Why Playing with Dolls is a Great Pastime for Girls — AND Boys 

Traditionally, playing with dolls has been seen as a pastime exclusively for little girls. Boys, the conventional wisdom goes, are better suited to play with balls, construction sets, and action figures. You know… boy things. This can make caretakers and teachers to discourage boys from reaching for a Barbie or Raggedy Ann at playtime.

But while balls, constructions sets, and action figures are well and good – there’s no reason to keep your boy, or girl, for that matter, from playing with these things – recent studies show that there’s good reason to include dolls in your boy’s toybox as well. 

Here are three ways playing with dolls is a beneficial activity for children of any gender: 

Dolls help children to identify and empathize with other people’s emotions

One of the top benefits of playing with dolls is that they teach a child how to navigate a social world. Playing with dolls activates the parts of a child’s brain that is learning how to identify and respond to other people’s emotions, even when the child is playing by themselves. 

In February 2022, researchers at Cardiff University studied children playing with Barbies. They observed that the children spoke out loud about what the doll must be thinking or feeling. They also addressed the dolls in the second person (“you”), as though practicing how to interact with another person. In contrast, children playing computerized tablet games referred to characters in the third person (“he/she/it”) and didn’t imagine their internal states.  

Studies such as this one suggest that playing with dolls helps children develop their ability to identify other people’s feeling. This ability is referred to as “theory of mind” in psychology. Theory of mind contributes to later abilities such as empathy and appropriate social interaction.

In studies across the globe, women and girls show consistently higher scores in multiple empathy and theory of mind variables. This difference has not been found to be inherent in the brains of boys and girls. Rather, it can be chalked up to how children of different genders are raised. Allowing boys to reach for a doll during playtime can help foster empathetic boys, who will become empathetic men.

Dolls help children envision themselves in different social roles

Dolls also provide the perfect vehicle for children to imagine themselves acting in different scenarios. With dolls, kids can practice taking on different roles that they have observed in adults. “Because dolls are so close to the human form, [a child] tests out on them whatever it is she is trying to make sense of in the real world,” says Sally Turk, a head teacher at the Wellesley College Child Studies Center. 

This can include acting out a conflict that they experienced and trying to figure out a good resolution to it, or re-enacting scenes from movies or books. Dolls also allow children to step into future scenarios, such as what they might be when they grow up or what their first day of school might look like.  

Playing with dolls in this way can help children overcome their fears and feel more confident about new situations. It can also encourage children to step up into new roles and take on more responsibilities as they get older since they’ve already envisioned themselves participating in this way. 

Dolls encourage children to practice language skills 

Children learn language by listening to the world around them. They will firstly emulate the language that they hear most often from their parents and guardians. They will gradually include language from outside the home, such as words they hear from peers and teachers at school. Most dolls can’t speak to children and teach them new words, but playing with dolls has been found to provide an outlet for children to practice the language they already know.  

Additionally, dolls can be effective tools for parents and teachers to teach children new words and concepts. In particular, one study by Cambridge University found that roleplaying with dolls can help toddlers learn new verbs. Another study, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, suggested that when parents talk about a toy, the child picks up new nouns. Dolls provide scenarios for adults to talk to children about new objects and concepts. The dolls are also the perfect audience for a child to perform their new vocabulary. 

Data shows that risks of communication deficiencies are higher in young boys than in young girls. Again, this difference is not necessarily inherent but is created by how children of either gender tend to be taught. Encouraging young boys to play with dolls can improve their ability to communicate and set them up for future success.

Opportunities for your child to practice empathy and social understanding are more important now than ever before. Since the covid shutdown, parents have reported that their children’s socio-emotional development has been negatively affected. Providing toys that encourage social, empathetic cognitive behavior can help your child grow up more ready to connect with others and more grounded in their own emotions, no matter their gender.