Figure 1.--The photographic record shows very significant differences. This is the case in 19th century studio portarits. This can be explained as studio props provided by the photographer. Only with the advent of the snapshot in the 20th century, we see what children are actually playing with and it is the boys that are playing with construction sets. Here we have a family scene in the 1910s. The boys are playing with wooden blocks. I think the older boy is reading instructions as to what can be built. The girl has no interest what-so-ever in what the boys are doing. She is reading a book, we suspect a child's fiction book. We doubt very seriously is this mother discouraged her from playing blocks with the boys.

Construction sets beginning with basic wooden blocks were popular. Blocks were used as baby, toddler toys, often with letter or number faces. This made them helpful learning as well as play devices. We are not sure when they first appeared, but we have noticed them in 19th century toy stores. I recall my blocks had ridges that fitted together. Funny, along with my teddy this is among my earliest memories. This presumably was a 20th century innovation. Older children had more advanced construction toys. They have included metal Erector sets, wooden Lincoln Logs, and more recently plastic Lego sets. Lego seems to have supplanted all the former types of construction toys, excepts for the blocks that very young children play with. These construction toys seem mostly national toys--at least in the major industrial countries. The same toys in Europe had national names, meaning the private companies that manufactured them. Erector sets were called Meccano sets in Britain. There were similar toys in France and Germany. Lego seems the first real intentional construction toy. Construction toys were almost exclusively boy toys. I recall as a boy in the 1950s, that construction toys sets with my toy soldiers were among my very favorite toys. The girls I knew had no interest in them. Lego has made some effort to appeal to girls, but as far as we can tell with only limited success. This notable gender differential in toys is especially substantial with construction sets. Feminist authors will say it is gender roles being enforced by parental expectations This may have been a partial cause earlier, but much less today. Anyone who has ever worked with small children know there are very real gender differences which appear at very early ages. In this case, girls on average are simply less interested in construction sets than boys. And this has consequences for the much written about pay differential, something feminist authors simply ignore.

Specific Construction Toys

Construction sets beginning with basic wooden blocks were popular. Blocks were used as baby, toddler toys, often with letter or number faces. This made them helpful learning as well as play devices. We are not sure when they first appeared, but we have noticed them in 19th century toy stores. I recall my blocks had ridges that fitted together. Funny, along with my teddy this is among my earliest memories. This presumably was a 20th century innovation. Older children had more advanced construction toys. They have included metal Erector sets, wooden Lincoln Logs, and more recently plastic Lego sets. Erector sets were very popular with boys. We have no way of measuring, but from a boy growing up in the 1940ds-50s, I never knew of a girl who had the slightest interest in Erector Sets. Lego seems to have supplanted all the former types of construction toys, excepts for the blocks that very young children play with. These construction toys seem mostly national toys--at least in the major industrial countries. The same toys in Europe had national names, meaning the private companies that manufactured them. Erector sets were called Meccano sets in Britain. There were similar toys in France and Germany. Lego seems the first real intentional construction toy. This seems to be the result of corporate structures withe advent of international companies.

Gender Trends

Construction toys were almost exclusively boy toys. I recall as a boy in the 1950s, that construction toys sets with my toy soldiers were among my very favorite toys. The girls I knew had no interest in them. Lego has done studies revealing that about 90 percent of purchases were for or by boys. Lego has made some effort to appeal to girls, but as far as we can tell with only limited success. With sets designed to appeal to girls' play patterns. But this was a very small part of overall sales. This notable gender differential in toys is especially substantial with construction sets. Feminist authors will say it is gender roles being set or reinforced by parental expectations This might have been the case for a small number of children who had never heard Legos and got their first set out of the blue. I does not explain the countless number of boys (rarely girls) pestering their parents for more Legos. This may have been a partial cause earlier, but much less today. Anyone who has ever worked with small children know there are very real gender differences which appear at very early ages. In this case, girls on average are simply less interested in construction sets than boys. And this has consequences for the much written about pay differential, something feminist authors simply ignore.

Created: 3:03 PM 7/10/2023
Last updated: 12:04 AM 7/13/2026