two decades of research</a>, I’ve developed a theoretical framework called <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/devtech/ptd/">Positive Technological Development</a> to guide parents, educators and researchers in distinguishing high-tech playgrounds from playpens.</p>
<p>This framework focuses on six positive behaviors that can be promoted through the use of technological playgrounds. These behaviors involve:</p>
<ul>
<li>content creation</li>
<li>creativity</li>
<li>choices of conduct</li>
<li>communication</li>
<li>collaboration</li>
<li>community building</li>
</ul>
<p>These six C’s can be fostered in real-world playgrounds and can also be supported by robotic platforms, virtual worlds, programming languages, apps, games and storytelling systems for children.</p>
<p>But it’s not enough to read the label on the box. It’s important to understand the kind of experiences children will have when interacting with the technology.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250107/original/file-20181211-76959-i4l653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250107/original/file-20181211-76959-i4l653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250107/original/file-20181211-76959-i4l653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250107/original/file-20181211-76959-i4l653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250107/original/file-20181211-76959-i4l653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250107/original/file-20181211-76959-i4l653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250107/original/file-20181211-76959-i4l653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250107/original/file-20181211-76959-i4l653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The KIBO robot developed by Marina Bers’s research group utilizes tangible blocks instead of screens, and mixes in art to help kids learn to code in a playful way.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marina Bers</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Search out technologies that engage children as producers, not consumers. That means robotic kits, apps or computer games that let them be makers, artists, coders and designers. Try to avoid prepackaged solutions that target a specific skill set and promise to help children improve their academics. Remember that technological playgrounds need to also be fun!</p>
<p>At the <a href="http://sites.tufts.edu/devtech/">DevTech research group</a> that I direct at Tufts University, we focus on a particular kind of technological playground: programming environments for young children between 4 and 7 years old. <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/devtech/publications/">Our research</a> shows that by learning how to code, children take on the role of producers and not merely consumers. They’re able to engage with all six C’s.</p>
<p>For example, we created the free <a href="http://scratchjr.org">ScratchJr coding app</a>, <a href="https://nostarch.com/scratchjr">in collaboration</a> with <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KKq5SN4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">Mitch Resnick</a> <a href="https://www.media.mit.edu/people/mres/overview/">at the MIT Media Lab</a>. ScratchJr is a playground in that it promotes problem-solving, imagination, cognitive challenges, social interactions, motor skills development, emotional exploration and making different choices. Crucially, we make explicit the connection between the activity of coding and the playfulness of the experience. </p>
<p>At the playground, children can visit the sandbox, the swing or the slide, or just run around. Similarly, you want to find tech toys that let children engage in lots of different creative and expressive activities. For example, beyond coding, an app might let them create and modify characters and record and play their own voices and sounds. A playpen, instead, might let them move up across levels only when they solve a particular problem or select the right number or letter.</p>
<p>Caregivers don’t exclusively take children to the playground. There are other places to visit and other skills to develop. But, when getting new technologies for young children, you’re looking for a tech playground and not a playpen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108325/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Umaschi Bers owns shares in KinderLab robotics and developed the free ScratchJr programming language. She receives funding from National Science Foundation and the Scratch Foundation.</span></em></p>There’s a spectrum of quality when it comes to what kids can do with screen time. An expert in early childhood technology suggests picking tech activities that promote problem-solving and fun.Marina Umaschi Bers, Professor of Child Study and Human Development and Adjunct Professor of Computer Sciences, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/379682015-07-12T20:23:30Z2015-07-12T20:23:30ZWhich apps are educational and why? It’s in the eye of the beholder<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87090/original/image-20150702-27106-wd2ovp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With over 80,000 educational apps in the iTunes store, it's hard to know which ones will benefit your kids.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrettelementary/6695935031/in/photolist-bcGqcH-fTxFN1-9mKWS2-8ej7Gj-bcGpyt-bcGpS6-bcGpJc-n4waHp-9rLtDM-na8J2u-oSzNHH-oA6say-q3e3v2-dgah17-dJLkxp-nwS15C-oDCfeU-pQ2BZU-fJxbKk-i5ZJa1-9mKViM-rVGNM4-9q6Tut-9E3dBm-bcGpp8-ah4ZV2-s1DaS9-aDED93-deMHzZ-rGhV6X-rXCNGv-s7XBBC-d8mdGf-e8d7N4-9q6SKX-ocZX3s-nNjbB2-cTFq2d-hwJRzW-jibEdU-ov3eWa-dduFUX-9zz36H-bcGqvK-gcayev-buqPW6-9wdKdC-dTSySe-9q6Szv-roPjVy">KW Barrett/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Toys and apps for kids are a multi-million-dollar industry, and being able to label something as “educational” is a major selling point. However, “educational” is often in the eye of the beholder and the potential of any app, or toy, relates to what you can creatively do with them with children. </p>
<p>With more than 80,000 educational apps in the iTunes store, it’s usually very difficult for parents to know which ones are worth buying. </p>
<p>A group of academics recently <a href="http://tinyurl.com/o653fko">provided guidance</a> on what sorts of apps are educational. Particular types of apps are often derided in broad statements like, “avoid closed apps with limited potential”. </p>
<p>Closed apps are apps with fixed features and activities that you cannot deviate from except the order that you might choose to complete them. They might, for example, be a spelling or addition game with a single answer. Some are “graded” and you cannot move on to a new level unless you have demonstrated mastery of a previous level. </p>
<p>Criteria for “good” apps are usually framed in terms of their capacity to allow active, engaged and meaningful learning and social interaction. These are all laudable attributes. Yet some of the simple, closed apps can also be fun and useful to learn the basics of literacy and numeracy. </p>
<p>Apps are continually compared as alternatives to existing educational resources rather than being complementary. Most guidelines insist that apps be evaluated in terms of learning theories (for example <a href="http://www.icels-educators-for-learning.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=61">Jean Piaget’s Theory of Development</a>) that were formulated prior to the advent of computers, or by creating standards that other children’s materials, such as jigsaw puzzles or children’s books, aren’t ever asked to live up to.</p>
<h2>There are benefits to some ‘closed’ apps</h2>
