The present study aims to investigate the preferences of children aged 3 to 5 years old regarding their choice of play in two different environments, taking into account participatory pedagogical approaches, which support the value of children’s actions and “voice”. Its purpose is to pinpoint any gender stereotypes in children's preferences, to enable the comparison of data and the highlighting of the way they complement or contrast with the opinions of educators and parents regarding those preferences. The research revealed that children prefer commercially successful toys related to mass culture, which they employ for role-playing. Children choose different types of toys -mostly gender neutral- in the ECEC settings, in contrast to their choices in the family environment, which shows that gender stereotypes prevail at home. Boys and girls choose toys based on gender. Modern pedagogy aims to empower children to develop relationships of respect and equality and to provide equal learning opportunities. It is therefore imperative to encourage the use of gender-neutral toys to deconstruct the gender dichotomy and adopt gender-neutral pedagogy, helping to reduce stereotypes and raise awareness of social justice from early childhood. Article visualizations:
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Charalampous et al. (2024) studied this question.
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