Girls like cooking and dress-up. Boys like sports and construction. That's the message you'll get from most toy stores when you stroll through aisles of hot pink Barbies and dark blue Nerf Blasters. "But it's not the whole story," says Maureen O'Brien, a developmental psychologist who has consulted for Mattel. In fact, until age 3 or 4, most children don't show any gendered toy preferences: boys are fine donning flamboyant costumes (which helps them experiment with creativity), and girls enjoy assembling building blocks (which helps them develop spatial skills). It's not until elementary school that the stereotypes pushed by parents, peers and marketers start to take hold: "That toy isn't for you. It's for him."
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