The Patterns of Children's and Caregivers' Gender-Typed Exhibit Choices in a Pop-Up Children's Museum

. A children's museum is a place to explore and play. It allows children and caregivers to choose among a variety of exhibits. We were interested in visitors' choices to play in exhibits that included activities typed for their gender. We observed 71 family groups for 15 minutes each and noted the extent to which children and caregivers chose exhibits typed for their gender. We found that, for the majority of the time during our observation, women, men, and boys chose exhibits that included activities not typed for their gender, whereas girls spent the majority of the time during our observation at exhibits that included activities typed for their gender. These findings suggest that museums may allow for a kind of freedom from certain expectations for children's play.