<p>Not all closed apps are to be avoided. With Jigsaw Maker, for example, children can take photos of each other and their environment and then generate electronic jigsaws to solve. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86664/original/image-20150629-9059-13wcd8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86664/original/image-20150629-9059-13wcd8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86664/original/image-20150629-9059-13wcd8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86664/original/image-20150629-9059-13wcd8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86664/original/image-20150629-9059-13wcd8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86664/original/image-20150629-9059-13wcd8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86664/original/image-20150629-9059-13wcd8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86664/original/image-20150629-9059-13wcd8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jigsaw Maker.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Taking the photos, and the conversations about the process of creating their own jigsaw, represent wonderful learning opportunities for children who are experimenting with words and language as they grow more confident. </p>
<p>Some so-called “closed” apps present ways of experiencing the foundation skills in literacy and numeracy which can happen before school begins. Apps like Bugs and Numbers, Number Train, Shapes, First Words, Monkey Lunchbox, Food Words and Futaba all enable very young children to acquire such skills by playing with them in a fun context.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86802/original/image-20150630-2074-ul9tf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86802/original/image-20150630-2074-ul9tf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86802/original/image-20150630-2074-ul9tf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86802/original/image-20150630-2074-ul9tf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86802/original/image-20150630-2074-ul9tf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86802/original/image-20150630-2074-ul9tf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86802/original/image-20150630-2074-ul9tf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nighty Night.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of my personal favourites is an app called Nighty Night, which is set on a farm and a circus. Each animal has to be put to bed by finding a switch and turning off the light. At the end it is apparent that the only person left awake is the child playing the game and the realisation that it is bedtime becomes self-evident!</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87103/original/image-20150702-10603-1pjklp6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87103/original/image-20150702-10603-1pjklp6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87103/original/image-20150702-10603-1pjklp6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87103/original/image-20150702-10603-1pjklp6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87103/original/image-20150702-10603-1pjklp6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87103/original/image-20150702-10603-1pjklp6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87103/original/image-20150702-10603-1pjklp6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bugs and Numbers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://tinyurl.com/lmvyqjm">Research I undertook</a> with a <a href="http://tinyurl.com/m7bzamk">team at Victoria University</a> showed that you need a range of apps. In play-based kindergarten, closed apps can be used with open-ended apps for playful explorations and both provide contexts for new learning.</p>
<p>We’ve also found that for children struggling with the “basics” in the first year of school, learning the concepts with targeted apps can be beneficial. </p>
<p>For example, we worked with prep children (aged 5-6 years) who had been at school for six months and still were not able to recognise the numerals zero to nine, write them, or advise what number came before or after each one. Thus, they were struggling with number concepts and not able to move on to new work with the rest of the class who had progressed to the numbers 10 to 20. We spent 20 minutes with six children at a time over six weeks with number apps on the iPad.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87104/original/image-20150702-10590-474ikg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87104/original/image-20150702-10590-474ikg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87104/original/image-20150702-10590-474ikg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87104/original/image-20150702-10590-474ikg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87104/original/image-20150702-10590-474ikg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87104/original/image-20150702-10590-474ikg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87104/original/image-20150702-10590-474ikg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bugs and Numbers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the end of the first session they were able to name all the numerals to nine, tell us what came before and after each one and write the numeral on a piece of paper. This knowledge was consolidated over the following weeks, with 20-minute sessions once a week. </p>
<p>Ultimately, what could not be achieved in six months in a classroom with traditional materials was achieved and consolidated in three weeks and then extended with other more creative tasks. These included using an app called MadPad to make a montage of (12) number and counting activities and creating an eBook about numbers with creative and open-ended apps (like Book Creator and Comic Life).</p>
<p>Simultaneously, those children in the class who had moved on to the larger numbers were also given the opportunity, in a data-collection activity related to a farm visit, to survey half the group about their favourite farm animal and record their findings on a graph created with Scribblepress. This generated much excitement, conversation and learning about animals, farms and reviewing and interpreting the data - regarded as essential for mathematical understandings in primary school.</p>
<h2>Apps with creative potential are educational</h2>
<p>Our research showed that after a basic level of mastery of literacy and numeracy skills and applications in diverse contexts, the more open-ended – or creative – apps can be used in much more sophisticated ways.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86803/original/image-20150630-2060-1so3rjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86803/original/image-20150630-2060-1so3rjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86803/original/image-20150630-2060-1so3rjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86803/original/image-20150630-2060-1so3rjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86803/original/image-20150630-2060-1so3rjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86803/original/image-20150630-2060-1so3rjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86803/original/image-20150630-2060-1so3rjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Play School Art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This might include a matrix of ideas and sounds in the app called MadPad, creating music with Garage Band, or making eBooks to summarise investigations of a topic of genuine interest (such as “living things” in science). </p>
