Walk into any toy store, and you’ll spot it instantly—dolls wrapped in pink, action figures decked out in blue and green.
For generations, society has whispered (and sometimes shouted): Dolls are for girls.
But what if science says otherwise? What if that soft-bodied doll your son reaches for is actually boosting his brain development in powerful, unexpected ways?
In this article, we’ll explore what the research says about doll play and how it shapes young minds. We’ll also dig into whether these benefits vary depending on a child’s gender.
Table of Contents
The Science Behind Doll Play and Social Thinking
A new study published on ResearchGate sheds light on just how powerful doll play can be in developing the social brain. To understand how doll play affects our children’s brains, we first need to understand a concept called Theory of Mind.
What is Theory of Mind?
Theory of Mind is the ability to understand that other people have thoughts, feelings, and perspectives that are different from your own. It’s what helps us guess what someone might be thinking, predict how they might react, and respond with empathy.
For example, when your child realizes that their friend is sad because their toy broke—even if your child isn’t sad themselves—that’s Theory of Mind in action. It’s a crucial part of emotional intelligence and plays a big role in how we form relationships, resolve conflicts, and communicate with others.
How Doll Play Enhances Understanding of Others’ Thoughts and Feelings
Children learn about the world through play, and doll play in particular allows them to step into someone else’s shoes—quite literally. Many researchers believe doll play helps children in several powerful ways:
- Dual representation: Understanding that one object (like a doll) can represent something else (like a baby, superhero, or friend).
- Symbolic thinking: Recognizing that even if something looks a certain way, it can stand in for something completely different during play. For example, a simple block can be imagined as a car, a house, or even a castle, depending on the story your child creates.
- Mental representation: Holding onto ideas and images in their minds, like pretending the doll is hungry or remembering a storyline from earlier.
When kids create stories, assign roles, and act out different scenarios with dolls, they’re practicing what it feels like to be someone else. This helps them build the neural pathways involved in empathy, communication, and perspective-taking.
This particular study explored the causal relationship between doll play and Theory of Mind development—and here’s what it found.
Doll Play vs. Tablet Play: What It Means for Your Child’s Social Interaction
The looked at how children interact with dolls compared to tablets over an average of 7.2 weeks. While the time spent playing with each toy was similar, the way kids engaged with them was different.
What the Study Found:
- Toy Preference: Kids spent more time playing with their assigned toy—either a doll or tablet—than with other toys, showing a clear preference for their main plaything.
- Solo vs. Social Play: Children played alone more often with tablets, but doll play encouraged more social interaction. Kids were more likely to play with siblings, parents, or friends when using dolls, making it a more social activity.
- Parental Involvement: Parents tracked playtime through diary entries, and while there wasn’t a major difference in the number of entries between the two groups, doll play seemed to foster more interaction and connection with others.
The takeaway? While both toys hold kids’ attention, doll play tends to encourage more social, interactive play, which could be key in developing empathy and communication skills.
How Doll Play Helps Children Understand Beliefs
The study further explored how doll play affects children’s ability to understand beliefs, using a “sandbox task.” In this task, children were shown situations where a character has a false belief about where an object is located. The child’s ability to recognize that the character’s belief is wrong, while they know the truth, is measured. The study focused on false belief and memory.
Key Findings:
- Better Understanding of Others’ Beliefs: Children who played with dolls showed a greater ability to separate their own knowledge from the beliefs of others, helping them understand different perspectives.
- No Change in Memory: The memory-related task didn’t show significant improvement, indicating that the effect was specific to understanding others’ beliefs, not just memory.
- Age Influence: Older children performed slightly better, though this wasn’t a major factor.
Takeaway: Doll play helps children improve their understanding of false beliefs—key to developing empathy and social awareness. This type of play can be especially beneficial for fostering perspective-taking skills in your child.
Why Doll Play is a Secret Weapon for Social Skills
It turns out that the benefits of doll play go beyond fun and creativity—it’s actually a fantastic way to help children develop important social skills. In fact, the study showed that playing with dolls can improve a child’s understanding of others, particularly when it comes to navigating tricky social situations.
The Research Results:
- Dolls Can Help with Peer Relationships: For children who have difficulty with socializing, playing with dolls seems to provide a “safe” way to practice social interactions. The research found that kids who struggled with peer relationships showed improvement in social thinking when they engaged in doll play.
- Imagination Drives Social Learning: Playing with dolls encourages kids to step into different characters and create scenarios where they act out social situations. This imaginative play not only boosts their creativity but helps them think about other people’s feelings and perspectives—key skills for social interactions.
- More Social Play with Dolls: The study also found that kids were more likely to engage with others—like parents, siblings, or friends—while playing with dolls. This is in contrast to playing alone with tablets, where solo play was more common. Doll play, it seems, naturally encourages group play, helping kids build those crucial social bonds.
- Doll Play Benefits Both Boys and Girls: Interestingly, the research found that the positive effects of doll play on Theory of Mind were consistent for both boys and girls. This means that regardless of gender, children can experience the same cognitive and social growth from engaging with dolls.
The Takeaway: Doll play isn’t just a quiet, solo activity. It’s a fun, interactive way for kids to develop empathy, improve their social understanding, and even work through peer challenges. If your child struggles with social interactions, dolls could be the perfect tool to help them grow in a gentle, imaginative environment.
Final Thoughts
Let’s rewrite the playbook: Doll play isn’t about gender—it’s about growth. And every child, regardless of identity, deserves the chance to develop empathy, compassion, and connection.
