A new study has found that children who play with dolls develop both social skills and empathy. Children who play with dolls at a young age make healthier choices later in life. By developing their empathy and social skills early, they are more likely to achieve better grades in school. Furthermore, they drop out of their school career less early.
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When I was a kindergarten teacher, I often saw and heard in the corners how the children's families went. Many toddlers exactly imitate their father or mother when they set the table or clean up in the corner of the house. There are those who first put down all the cutlery and then the plates and yet another must first have placemats and tissues because the table can't stand water. And what is being played and talked about in a corner, especially in the home corner. For example, I once heard:'Now I'm really fed up, if you continue like this, just sit on the stairs and you will stay there until dinner'. To which another toddler remarks:'There are no stairs here..'. Playing with dolls =imitating situations.
In their play, children process their day and take things from each other. Things like waiting for each other, looking at each other, taking into account the other and responding to what the other is doing or saying are still difficult concepts for preschoolers. But very important to learn. They seem like small things, but I still like it when an adult doesn't push in the store and someone looks at me when I want to cross or we have a conversation. It is therefore not for nothing that a large part of the nursery day is filled with playing in the corners and learning new things in a playful way to also stimulate creativity. Teaching things with lots of songs, gestures and the like to make it as concrete as possible.
A wonderful quality, especially in an increasingly individualistic world, is empathy. People who are empathetic have a great eye for the other. They think about the other person's point of view and how they should feel. Even when their own point of view is very different. Children with a lot of empathy hate bullying or injustice. They will also want to prevent this or help to find and contribute to a solution for this.
Play therapy, a form of therapy for children, also makes extensive use of playing with dolls. For example, a child who is bullied and is anxious can learn how to express his feelings in this form of therapy. In this way he or she can build more self-confidence. By acting out a situation that the child has experienced as difficult or annoying, a conversation is started. How do you do it differently next time? This situation is also re-enacted and this gives a good result. Ultimately, a child is encouraged to apply this in the classroom situation, of course after having completed this first.
There has recently been a study in which neuroscientists from the University of Cardiff - in collaboration with Barbie - investigated which areas of the brain are activated in children when they play with dolls.
To do this, the scientists observed 33 children between the ages of 4 and 8. Both while playing with dolls and playing a creative game on the tablet. They have set up 4 different setups for this:
To gain insight into the effect of this, they used neuroimaging technology. This provided an important discovery, which had not been visibly established before. Namely that the posterior superior temporal sulcus ( pSTS ) in the brain was activated. In Jip and Janneke language:this is the part of the brain where social information enters, is processed and converted into action. An extra positive touch? It is not tied to country or gender † This area is equally noticeable for both boys and girls.
It may not surprise you that when playing with dolls, the pSTS was activated both when the child was playing alone or together. This appears to be the case to a much lesser extent with a game on the tablet.
Barbie has conducted additional research on doll play among as many as 15,000 parents worldwide.
91% of parents said they consider empathy to be a crucial social skill. Empathizing with the other person - and thinking about how the other person feels - is also an important condition for achieving good cooperation, for example. Of these parents, 26% were aware that this was due to playing with dolls.
Barbie has launched an online hub with all kinds of tips and information for parents, caregivers and children on how to develop social skills even more. You can find it here..
In addition to Barbie dolls, this is of course also possible with Playmobil dolls, a Baby Born doll, self-built Lego dolls or duplo figures. It's mainly about playing out situations. Expressing thoughts, responding to the other person and developing your own fantasy. This is promoted by playing with dolls.
Does your child play a lot with dolls?