<p>Then there is the (free) Play School Art Maker, which enables young children to create various scenes with their favourite Play School characters (on the farm, beach or undersea) and then create a one-minute movie telling their story.</p>
<p>There are also electronic books (like Teddy’s Day), which are interactive and bring a new dimension to the reading process not available in traditional books. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86801/original/image-20150630-2066-lghif9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86801/original/image-20150630-2066-lghif9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86801/original/image-20150630-2066-lghif9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86801/original/image-20150630-2066-lghif9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86801/original/image-20150630-2066-lghif9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86801/original/image-20150630-2066-lghif9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86801/original/image-20150630-2066-lghif9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peppa Pig - Fun at the Fair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can have the book read to you, or contribute to the storyline with voice or some form of visual/textual input (like Peppa Pig – Fun at the Fair).</p>
<p>Apps such as Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and Birds ‘n’ Blocks are often derided as not being educational. In fact, they provide opportunities to explore trajectories, cause and effect, motion and friction, spatial arrays and decision-making if used appropriately in educational settings.</p>
<p>Some apps might be regarded simply as pacifiers to keep kids entertained, but when parents and adults interact with children playing the apps you will be surprised at the amazing learning conversations you might have and the things you will learn – and that’s educational.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Yelland receives funding from IBM and DET (Victoria) for research</span></em></p>“Educational” is often in the eye of the beholder and the potential of any app relates to what you can creatively do with them with children.Nicola Yelland, Professor of Education, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/351502015-01-13T15:08:33Z2015-01-13T15:08:33ZWhat we know about tablets and how your child learns to read<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67339/original/image-20141216-14157-gz5b6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tablets can be a novel reading experience for parent and child.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-220295746/stock-photo-mother-and-daughter-playing-with-tablet.html?src=8uSyZfoJKw5F8yt7kiDFdg-1-37">Goodluz/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A recent US survey commissioned by the children’s books publisher Scholastic found that 65% of 6-11 year olds <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/downloads.htm">prefer to read print books</a> even when e-books are available on tablets. In the UK, a National Literacy Survey found that children who read stories both on tablets and in print are <a href="http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/research/nlt_research/6266_children_s_early_literacy_practices_at_home_and_in_early_years_settings_second_annual_survey_of_parents_and_practitioners">more likely to have above-average vocabulary</a> than those who read in printed books alone. </p>
<p>These two surveys indicate the ongoing <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/11266393/You-can-bury-your-nose-in-a-book-but-not-in-an-iPad.html">debate</a> concerning the overall role and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/11267417/Books-or-tablets-Theres-no-contest.html">value of digital books</a> for young children. </p>
<h2>What do parents think?</h2>
<p>Data from <a href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/media-use-attitudes-14/Childrens_2014_Report.pdf">Ofcom</a> suggest that 39% of three and four year-old children in the UK now use a tablet computer at home. There is evidence that most parents who use educational apps on these devices believe their children do learn from them. </p>
<p>A survey commissioned by Moms with Apps of 457 parents found that over 96% of parents <a href="https://momswithapps.com/MWA-Parent-Survey.pdf">agree their children benefit from using apps</a>, with many noting the educational and developmental benefits children derive from them. In another US survey, more than half (57%) of parents <a href="http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/publication/learning-at-home/">said their child had learned “a lot”</a> about one or more subject areas (such as reading/vocabulary, maths, or cognitive skills) from educational media. </p>
<p>In Australia, a small <a href="http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/ACEC2014%20Conference%20Proceedings%20Last.pdf">survey</a> of 80 parents revealed similar results. Parents of three to five year-olds whose children use iPads in childcare centres agreed that apps designed for pre-school educational purposes could be used to boost certain skills such as literacy, numeracy, science and art, but not physical education and social development.</p>
<p>Of course, surveys are <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Eachaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation.html">based on correlations which do not imply causation</a> and rarely examine alternative pathways and detailed information. To understand how print books can <a href="http://theconversation.com/kindle-vs-books-children-just-dont-see-it-that-way-25725">enrich</a> the digital reading experience, we need to become more nuanced in the way we think about this issue. How can the new features of interactive books complement learning from the printed page? </p>
<h2>New digital options</h2>
<p>Interactive digital books can provide an impetus for parents to interact with children in ways that have <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/lit.12003/abstract">been shown</a> to be mutually enjoyable and beneficial. The technology means that storybook apps offer a means to decrease the asymmetry of adults reading and children listening, instead providing opportunities for both parent and child to jointly discover fancy interactive features embedded in the app.</p>
<p>On a wider level, the global market for digital books offers the potential for a much easier production of <a href="http://uniteforliteracy.com/">international variants of the same book</a>. Digital storybooks can more effectively connect remote communities and bring local stories to global audiences. With easy personalisation options embedded in many digital books, children can become book authors but also book heroes with a few taps. Parents can create stories together with their children, incorporating photos of family members or audio-recordings. </p>
<p>Personalisation can also provide an avenue of communication for families when they cannot read together – for example a parent away from home can record them reading their child’s favourite story for them to listen to if they cannot be there to read it to them. Supporting innovative book authoring is one way to address the ongoing concern in children’s book publishing about the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/oct/17/childrens-books-diversity-everybody-in-twitter-campaign">lack of diversity</a> of topics portrayed in children’s storybooks.</p>
