The purpose of this study was to characterize playing of boys and girls in two toy-libraries, one in a day care center, another in an elementary school. Nine boys and ten girls participated of first; eleven girls and thirteen boys were the subjects of the second. In both contexts, it was verified predominance of social play between children of same gender. There was predominance of solitary play in day care center, and play in groups in elementary school. Girls, in the two contexts, played significantly more of the pretend play and with toys for the affective development than boys. Those, compared to girls, in day care center showed significantly more realistic play and with toys that reproduce the technical world. In the elementary school, boys showed significantly more turbulent and without toys plays than girls. The results are discussed on the basis of children's characteristics and of the toy-libraries contexts.
Play; Toy-Library; Child Development
