Ideas for Littlest Pet Shop/My Little Pony Type Toys for a 4 Year Old Boy

I have three boys (no daughters) and my house has: dress up clothes, dolls, shovels, trucks, strollers, they wear all colors, my three year olds favorite color is pink. What I don't have are electronic toys full of buttons that do the thinking/ imagining for the child, I have a very developmentally conscious home given my background as an educator.. My oldest 13 is probably the nicest and open minded teen you might meet (and straight). Gender is socially produced in terms of interest, I weld, tile, build, and my husband is scared of tools. My master degree is in child development/ education and most research points to the importance of choice in play with the emphasis being what thinking is happening/ problem solving. Remember 100 years ago pink used to be thought of the masculine hue(color) and it was considered it to be a stronger color than blue which was then assigned to femaleness. If you want boys to end up being loving fathers they should pretend to love and care for dolls, pets, and participate playing house.. (and when they are older they should babysit and learn to how to be responsible for children).

Why not just get him the Littlest Pet Shop and My Little Pony stuff? My little almost 4 year old has the Littlest Pet Shop stuff and loves it!

There are lots of toy houses and farms that I have found for my son - tey looking on Amazon.com under Wonder World - there is a garage, an eco-house and a barny stable for starters. They also make dump trucks, street sweepers, all sorts of things that are not "girly"...
Maybe you are looking for something bigger, I am not sure.
Good luck.

I think you should let your son get the Littlest Pet Shop or My Little Pony toys. Who cares if they are pink or that some people think they are just for girls? They're just toys... and he's only 4! If the toys encourage developmental play that's what counts.

I do agree with the other posters about them not necessarily having to be girl toys. The littlest pets are gender neutral I think. They have tons of animals and I don't think animals are a boy or girl thing. But maybe think about why he is drawn to these. My daughter loves little things that she can carry around in her hands or in her backpack. These include a set of little dinosaurs, jungle animals, littlest pets and mini ponies. Good luck!
M.

Hi, L. -

My son was drawn to these, too - as well as other "little girl" toys. He is now 13, well-rounded, brilliant, sensitive, funny, an incredible almost-young-man. What I decided is this: he liked them, so I got them for him. Sure, he hid them when his friends came over, but he loved having them. I searched for similar type toys marketed toward boys - realized that's just it: marketing.

I know something that is just like Littlest Pet Shop/My Little Pony - it's Littlest Pet Shop/My Little Pony! Please don't hesitate to buy your son one of these sets; even a pink one if he picks it. Gendering toys into "boys" and "girls" reduces play experiences for all children as they explore their word during the early years. My daughter loves Handy Manny and her little girl friend loves Disney's Cars, and we have to go to the boys area to get toys of this type. Each time we say, "How weird! Why is this toy in the boy section? You like it and you are a girl. Maybe all the toys should be together."

There is plenty of time for him to become a rough and tumble boy - and he may already be one! - so getting him one of these toys now, when he wants one, won't hurt him. Soon enough things like this will be "too girly" for him (which I personally find a tragedy, but that's a post for another site, not Mamasource! :P ).

The other ladies have also mentioned great "boys" toys, so obviously there are options there, too. Good luck.

I don't think that Littlest Pet Shop is strictly girl specific, the colors and types of animals are bright and colorful. They even have a LPS line called 'messiest' that has a little bulldog that has play poop and a stained newspaper, actually the only LPS that I've actually bought. So if he is drawn to these toys, I would hope that you will let him play with them. He may want be a veternarian which is a very respectible goal/role model for a boy. I have a daughter that loves legos, and it is really unfortunate that it is marketed as a boy's toy, because again, building things and being an architect isn't exclusively a male genered occupation. If you are really concerned about more 'macho' realistic animals, you can always opt for the Breyers horses that are very realistic and collectible but more spendy.

My sister is going through the same thing. My nephew loves his sisters Littlest pet shops. My sister and I decided that there is nothing "girly" about them except most of the colors. (here are some newer ones out there in other colors besides the pastels.) IMOP, the company missed the mark in marketing them for girls only!!
Also just to let you know it is totally normal and OK for boys to play with girl toys and girls to play with boy toys!! I never had any bothers, just sisters and we had everything from Barbie to Tonka! Why can't it be the same for boys?

Would he be interested in a farm set with a barn, tractor, and some animals? It sounds like the animals are what he's really into. If so, Discount School Supply has some excellent deals on barn/farm sets.