<p>In addition, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25334116">augmented reality apps</a>, which overlay digital elements onto real objects as viewed (through the device’s camera) on the screen, could also catalyse a wave of innovation. Opportunities to interact with digital stories can be used to teach <a href="http://archive.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/lit_reviews/DigitalParticipation.pdf">early digital literacy skills</a>, enrich family relationships and thus <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2014/dec/15/shiny-appy-children">entertain as well as educate</a> young children. </p>
<h2>Imagination killers</h2>
<p>There also could be some downsides to the new features. While in some instances augmented reality apps can enhance a story experience, in others they may take away the impetus for a child’s <a href="http://kgmi.com/news/030030-apps-bring-playtime-back-to-real-world/">imagination</a>. Personalised digital books can be both motivating and great fun – but too much personalisation may distract the child and will certainly not turn children into <a href="http://theconversation.com/selfies-in-stories-motivate-but-dont-turn-children-into-digital-bookworms-26479">digital bookworms</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, while digital books with several interactive features can involve and empower children, too many bells and whistles may simply overwhelm them. Not many app designers have quite struck the right balance on this yet, and there are <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101776046">still</a> a large amount of noisy apps on the market.</p>
<p>We need to understand what the learning opportunities of digital books might be for young children. Surveys can help us understand people’s attitudes and beliefs, but they can’t provide us with a full understanding of the benefits and limitations of digital books. To know what the ups and downs of digital books really are, plenty of research is still to be done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalia Kucirkova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A recent US survey commissioned by the children’s books publisher Scholastic found that 65% of 6-11 year olds prefer to read print books even when e-books are available on tablets. In the UK, a National…Natalia Kucirkova, Lecturer in Developmental Psychology, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/337252014-12-22T19:18:57Z2014-12-22T19:18:57ZIs Barbie bad for body image?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64929/original/image-20141119-7378-ngiorl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just because Barbie has impossible proportions, does that mean playing with her will distort young girls' body image?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/15157516@N02/4752811384">Flickr/Freddycat1</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Launched in 1959, named after the inventor’s daughter Barbara, and owned by 99% of 3-10 year old girls <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Culture-Cultural-Icons-Rogers/dp/0761958886">in the USA</a>, Barbie has been a popular request on young girls’ <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18091090">Christmas wish lists</a> for 55 years. </p>
<p>So, should we buy them? What are these toys teaching our young girls? Barbie has been blamed for causing body image issues and even eating disorders. She has even been said to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/toy-war-debates-misunderstand-the-causes-of-domestic-violence-34963">perpetuating gender stereotypes</a> that lead to domestic violence and the gender pay gap. But are they really all that bad?</p>
<p>There is no need to question whether Barbie’s body shape is unrealistic. Researchers have reminded us that her proportions would occur in less than <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01544300#page-1">1 in 100,000</a> adult women, that her waist is <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01544300#page-1">20cm smaller</a> than a reference group of anorexic patients; and that, with these proportions, she would not be able to <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/305/6868/1575">menstruate</a> or even <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/barbie-real-womaan-anatomically-impossible-article-1.1316533">hold up her head</a>. </p>
<p>The doll’s creator, Mattel, <a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/02/06/barbie-lead-designer-blames-moms-not-dolls-crazy-proportions-for-girls-body-issues/">claims that</a> the proportions were created for ease of dressing and undressing the doll, not replicating an adult figure. However, there is no such rationale for the very thin representation of Barbie in her TV show, movies, books, and range of online games. In all forms, Barbie represents a completely unattainable figure for adult women. </p>
<h2>Body image in children</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64930/original/image-20141119-7428-ffpzc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64930/original/image-20141119-7428-ffpzc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64930/original/image-20141119-7428-ffpzc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64930/original/image-20141119-7428-ffpzc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64930/original/image-20141119-7428-ffpzc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64930/original/image-20141119-7428-ffpzc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64930/original/image-20141119-7428-ffpzc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64930/original/image-20141119-7428-ffpzc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do we want our kids to think this is normal?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/15157516@N02/4735182263/in/photolist-7XEshK-7XErPM-8dumgo-4ETfha-okvaHr-8dr3Hv-89Ywyo-89YzqE-dh8Z6i-dh8Z7c">Flickr/Freddycat1</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Almost <a href="http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.library.vu.edu.au/science/article/pii/S1740144503000081">40% of children</a> are thought to be dissatisfied with the way they look, and girls as young as <a href="http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.library.vu.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0195666300903490">five</a> report weight concerns and express a desire to be thinner. Body image has consistently appeared in the top three issues of concern in the <a href="https://missionaustralia.com.au/what-we-do-to-help-new/young-people/understanding-young-people/annual-youth-survey">Mission Australia Survey of Young Australians</a> from 2006 to 2013.</p>
<p>Body image is a complex psychological construct, and we are yet to fully understand how body image, or body dissatisfaction develops in very young children. We do know that children learn by observing, absorbing, and imitating the things that they see around them, and that their early ideas about weight and appearance are shaped by their family, their peers and the media.</p>
<p>Children’s media is known to <a href="http://0-www.tandfonline.com.library.vu.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1080/10640260490267742#.VGlBfYuUduo">perpetuate stereotypical messages</a> about weight, beauty, and appearance; the “good” characters are beautiful, and the “bad” ones are ugly, heavier characters have few friends, and are less happy than the thinner ones. </p>
<p>Research with <a href="http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.library.vu.edu.au/science/article/pii/S1740144512000927">3-5 year olds</a> indicates that they already clearly associate larger figure sizes with more negative characteristics, such as being naughty and mean. This also has the effect of reinforcing the societal “thin-ideal” for women, and having high levels of <a href="http://0-cdp.sagepub.com.library.vu.edu.au/content/10/5/181.short">thin-ideal internalisation</a> is a known risk factor for body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. </p>
