ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Defining Movement Within The World Of Boys and Their Toys

Updated on July 7, 2012
Movement such as balls rolling down a chute is a physical dimension attractive to young boys.
Movement such as balls rolling down a chute is a physical dimension attractive to young boys.

Movement Defined

Although the basic application of movement is the act or an instance of moving: a change in place or position, movement defined for the purposes of this article most closely relates to, "the suggestion or illusion of motion in a painting, sculpture, or design. The progression of events in the development of a literary plot." (Free Dictionary.com).

Movement has an artistic flow and beauty to it when it is applied to certain objects in motion, such as cars. Speaking scientifically, movement is the process of relocation of objects in space over time, or literal movement. and it operates in the fourth dimension. (C. Jirousek, Cornell University, 1995). If you doubt the reasoning in this statement, ask any man to describe a Ferrari, it's all about the beauty of the car's speed through time in relation to distance.

Boys love racing vehicles while clocking the speed and noting the power!
Boys love racing vehicles while clocking the speed and noting the power!
Collecting toy show cars is a hobby for most boys.
Collecting toy show cars is a hobby for most boys.
Relics from my son's past play days passed on to our grandson.
Relics from my son's past play days passed on to our grandson.

Movement Relative To Boys and Toys

In my observations of boys at play, children as young as twelve to eighteen months will put movement to any toy you give them. If the toy has wheels, then they explore the movement capabilities regarding power and speed. Some boys, my grandson in particular, become fascinated with the wheels and will spend quite a bit of time rolling the vehicle back and forth while observing the tire rotation.

When my grandson was a toddler, we had a big plastic green mountain that he used to roll his matchbox cars down through narrow roads and through tunnels. The faster the cars went, the better. As a preschooler, he extended the mountain by adding cardboard tubes, small wooden planks and blocks to propel the cars through space, recording how fast and far each went through the track.

Toddlers demonstrate a toy preference based upon prenatal testosterone. Moving vehicles or parts, such as balls, cars, and trucks stimulate and satisfy a boy's hormonal, physical composure. It is an innate bias within boy's that steer them towards gender-stereotyped toys (source: K. Frey, University of Washington and D. Ruble, New York University, 1992). As boys mature, building activities such as using blocks to form road tracks or patterns for toy cars, satisfies their internal need to explore physical and spatial skills. There is something about the brain stem development that is strengthened through the sensory-motor connection in regards to movement through space.

Boys are made with more muscle mass than girls and this may be another reason why boys tend to play a little more aggressively than girls with their toys. As they roll, race and propel cars through tunnels and racetracks the motion stimulates the kinesthetic system which is responsible in part for balance, perception of movement and orientation through space. This type of play in boys develops and prepares the brain for cognitive, social and emotional learning experiences.

Parents should take note that although boys are prone to this type of activity, girls also need a similarly based physically active experience and allowing them to play along with a brother is a great way to help both children build social, language, and cognitive skills.

What Do You Think?

Do you believe boys have an innate bias towards playing with toy trucks and cars?

See results

Creating A Platform For Movement

With the definition of movement in mind and how boys use it to develop both mentally and physically, parents can create play environments at home to stimulate active learning.

Create a space in your home for active play. Provide blocks, assorted vehicles, play figures and materials such as hats for pretend play. A small play garage, racetrack or wooden railroad tracks are also great adds to this area. Make sure they are age appropriate and safe for your child. Cardboard tubing, large plastic plumbing pipes, boxes, and styrofoam packaging all add to the movement experience.

Take time to play with your child. This is a great opportunity for you to engage in conversation while increasing you child's knowledge of language and vocabulary.As you play, use variations of descriptive action words such as fast, rapid, speed, power, and estimate. Adding fun to the experience with sounds like "whoosh" will also keep your child engaged in learning.

Don't forget to set up a play area outdoors also. A sandbox is a natural setting for dump trucks and other construction vehicles, but can also be used as an active play area by adding wooden blocks, makeshift slides and other active play items.

Encourage cooperative play. As mentioned earlier, if your child has siblings, girls included, encourage them to play together as it will help them to learn social skills, especially to differentiate between cooperative play and competition. Boys tend to want to compete with others, which is fine under some circumstances, but learning how to play with another child (cooperative play) and not against them is also beneficial.

Boy's Toys: They Never Out Grow Them!

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)