Monster trucks, action figures, and video games. Are these toys designed for boys or girls? Scholars work in small groups to find and categorize examples of boy and girl toys from catalogs. Next, learners analyze the two sets of pictures and answer questions to explore the topic of gender roles in advertising. Finally, pupils create their own gender-neutral toy catalogs.

Concepts

gender, gender roles, stereotypes, advertising, sorting & categorizing

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Invite individuals to continue looking for, and sharing, examples of gender stereotyping (e.g. in commercials or on toy packaging)
• Challenge students to design a completely gender-neutral toy

Classroom Considerations

• Requires at least one toy catalog for each student and two large poster boards

Pros

• An engaging, hands-on activity is ideal for young learners
• Integrates art, social studies, critical thinking, and fine motor skills

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.K.1.a SL.1.1.a SL.2.1.a SL.3.1.a SL.4.1.a