The Importance of Play when looking at Gender

The importance for play in children throughout the early childhood years and through early adolescence is vital in their development.  One of the main factors during play is the gender of the child.  Each gender brings something special to the development of the opposite sex (Tamm, Skar, 2000).  Girls tend to be more gentle and compassionate during play.  During a dramatic play center, the girls will generally take on the more “nurturing” role as a parent or caregiver when pretending to role play (Fabes, Martin, and Hanish, 2003).  Boys tend to be more rough when play, because they like the concrete physical contact with each other.  In many cases, boys will tackle, push, or even kick as a form of pretend play.  Young boys rarely know they are engaging in rough play, because to them it is just “playing” and they are having fun.

Gender can also have a major role in play as to whether children play together or separated by their specific gender.  According to the book, “Children’s Play” it states “In late childhood, boys tend to maintain or even increase their preference for stereotypically masculine play by engaging in chase games, ball games, and rough-and-tumble play” (Scarlett, Naudeau, Salonius-Pasternak, Ponte, 2005).  Boys tend to bring more physical contact to the girls type of play, and girls tend to bring more gentle and dramatic play to the boys play.  “Children’s Play” also discusses about how girls play and they tend to “...engage in more diversified type of play.  They often engage in verbal and jumping games, games that many observers view as more quiet and sometimes more sedentary” (2005).  Overall, boys and girls bring different characteristics to identity development during play.  Both ends of the spectrum are needed for a well balanced development of young children through late childhood.  

Works Cited

Naudeau, S., Ponte, I., Salonius-Pasternak, D., Scarlett, G.  2005.  Children’s Play.  Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA

Fabes, R., Martin, C., Hanish, L.  (2003).  “Young Children’s Play Qualities in Same-, Other-, and Mixed-Sex Peer Groups”.  Volume 74, Number 3.  May/June 2003.

Tamm, M., Skar, L.  (2000).  “How I Play: Roles and Relations in the Play Situations of Children with Restricted Mobility”.  Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy.