The toy manufacturer conducted a focus group on popular toys for this Christmas and 70 per cent of the participating girls chose to play with boys’ toys.

Bob the Builder was chosen as the top character over Barbie and Bratz. 55 per cent of parents in the group said they would consider buying the Bob the Builder Snaptrax set

for their daughters, when it becomes available this month.

Other popular boys’ toys included a remote-control version of Scrambler, the quad bike from the Bob the Builder TV series, and Oddbodz from the Born to Play range.

Kristian Johnson, marketing manager for the firm, said: “It seems that stereotypes applied to toys in the past, such as dolls for girls and cars for boys no longer apply.

“We wanted to hear directly from children exactly which toys will be at the top of their Christmas lists this year, and surprisingly found that the majority of girls preferred playing with the toys designed with boys in mind.”

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