my 2 yo son is obsessed with vehicles in general - trains, planes, helicopters, backhoes, steamrollers, cars....all of it.

I'm female, and growing up, I refused to play with dolls. I was into Star Wars, GI Joe and army men, transformers, cars and trains.

My mom's attic is full of never opened dolls that I was given by people over the years.

My 2 year old daughter is obsessed with cars and trains. She also plays with dolls but she is way more into cars.

She plays with race car apps we've downloaded on our phones and actually figured out how to change the background on DH's phone to an expensive car and she changes it everytime she gets ahold of his phone! And it's quite obvious that she has expensive taste in cars already.

14:04 again: My sister, who had gone in previous years opted to stay home. Wish she had warned me.

It's not just toddlers. We went to national train day. It was my father, husband, brother in law, and two nephews. I was the only female. All of them - ages 2 thru 64 - thought it was the greatest thing ever and can't wait until next year. I was bored out of my skull. It was terrible. All you do is walk through the trains and then look at the engines. I was done after 5 minutes. The two, six and 64 year olds had to be dragged out.

My son is obsessed with guns. I wish it were just cars!

OP here- I have B/G twins and my DD does like vehicles, but not NEARLY as much as DS does. This may be a generalization, but it's a pretty common one.

Anyhow, yes - I am interested primarily in why vehicles are so interesting to kids, and then secondarily why they are more interesting to boys.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious- but why do boys almost universally like trains/cars/trucks so much? Girls like dolls and playacting - which I get. They are practicing what they see around them. But what's the innate interest in vehicles? Anyone know?

Are you asking why children like trains/cars/trucks? Or are you asking why girls don't like trains/cars/trucks? (Which would come as news to my daughters, by the way.)

Grown up woman here who loved cars and trucks, but come on. It can't have escaped your attention that little boys nearly universally go gaga over vehicles, among little girls this seems less common.
- shocked when my little boy loved cars and trucks and planes without our pointing them out or emphasizing them

"More little boys than little girls like cars and trucks" is different from "Boys like cars and trucks; girls don't."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious- but why do boys almost universally like trains/cars/trucks so much? Girls like dolls and playacting - which I get. They are practicing what they see around them. But what's the innate interest in vehicles? Anyone know?

Are you asking why children like trains/cars/trucks? Or are you asking why girls don't like trains/cars/trucks? (Which would come as news to my daughters, by the way.)

Grown up woman here who loved cars and trucks, but come on. It can't have escaped your attention that little boys nearly universally go gaga over vehicles, among little girls this seems less common.
- shocked when my little boy loved cars and trucks and planes without our pointing them out or emphasizing them

Exactly. My son is 2.5 and OBSESSED with cars/trucks/planes - much more so than his female buddies. We've never encouraged or emphasized it. It's like it's innate - bizarro.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious- but why do boys almost universally like trains/cars/trucks so much? Girls like dolls and playacting - which I get. They are practicing what they see around them. But what's the innate interest in vehicles? Anyone know?

Are you asking why children like trains/cars/trucks? Or are you asking why girls don't like trains/cars/trucks? (Which would come as news to my daughters, by the way.)

Grown up woman here who loved cars and trucks, but come on. It can't have escaped your attention that little boys nearly universally go gaga over vehicles, among little girls this seems less common.
- shocked when my little boy loved cars and trucks and planes without our pointing them out or emphasizing them

Anonymous wrote:Curious- but why do boys almost universally like trains/cars/trucks so much? Girls like dolls and playacting - which I get. They are practicing what they see around them. But what's the innate interest in vehicles? Anyone know?

Are you asking why children like trains/cars/trucks? Or are you asking why girls don't like trains/cars/trucks? (Which would come as news to my daughters, by the way.)

Planes, too. My DS2 will take a toy plane and run around the room holding the plane up high. The toy plane does not move on it own, and it doesn't make a sound. DS supplies all the movement and sound.

Maybe they are playacting with the vehicles. They want to simulate what they see the vehicles do in real life, so they pretend to make them move.

I had the same Q, too!
As soon as my 14 months old son learned the presence of toy car/trains, he is hooked.
He goes straight to his toy car in the moring when he wakes up, goes straight to his favorite ambulance at daycare, when we pick him up he is still hoding the damn ambulance (which obviously makes siren sound).

I think it's the wheels. Anything that moves draws them in. Seeing construction equipment in action is also exciting for them. FWIW, I've see boys play with their cars and trains like my nieces play with ponies. So, I think the play acting you talk about is similar no matter what vehicle (tee hee) is used.

Boys (and girls) like toys that move. Trains and cars are on wheels and they move much easier than pushing blocks or dolls around. You can push them by holding on and rolling or you can push and it will keep going. Add in the fact that many adults teach them to make noises (choo choo! or vroom vroom! or beep beep!, etc) and you get a lot of sensory input and learn gross and fine motor skills. For my boys, they also love shopping carts to push around and will push cardboard boxes around on slick floor surfaces for the same reasons.

Curious- but why do boys almost universally like trains/cars/trucks so much? Girls like dolls and playacting - which I get. They are practicing what they see around them. But what's the innate interest in vehicles? Anyone know?