gender-neutral play two toddlers hands wiith play-doh

Why choose gender-neutral toys?

Did you know that there is no difference in creativity between boys and girls until 8 years of age?

Early childhood is a period of rapid cognitive development that is by definition gender-neutral. Toys in this age are the keys to basic skills that will be used in our everyday life: problem-solving, fine and gross motor skills, trial-and-failure, and creative thinking.

With gender-neutral toys, in a gender-less play setup, the primary skills come with no strings attached. The babies naturally get curious about anything, no matter if it’s a boy or a girl, and as long as caregivers provide them with unbiased playthings, they will develop the fullest range of strengths.

little kid next to bright red busy board

Here are the gender-neutral toys that are tried-and-true favorites in our house.

developmental gender-neutral toy

The more Duplo you’ve got, the merrier. A way to arrange a good building flex is to throw a play party. We once combined all Duplo sets between two families and managed to build a little city of Venice across the living room.

If you’re going for Duplo, an old good large base sheet will make it easier for you to carry the builds around easily, while the new Education sets look great and add a lot to the play.

Wheely Bug is a hilarious transport for the toddlers that you can’t wait to see in your house.

This ride-on toy is a very reliable, low-maintenance, lots-of-laughs, and you will never get enough of your toddler mounting that bumble bee. Failproof wheels and high-quality materials ensure a fun riding, giving your kid a good opportunity to master the Tokyo Drift style. What makes us most happy about Wheely bug is perfectly gender-neutral animal designs – Cow, Bee, Ladybug, Piglet, and others are awaiting for you, each available in two different sizes.

Yeah, baby. Give mom them gross motor skills. Proudly smashed since 1995 by boys and girls alike, MULA is a proven early childhood staple. We love how over years Ikea’s design evolved in color. In recent years, all frontrunners from their tried-and-true educational toy collection changed their primary color from red to green. The new looks perfectly fit IKEA in 2020 as the brand that was always bringing amazing ideas to its smallest customers. The brand managed to turn it into a two-way road, even, with its mega-successful annual limited edition Sagoskatt that turns kids’ drawings into toys.

A busy board came to the plaything industry focus recently from the DIY toy range. It is perfectly gender-neutral by purpose, keeping the girls and boys aged 1-4 busy with the unlimited access to the most desired household objects in a safe playing environment that encourages curiosity. The sturdy build keeps the toy age-proof for the abilities ranging from 1-year-old’s touch-and-feel exploration to the fast and furious attack by the 5-year-olds.

Read more

Big, chunky, handy, grip-friendly, very bright, they come in the gender-neutral palettes of green and red. The blocks are super pleasant to touch, they’re washable, they make amazing reading and math activities… I can go on. I know it’s not about me in the first place, but I cannot deny that I was building the mega blocks towers all the time from his 1st birthday till kindergarten.

big kid playing with busy board

Gender-neutral Toys Last for Years

At 5 years of age, kids still adore the busy boards, Wheely bugs, and Mega blocks. The usage of these becomes so much more detailed with the further child’s development. A child who stumbled along with the wheely bug balances on it to reach the cereals. Fumbling with the studs turns into making literally anything from the blocks in under a minute. The busy board will be used to try out the leverage, tension, ropes, and such engineering tasks.

young boy and girl playing with the paint spray cans

Why gender-neutral play is important?

While kids grow up, their play patterns become more intricate. As long as they don’t get limited from outside, the natural curiosity makes every kid’s mind an expanding galaxy of cognition. The long-lasting gender-neutral toys provided in early childhood make a stronghold for creativity, inquiry, invention and problem-solving abilities – the human’s inseparable features.

Having gender-neutral toys as staples to play with during extended periods in childhood helps each individual to crank up their skills in a neutral unbiased setup.

The researches have shown that until 8-10 years of age the performance in kids doesn’t depend on gender much, with girls generally outperforming boys in many skills. Yet, with the school-age, comes the notable drop in girl’s abilities. In some cases, they come not unrelated to the introduction of stereotypical gender roles to the children by society.

PROMOTING GENDER-NEUTRAL PLAY IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK

It starts with toddlers, but it doesn’t stop there. That’s why I love that these high-quality toys will stay intact and heavily involved in the play for a very long time, growing together with the child. The 5 above, in my opinion, are the best investments that a parent or caregiver can make. Would you like to see more gender-neutral ideas?

Close
Cart (0)

No products in the cart. No products in the cart.