<h2>What does the research say?</h2>
<p>Relatively few studies have specifically evaluated the impact of Barbie on young girls. One <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16569167">experimental study</a> with 5-8 year olds in the UK evaluated the impact of viewing images of Barbie (US size 2), more realistic doll <a href="http://www.tonnercollectibles.com/emme.htm">Emme</a> (US size 16) or neutral images that did not involve dolls, while listening to a simple story. </p>
<p>The girls who viewed the images of Barbie had significantly lower scores on the Body Esteem scale after being exposed to the images, and indicated a preference for a thinner current body, and a thinner adult body. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991547/">Subsequent research</a> that has asked young girls to actually play with Barbie dolls, or control toys, found no immediate negative impact of Barbie on body image.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64931/original/image-20141119-7492-1jg0xf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64931/original/image-20141119-7492-1jg0xf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64931/original/image-20141119-7492-1jg0xf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64931/original/image-20141119-7492-1jg0xf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64931/original/image-20141119-7492-1jg0xf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64931/original/image-20141119-7492-1jg0xf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64931/original/image-20141119-7492-1jg0xf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64931/original/image-20141119-7492-1jg0xf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We won’t mention that Dr Barbie chose obstetrics as her specialty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/15157516@N02/4627521264">Flickr/Freddycat1</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what about the long-term effects? <a href="http://www.mayasen.com/BarbiePosterMUPRC2012.pdf">Retrospective studies</a> that ask adult women to report their childhood Barbie habits and their current body image and eating behaviours have found that those who reported liking playing with their Barbies more than others had a higher conformity to feminine norms in adulthood - in particular a higher focus on appearance. However, there was no link between playing with Barbie as a child, and adult levels of body dissatisfaction or disordered eating behaviours, leaving the researchers to conclude that Barbie is “<a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/41548482_Barbie_at_50_maligned_but_benign">maligned but benign</a>”.</p>
<p>So what does all of this mean for those of us buying presents for young girls this Christmas? <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18091090">Research in the UK</a> in 2007 reported that young girls were more vulnerable to toy advertising, and were more likely to make requests to Santa for branded toys (Bratz and Barbie topped the list) that had been advertised in the six weeks prior to Christmas. </p>
<h2>Time to get real</h2>
<p>The realistically proportioned <a href="http://time.com/3593968/the-new-normal-barbie-comes-with-an-average-womans-proportions-and-cellulite-sticker-extension-packs/">Lammily doll</a> has been released just in time for Christmas this year. Developed by Artist Nickolay Lamm, Lammily features include a body size and shape that represents the average 19 year old American woman, natural make-up, and sticker packs to add acne, stretch marks and cellulite. She stands on flat feet, has a more casual wardrobe, and in every sense, is pretty much the “anti-Barbie”.</p>
<p>Buying girls the latest Barbie doll isn’t necessarily going to do them any harm, but we do need to be aware of the amount of appearance-focused media that young girls are exposed to. Young girls are constantly taking in messages about how they “should” look, and what appearance means. We can’t protect young people from all of this, but we can teach them how to critique it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zali Yager has previously received funding from the state and federal government for competitive research grants. She is affiliated with the Academy fro Eating Disorders.</span></em></p>Launched in 1959, named after the inventor’s daughter Barbara, and owned by 99% of 3-10 year old girls in the USA, Barbie has been a popular request on young girls’ Christmas wish lists for 55 years. So…Zali Yager, Senior lecturer, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/336722014-12-21T18:51:09Z2014-12-21T18:51:09ZCan toys really be ‘educational’? Well that depends on the parents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63696/original/phw2hj2g-1415162141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Toys often advertise themselves as being educational, but how true is this?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/torh/3542641985">Flickr/Tor Hakon Haugen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Being a child in the 21st century is very different, and some would say more complex, than in previous times. What remains constant is that children love playing and that play is regarded as the most effective way of learning in childhood. </p>
<p>In play scenarios young children are being imaginative, creative, posing problems and solving them in contexts that are meaningful and engaging to them while learning about the world and ideas that shape it. With free play sessions <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-just-let-them-play-24670">increasingly being recognised</a> as an essential component of quality early childhood programs, parents are eager to support this with appropriate props and educational toys. </p>
<p>Yet, everyone has a story about how their child enjoyed playing with the box that the toy came in, rather than the toy itself! And baby boomers lament how they used to play with sticks for wands, and old sheets for decorating cubbys that we used to scavenge from very creative sources.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63698/original/v3vp7z4t-1415162325.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63698/original/v3vp7z4t-1415162325.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63698/original/v3vp7z4t-1415162325.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63698/original/v3vp7z4t-1415162325.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63698/original/v3vp7z4t-1415162325.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63698/original/v3vp7z4t-1415162325.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63698/original/v3vp7z4t-1415162325.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63698/original/v3vp7z4t-1415162325.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How do you know if toys are actually educational?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86024504@N05/9832083776">Flickr/Christina Kessler</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So does this 21st century plethora of choices and constant claims that toys are educational really stack up? The brochures and <a href="http://www.parenting.com/gallery/baby-learning-toys">websites</a> implore parents to “check out these brain boosting and skill building infant learning toys […] for the developing mind” and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/.../2014/.../the-top-10-toys-that-kindle-creativity/">say they have toys</a> that “honour the creative process”.</p>