There are always the Brio horses. My son played with those, & there are stables for them.

how about playmobil, they do farms and planes and all sorts of things, they are expensive but worth it, i picked up some for my daughter at a garage sale for $8.

L.-

My son likes them too - because his sister LOVES them! He gets Littlest Pet Shop toys -- there are some that are more "boyish" -- like the dogs and the "sportiest" ones. He doesn't typically pick the overly girly ones so, when she gets one, he gets one. They play with them together with his Batman stuff - it's funny how their imaginations work!

Good luck-
C.

In my opinion the Littlest Petshop toys don't have to be just for girls although mine (8,7,3 yr old) love them. Our neighbor boy (8yr old)comes over and plays pet store with them or he also he likes to make them ride on his tech deck toys. At 4 I would think they are perfectly appropriate for your son. There are plenty of lizards, turtles,snakes, porcupines, crabs and other not traditionally girly animals to choose from. The online games that go with the stuffed VIP pets (like webkins)have fun games involving cars/submarines and they can dress the animals in boy clothes although there is alot of pink & purple used in the environment.

I saw a "clubhouse" on Amazon that is mostly orange rather than pink or purple that might be more boyish for him. I also saw a cute parrot with an eye patch! Nothing says fun for boys to my nephews like pirates except maybe Star Wars figures! Hope you find something that he'll enjoy.

So what? Get your 4-year-old a little my little pony! Who cares if it's a "girl toy." Giving little girls only "girl" toys and little boys only "boy" toys deprives them of different types of play and experiences.

Besides, if a little girl can play with a G.I. Joe, why can't a little boy play with a pony? Seriously?!

Hi! I'd go with a Little People set. My siblings and I used to love to play with the old style sets that had the parking garage, school house, bus, airplane and the barn with all the little animals. The sets are gender neutral. The newer sets are also cute with chunkier little people and cars they can ride around in. My 3 year old daughter and 4 year old son LOVE the old sets that I've acquired off of Ebay and the newer sets they've received from grandparents for Christmas and birthdays. Good luck!

How about a farm set with a barn? Or a zoo set? Or just Littlest Pet Shop - they're just animals! I don't see how they're a "boy" or "girl" toy.

Glad you got him the LPS stuff. He'll enjoy it. Our neighbor played with girls and was very happy playing with LPS, MLP, dolls, etc., and now that he's older, he'll still play with them but has his super hero stuff that he prefers.

Another idea for the future is the Go Diego line of toys (Nick Jr). They make cute wild animals that appeal to my daughter as well as the LPS does, he's a "super hero" to the animal kindgom without all the darkness of the traditional super heroes. I think that's the orange clubhouse that someone else referred to. Like LPS, you can get a multitude of playhouse type sets.

Hi L. I am laughing at your posting. My grand daughter loves all the boy stuff. I recently bought her Thomas the Train underpants. I could not find them for girls and she loves Thomas! We are potty training and today I told her why don't you go in your potty? She said I can't my pee pee won't work it is broke. Little kids are so funny! I went to Kohl's tonight after work and for $19.00 they had a wood box full of real looking horses. They each had their own cubicle. Not as cool as my little pony I know but I liked it. Your other option is to do what I do for our little one. I just buy her the boy stuff. GL K.

L., I've been thinking of you since you posted this. I couldn't respond then, but I'm so glad you received such friendly encouragement and found a good toy choice for your son.
I have three boys (no girls), including a four-year-old. He, too, is drawn to "dollhouse"-type toys and I have been browsing catalogs trying to find good choices for him for Christmas. I am not interested in buying things that are essentially commercials (such as a Batman castle) or too rough (war play items) so it's required some effort.
But, I wanted to tell you I've found several gender-neutral house sets that are not superhero-type toys! I've been baffled as to why so many dollhouse sets are so "girly," with pink everything and obviously pitched as a girls' plaything. I mean, both men and women live in houses, right? Shouldn't our sons have a chance to role play some of what goes on in a house? And sure, the pink factor shouldn't make such a big difference, but why do the manufacturers even code things like that?
Plan Toys and Ryan's Room both make awesome, neutral houses. Also, you might like a lot of the items at www.forsmallhands.com. They are a great resource for age-appropriate tools and toys. The Chinaberry catalog (www.chinaberry.com) also has some terrific little fold-out sets that feature farms and woodland creatures, and Magic Cabin (magiccabin.com) has a wonderful treehouse set with gnomes and another with jungle animals. I love them, and I am trying to choose which one I will order for my boys.
Now I'm going to go check out the Littlest Pet Shop things you found! I wish we lived closer because then we really would come play! Best wishes!