ying store), and playing with blocks. It was found that children engaged in solitary play in the blocks and art areas and engaged in interactive play in the replica area. Boys were found to use the blocks area more frequently, and girls used the art areas more frequently, while both boys and girls played with the replica toys the same. Another finding was that as girls get older, their play seems to follow sex role expectations more, in that older girls' play in the blocks area (male oriented) was less advances than the younger girls' play there. Summary and Comparison of the Research Section All of the reviewed literature agreed in finding sex differences in preschoolers. Sex differences in play occurred in a variety of ways including the toys they preferred, the activity level, and the roughness of the play (Alexander & Hines, 1994). Generally, children prefer same-sex playmates over the opposite sex (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1987, cited in Alexander & Hines, 1994). The same finding was observed by Turner, et al., (1993). It was discovered, however, that boys preferred females with masculine play styles over boys with feminine play styles. Young girls preferred females with masculine play styles, while older girls chose male targets with feminine play styles (Alexander & Hines, 1994). This was determined by evaluating the children using an interview method. Play styles differed between sexes even when children were pretending. Older boys were found to be more creative in pretending and didn't connect this play to props as much as girls or younger boys did (Black, 1989). Pellegrini and Perimutter (1989), found that both preschool boys and girls equally enjoyed pretending play. Benenson (1993), found that girls prefer dyadic interaction more than boys, and further research found that the size of girls play groups decreased in size between the ages of 4 and 6 (Benenson, 1994). Black (1989) found that boys were more likely to engage in solitary...