<p>No evidence is provided to support such claims and, in reality, the toys are expensive, and often limited in scope unless parents interact and teach their children the associated skills and concepts. In many instances they are in fact tied to franchises (Disney, Pixar) that basically want to promote their items with negligible concerns about learning or educational value. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65315/original/image-20141124-19618-jgb63u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65315/original/image-20141124-19618-jgb63u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65315/original/image-20141124-19618-jgb63u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65315/original/image-20141124-19618-jgb63u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65315/original/image-20141124-19618-jgb63u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65315/original/image-20141124-19618-jgb63u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65315/original/image-20141124-19618-jgb63u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65315/original/image-20141124-19618-jgb63u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A pull along caterpillar has little scope for creativity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pintoys/6155146723/in/photolist-anUJFn-hhuTxA-bnUYXz-aiZoUt-oQ651E-4wVXyM-dgCR3w-dxfQe4">Flickr/Pintoy We love</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, there are 14 toys promoted by the online parenting magazine as being the best educational toys for “brain boosting, skill building, and the developing mind” of infants and toddlers. A <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015D8AG2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=parentingmagazine-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B0015D8AG2">pull along caterpillar</a> comes with the claim that it is “an imagination building toy that kids can use to enjoy hours of fun”. Yet, with no suggestions about what these might consist of apart from pulling it along.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65320/original/image-20141124-19636-o6ok6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65320/original/image-20141124-19636-o6ok6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65320/original/image-20141124-19636-o6ok6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65320/original/image-20141124-19636-o6ok6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65320/original/image-20141124-19636-o6ok6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65320/original/image-20141124-19636-o6ok6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65320/original/image-20141124-19636-o6ok6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With just three shapes and three correct answers, the robot puzzle on its own is hardly educational.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.yoyo.com/p/pkolino-3-piece-puzzle-beginner-shapes-robot-181168">yoyo.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then, the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VT7ZJ0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=parentingmagazine-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B004VT7ZJ0">robot puzzle</a> which is very well made in good quality wood and colourful paint, says that it will allow the children to become skilled in matching pictures - with just three shapes. It will probably do this but its a lot to pay for something with only one right result to match the three shapes.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63700/original/hgffknwt-1415162391.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63700/original/hgffknwt-1415162391.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63700/original/hgffknwt-1415162391.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63700/original/hgffknwt-1415162391.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63700/original/hgffknwt-1415162391.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63700/original/hgffknwt-1415162391.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63700/original/hgffknwt-1415162391.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63700/original/hgffknwt-1415162391.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Goldieblox: engineering for girls.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=goldieblox&l=cc&ct=0&mt=all&adv=1">Flickr/Sue Davis</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The educational value only comes from the parents interacting with their child, questioning them as they play and asking about strategies and providing them with knowledge about robots and caterpillars and taking them to see real ones as part of their daily lives.</p>
<p>The annual <a href="http://www.toyassociation.org/tia/events/toty/past_toty_winners/events2/toty_awards/2014_toty_winners.aspx?hkey=87b5bc55-20d7-46d1-ab18-a03e4bd4f80d#.VFg41oe0ZhI">toy of the year awards</a> provide insight into the toys that are regarded as the best in the industry. There are 15 categories with both the people’s choice and educational toy of the year in 2014 being awarded to Goldieblox and the spinning machine. In winning this prize the toy is <a href="http://www.toyassociation.org/tia/events/toty/past_toty_winners/events2/toty_awards/2014_toty_winners.aspx?hkey=87b5bc55-20d7-46d1-ab18-a03e4bd4f80d#.VFg41oe0ZhI">deemed:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The best toy that through play helps children develop special skills and/or knowledge. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was especially pleasing to discover that this company has as its <a href="http://www.goldieblox.com/products/goldieblox-and-the-spinning-machine">stated aim</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>GoldieBlox is a toy company out to inspire the next generation of female engineers. Construction toys help kids develop spatial skills and get them interested in math and science. For decades it’s been a boy’s club until now. GoldieBlox is an interactive book and construction toy starring Goldie, a kid inventor who solves problems by building simple machines. It’s time to build a new story so our girls can help build our future.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The great thing about this series of toys for girls is that they encourage girls to play with construction in a context of a story that will be appealing to them. It’s not about princesses that need to be rescued and all the items are not pink. The girls are able to construct various systems of cogs and blocks to create contexts for problem solving.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65330/original/image-20141124-19612-a1ckae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65330/original/image-20141124-19612-a1ckae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65330/original/image-20141124-19612-a1ckae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65330/original/image-20141124-19612-a1ckae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65330/original/image-20141124-19612-a1ckae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65330/original/image-20141124-19612-a1ckae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65330/original/image-20141124-19612-a1ckae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Movie character figures have pre-determined personalities are are designed to promote the film.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nealedgeworth/5415649540">Flickr/Neal Edgeworth</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The awards did have a separate boy and girl winner category, won by a Despicable Me 2 action figure and rainbow loom (also from Goldieblox) respectively. The former was in fact from the movie franchise and as such provides limited opportunities for children to go beyond re-enacting scenes with characters that have pre-determined personalities. </p>
