Types of Toys Boys Want Now

BEFORE HEADING INTO THE HOLIDAY SEASON, Funosophy wanted to find out what types of toys and other playthings boys were most interested in. Online research was conducted among 150 boys between the ages of 7 and 10 in early fall. Since the holidays were still a couple of months away, an open-ended question designed to understand what boys wanted at that time was asked: "If your birthday were next week, what would you most want for a present?"
     Below is a summary and presentation of the responses from the research. Note that boys were free to respond to the questions any way they wanted. Funosophy chose to code specific brand mentions as a type of toy so that the full results could be reported in a consistent manner. If boys mentioned more than one toy or product, only the first mention was used.

BOYS TOP TOY PICKS Boys ages 7-10 are still playing with traditional toys, but other products like video games and electronics are continuing to make significant in-roads. The two categories that received more mentions than any other by these boys included Video Games/Game Consoles (24 percent) and Action Figures (23 percent). These types were followed by Wheeled Goods, like bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc. (19 percent).	VIDEO GAMES Some 24 percent of boys either wanted a specific video game or game system for a present. Of these, 42 percent wanted a Wii console or game. The next most popular system was Playstation 3; of boys who said they wanted a video game-related present, 19 percent mentioned PlayStation 3 games or consoles. Once the leader with younger consumers, Nintendo has lost significant ground in recent years, with only 3 percent of respondents mentioning it by name.	DIFFERENCES IN AGE For the most part, younger boys in the research (7-8 year olds) are interested in the same things as 9-10 year olds, with a few slight differences. The younger boys are more interested in Action Figures than any other type of toy or plaything. More older boys aged 9-10 showed preferences for non-traditional toys such as Video Games, Electronics and Wheeled Goods.

Summary
While traditional toys continue to compete with non-traditional playthings for boys’ attention, plenty of boys are still interested in traditional toys like action figures. •

Nancy Zwiers is Chief Funosopher and CEO of Funosophy, Inc., a leading toy industry consulting firm and girls’ brand design and invention firm. For more information on company services, including the company’s extensive research services, call 562.436.5251 or email nancy@funosophy.com.

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