Toys today… suck!
If you’ve shopped recently for children’s toys you’ve likely shared my frustration with the fact that… toys today suck! They’re unsustainable, both in materials and longevity of play, they’re incredibly unintuitive, overly prescriptive, and highly gendered.
I discovered this problem because I have three nieces and a nephew and in trying to purchase toys for them and seeing them play I’ve noticed the effects of expected gender roles in all of them. At Christmas, for instance, my niece Waverly pulled all the tissue paper from one bag and peeked inside only to let out an awed whisper… “a purse.” She carries it everywhere and that’s totally fine — but this got me thinking why her gifts were traditionally feminine and what this meant for hers and my other loved kiddos future options because often we become what we see.
This is because visual input has a subconscious effect on our innermost being as we are psychologically programmed to find meaning in visual forms. It’s how we have survived from the earliest development of society. Childhood is also when our perceptions of normality are formed and according to the Perception Institute, when stereotypes get embedded in our brains they turn into implicit bias leading to discrimination over time.
That means that when a little girl goes to the store and sees boys represented on packaging with vibrant blue and orange hard lines and all caps typography on trucks or robots then the message conveyed is that those are not for her and she narrows her perception of what she’s capable of being. Conversely, the message sent to boys that see the opposite in the girl’s toys is that girls aren’t as assertive, smart, or capable as they are. No one comes out of this unscathed.
When sharing this information with a friend recently her 5-year-old son was also in the room. She asked him if he’d like to shop on either of the aisles shown above and he responded to the image on the right saying,
“that’s all girl’s toys, I’d get stuff on the other one.”
It’s not necessarily how we’re built but it’s how we end up being because that’s the options we’re given.
Parent’s may not have hard data to quote but they’ve noticed these things in their kids as well. In interviewing several parents and caregivers I learned that because their children repeat what they see parents are more likely to buy toys that showcase aspirational figures such as the AstroPhysicist Barbie or Katherine Johnson Inspiring Women Barbie even though they’re still stereotypical of female beauty standards — because they send a better message about the capabilities of the girls than Fashionista Barbie which is limiting at best.
Their priorities when selecting a toy for purchase — especially in homes with multiple children and genders — are things which can be non-gendered so all their children can use the toy without being subjected to the ridicule of other children due to it being a “girl’s” or “boy’s” toy. They look for toys with diverse ethnicities, toys that introduce them to new interests and those which leverage their imagination and creativity rather than those stymied by gender.
Lego has had a long history of being non-gendered and helped kids build spatial and visual skills but in the last decade they’ve also started gendering product lines. Their girl-oriented products focus on playacting rather than construction which limits the experiences and skills female users are getting from the product and some stores now even distinguish the original Lego from the new as “building sets” versus “girls’ building sets.”
KiwiCo is a wonderful subscription service which allows kids from birth to grown adults to explore and learn new skills but each activity is a one-time thing. Plus, as a subscription requires the purchaser to be seeking out that activity and service not every child gets the opportunity for non-gendered experiential play.
Which brings me to Adventure Pack. At Adventure Pack we help children’s loved ones by providing imagination and gender equity building story toys in major retailers. Unlike Lego or Kiwi Co we give children open-ended play options based on the stories of real-life role models.
We provide children with aspirational female role models to reinforce the reality that girls are equally capable and allow all children—regardless of gender—to explore the world through the eyes of incredible people. We also combine aspects of traditionally masculine toys, like Lego’s visual and spatial skill building, with creative story play from traditionally feminine toys which encourage communication and social skills. This way there is no experience withheld from their development.
With so much of what is offered in major retailers limiting children’s options AdventurePack will be offered along side those options as a counterbalance and will give more children access than being offered online.
What will also set this apart from other toys in major retailers is that there will be a space to interact with these in-store. Independent retailers like Toy Joy in Austin have learned that “If you can get people to play with it and interact with it, they’re more likely to buy it.” so that’s something we’d like to leverage with AdventurePack.
While I didn’t get to test with as many kids as I would have liked the initial results were promising from male and female perspectives. Initially, things moved a little slowly and quietly but someone unfamiliar was trying to play with them on a toy they were unfamiliar with so that’s to be expected.
The prototype could also use a couple more rounds of revisions but they were super helpful and looked past the flaws in the designs. By the time we reached the end, they were all smiles and coming up with their own stories and creating their own spaces. They made the spaces their own and interacted with the backdrops as I had hoped they would.
“Can I take it home?!” — 6 year old girl
The parents were equally supportive of the message it sent and the skills it was building.
Buying toys is difficult for my daughter because she requires a relatively high level of interaction and stimulation. Keeping her engaged is difficult, but she was interested in the product from start to finish so I would DEFINITELY be interested in purchasing it and recommending it to other parents. — Tiana Hoover
Childhood development expert Tovah Klein talked about toys like AdventurePack on an episode of Netflix’ Abstract and said, “The fact that a child can take this and do whatever they want with it says to the child, “your ideas are really important”. Cause if you’ve created something and it was your idea and now you’ve carried it out, it’s yours.”
The goal of AdventurePack is simple. Empower children to see themselves and others doing great things. Who’s ready to play?!