<p>So, while there are indeed inspiring companies that claim to support feminism, there would seem to be an overabundance of toys that are linked to particular franchises that not only maintain traditional gender roles but also restrict play, because they limit a child’s capacity to be creative with them. Hence, they can in no way be regarded as being educational.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65321/original/image-20141124-19624-1lk1q9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65321/original/image-20141124-19624-1lk1q9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65321/original/image-20141124-19624-1lk1q9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65321/original/image-20141124-19624-1lk1q9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65321/original/image-20141124-19624-1lk1q9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65321/original/image-20141124-19624-1lk1q9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65321/original/image-20141124-19624-1lk1q9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65321/original/image-20141124-19624-1lk1q9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rainbow loom has endless combinations and projects, allowing kids’ creative juices to flow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shoppingdiva/11011252914/in/photolist-nEEptQ-h2EUyn-7Sqr4H-hM1Cac-hM1BQz-pbSHg9-9vc8Ne-hM2Lha-9zQPt7-dAvetq-hM27FS-jHmvCH-615wHs-jHngRv-jHngHV-jHpj33-hM2xSb-hM1CY6-hM1CS4-mTUk8e-9yQ7Kf-kKh1mn-jHngpP-pkBbaB-7cd1cG-oSnvXL-hM1BV4-kKgZXM-ngpz7F-caE3VC-hM2xBw-oMMioG-p2w9H7-BmL35-hM27YA-hM27hA-hM2LJc-hM2xy5-hM2wSq-hM2LRX-hM2xnU-pgBtfJ-hM1BZc-hM1CMp-hM2883-hM2wMf-hM27wy-hM1Cgp-hM27JC-gzrnmx">Flickr/Christine Urias</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Parents have to be involved in the learning</h2>
<p>Parents and caregivers should not be duped into thinking that learning is going to spontaneously happen if they just leave the child with the toy. The role of adults in the play environment is critical. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63702/original/9vpnzsv6-1415162494.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63702/original/9vpnzsv6-1415162494.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63702/original/9vpnzsv6-1415162494.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63702/original/9vpnzsv6-1415162494.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63702/original/9vpnzsv6-1415162494.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63702/original/9vpnzsv6-1415162494.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63702/original/9vpnzsv6-1415162494.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63702/original/9vpnzsv6-1415162494.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You can’t just leave your child in a room with an educational toy and expect a genius to emerge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/toymaster/491821159">Flickr/David Zellaby</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is important for parents to realise that young children need time to explore and play, and to understand that interacting with your child when they are playing is not only a significant opportunity for them to communicate with you in a conducive environment, but also provides a catalyst for using language which is so essential for effective understandings about the world and the communication of ideas to others. </p>
<p>Many parents seem to purchase toys and learning materials with the aim that children will play with them and learn, but also in order to keep the child occupied, so they can have time for themselves to do other things. While this might be the case with good toys, it is also apparent that this play time represents a significant opportunity to explore and talk to your child so that they are scaffolded in their explorations and provided with model language they can use and extend in other settings.</p>
<p>Playing with your children is an integral role for parents who wish to provide the most effective learning environment for their child. Parents might ask children questions like, What is this? What does it do? Or, What colour is this? Can you show me…? Can you tell me how many? They should also ask questions like What do you think will happen if…? And, Can you think of another way to build/open/create…? </p>
<p>Such interactions not only enable children to identify and locate things but also provide contexts in which they can think, suggest and test ideas in a non-threatening environment.</p>
<p>So as we approach Christmas, the biggest toy buying season of the year, parents need to be a bit creative themselves and relearn how to play, and more importantly how to support their children’s learning with open ended questions as they play together with their child. The ability of toys to help kids learn is more about how they’re used than what it says on the box.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33672/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Yelland has received research funding from the ARC.</span></em></p>Being a child in the 21st century is very different, and some would say more complex, than in previous times. What remains constant is that children love playing and that play is regarded as the most effective…Nicola Yelland, Professor of Education, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/349792014-12-03T19:35:10Z2014-12-03T19:35:10ZBarbie for boys? The gendered tyranny of the toy store<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66179/original/image-20141203-3645-1eawizp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The No Gender December campaign suggests that the gender stereotyping of toys restricts children’s creativity and development.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tracheotomy Bob</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“I didn’t encourage my daughter to play with Barbie dolls and dress up in flouncy fairy costumes, but she just gravitated toward them.” </p>
<p>When confronted with the idea that gendered marketing and stereotypes have a substantial impact on children’s play, many parents make claims such as this that suggest that girls have an innate predisposition to acquire pink, glittery toys.</p>
<p>Not only do many parents deny that gender stereotypes shape what kinds of toys children feel allowed to play with, but so too does our Prime Minister. On hearing of the <a href="http://www.nogenderdecember.com/">No Gender December</a> campaign, which encourages people to consider what kinds of toys they are buying in the lead-up to Christmas, Tony Abbott <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-02/barbie-boycott-campaign-begins-ahead-of-christmas-toy-frenzy/5933308">dismissed it</a> as “political correctness”. We must, he argued, “let boys be boys, let girls be girls”.</p>
