| The gender association of toys and other objects that are used to evaluate children's play skills can have a significant impact on children's toy preferences and exploration. Since children will often display play behaviors that are representative of the toy they are using, a child's play skills may not be represented accurately through the use of gender stereotyped toys. Thus, children's play skills should be evaluated with the use of toys that do not have a gender stereotype attached to them, such as non-toy objects. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of children's gender and non-toy objects on play skills. There were 12 children in this study who ranged in age from 32-42 months. The children's play skills were assessed with the Play in Early Childhood Evaluation System (PIECES) after a 30-minute play session. The results were analyzed to examine the highest level of play, number of steps in the play act(s), the non-toy objects selected, and the average amount of playtime for boys and girls. Implications for practitioners and suggestions for future research will also be discussed. |
