Preschool Girls: Too Early to Be Girly?

Whether kids' personalities and preferences are the result of nature or nurture, we may ultimately never know. What we do know, thanks to an annual preschool license survey conducted by kids' marketing and research firm Funosophy Inc., is that while some preschool girls have moved beyond the gender-neutral properties of their infancy into more feminine interests, gender-neutral properties are more than holding their own with this age group. One hundred mothers of girls ages 3-5 responded to this survey about their daughters' favorite characters.

Interestingly, more than 60 percent of the characters submitted were associated with gender-neutral properties, while the other 39 percent submitted were more traditionally feminine properties.

Of those mothers who suggested a gender-neutral property as their child's favorite, 53 percent nominated Dora the Explorer (who was also the favorite overall, with 32 percent of moms choosing her).

1. 1. Dora the Explorer
2. 2. Barney
3. 3. That's So Raven (tie)
4. 3. SpongeBob SquarePants (tie)

Disney has definitely got girls' numbers, with three of the top four feminine properties on our list belonging to the entertainment giant. Disney Princess (net) was the favorite feminine character line, according to 46 percent of mothers who voted for a feminine property. The various fairy tale Princesses were also girls' second favorites overall, with 18 percent of all moms choosing the property as their child's favorite. Hot Disney television show Hannah Montana tied another Disney property, Tinkerbell, for the third most popular feminine character.

1. 1. Disney Princess
2. 2. Barbie
3. 3. Hannah Montana (tie)
4. 4. Tinkerbell (tie)

For purposes of this report, individual Disney Princesses nominated were included in a net “Disney Princess” response. Of those, Cinderella is tops with girls, with more than a third of mothers who voted for a Disney Princess character choosing her as her daughter's favorite. The overall Disney Princess brand received the second largest number of votes, followed by Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and Sleeping Beauty.

Preschool girls are interested in both gender-neutral and feminine properties, giving licensees a range to choose from when trying to appeal to this target.