<p>No Gender December, and similar campaigns such as <a href="http://www.lettoysbetoys.org.uk/">Let Toys Be Toys</a>, nevertheless suggest that the gender stereotyping of toys restricts children’s creativity and development. They also argue that the separation of toys for girls and boys contributes to gender inequality by marking off certain pursuits, careers, and tasks as unsuitable for one gender or the other.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66172/original/image-20141203-3619-sxk5l9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66172/original/image-20141203-3619-sxk5l9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66172/original/image-20141203-3619-sxk5l9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66172/original/image-20141203-3619-sxk5l9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66172/original/image-20141203-3619-sxk5l9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66172/original/image-20141203-3619-sxk5l9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66172/original/image-20141203-3619-sxk5l9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66172/original/image-20141203-3619-sxk5l9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">lil'_wiz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Letting children “be” boys or girls implies that there is a natural set of likes and dislikes for each gender that are unaffected by the culture in which we live. Behind this view is the sense that toy preferences are rooted in biology, such that only girls are drawn toward baby dolls because they are driven to nurture, while boys will be attracted toward active toys such as guns.</p>
<p>There are several problems with this viewpoint. First, to take one type of toy as an example, very young boys seem equally attracted to dolls. Cordelia Fine’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8031168-delusions-of-gender">Delusions of Gender</a> refers to a study that measures young children’s reactions to dolls, finding that boys only begin to reject dolls around the age at which they can be taught that dolls are intended only for girls.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66176/original/image-20141203-3633-1u9o3ov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66176/original/image-20141203-3633-1u9o3ov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66176/original/image-20141203-3633-1u9o3ov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66176/original/image-20141203-3633-1u9o3ov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66176/original/image-20141203-3633-1u9o3ov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66176/original/image-20141203-3633-1u9o3ov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66176/original/image-20141203-3633-1u9o3ov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66176/original/image-20141203-3633-1u9o3ov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Carman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If we were able to create an environment in which limiting cultural views about gender were not presented to children through the media, advertising, or enforced by their peers or parents, then in all likelihood many boys would continue to show an interest in dolls beyond infancy, as some still do regardless of these factors. That would truly be letting “boys be boys”.</p>
<p>Indeed, such an attempt to counter the effects of gender segregation in toy stores is already in progress in Sweden.</p>
<p>In 2012, Top Toy, the franchise holder for Toys R Us in Sweden, produced a catalogue with a girl shown deftly working a Nerf gun, a small boy cradling a baby doll, and both a boy and girl playing with a doll’s house. International <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238435/Swedish-toy-firm-Top-Toy-forced-gender-neutral-Christmas-catalogue.html">media reports</a> about the catalogue reacted along predictable lines, suggesting that gendered separation of toys mirrored children’s natural preferences and that the concept of gender neutrality was bizarre and artificial.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Toys R Us Sweden has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/23/toys-r-us-stockholm-gender-neutral">only continued</a> to move towards gender neutrality in its stores, with the physical layout being transformed such that typically masculine and feminine toys are intermingled throughout the aisles.</p>
<p>Second, these supposedly “natural” preferences for particular kinds of toys or colours shift according to what our culture believes appropriate for children and what the toy industry finds profitable.</p>
<p>We know, for example, that the <a href="http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/">“pinkification”</a> of girls’ toys is a relatively recent phenomenon, in part motivated by a desire to improve sales by rendering the most innocuous of toys unusable by siblings of different sexes. </p>
<p>Similarly, where Lego was once imagined as a relatively unisex toy that encouraged creativity and developed fine motor skills, in recent years a <a href="http://friends.lego.com/">separate line intended for girls</a>, which involves less freedom to construct, has become a bestseller.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66173/original/image-20141203-3622-w33h0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66173/original/image-20141203-3622-w33h0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66173/original/image-20141203-3622-w33h0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66173/original/image-20141203-3622-w33h0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66173/original/image-20141203-3622-w33h0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66173/original/image-20141203-3622-w33h0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66173/original/image-20141203-3622-w33h0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66173/original/image-20141203-3622-w33h0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Becraft</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We place great strength in the idea that the kinds of toys that children play with helps to determine the kind of adults they will become, especially in terms of how appropriately masculine or feminine they will be. Even children know enough to act as “gender police” if a boy or girl attempts to play with a toy outside the accepted items for his or her gender.</p>
<p>The No Gender December campaign notes that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s 2014 – women mow lawns and men push prams but while we’ve moved on, many toy companies haven’t.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet some of the main markers of gender inequality refuse to budge in countries including Australia. The <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/economics/women-earning-more-but-still-doing-chores/story-e6frg926-1226955314244">majority of housework and childcare is still performed by women</a>, even as more women are in paid employment than ever before. High-paying industries and senior positions within most fields remain dominated by male employees, while feminised occupations, involving caring or working with children, remain low paying.</p>
<p>The segregation of toy aisles is a reflection of a society in which gender inequality is normalised and children are taught to understand that the disparity between male and female social roles is inescapably natural.</p>
<p>While making it easier for girls who want to romp adventurously to do so and for boys who want to show an interest in clothing to play with Barbie won’t single-handedly correct gender inequality, it will help to minimise the internalising of gendered limitations during childhood. It also won’t stop girls being girls or boys being boys.</p>
<p><br>
<br>
<strong>See also:</strong> <br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/leave-barbie-alone-so-we-can-talk-about-how-kids-actually-play-34974">Leave Barbie alone – so we can talk about how kids actually play</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Smith has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>“I didn’t encourage my daughter to play with Barbie dolls and dress up in flouncy fairy costumes, but she just gravitated toward them.” When confronted with the idea that gendered marketing and stereotypes…Michelle Smith, Research Fellow, Centre for Memory, Imagination and Invention, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.