Well, I'm not keen on the idea that there *is* one set of activities which are suitable for girls and a different set of activities which are suitable for boys.

I try to give my daughters the idea that they can be engineers, scientists, astronauts or dragon-tamers (ok, maybe lion-tamers) if they want to be when they grow up, and not limit their options to female-stereotype careers such as beautician or manicurist. So I try to give them opportunities to play in ways that in the 1950's would have been considered 'boyish' - and then it's up to them what they actually choose (and it's ok with me whether they choose to play with trains or play with dolls) .


> - