ABSTRACT
It is not known how much playtime children were given in the past. While children had toys, it is believed that many of these had an instructional value attached to them. A child-sized bow and arrow may have had more to do with learning to hunt than passing time, and many games may have been used to teach survival skills. Gender preferences in toys have been studied for many years. Several early studies showed a strong gender preference among children in their choices of toys. They found that gender stereotypes were very strong at an early age, with girls preferring dolls while boys consistently chose to play with toys that came with wheels or wings. Based on gender, developing fetuses receive different hormones in the womb. Current brain research continues to suggest that there are differences in hormonal and activity variations in the brains of men and women that affect health, development, and growth.
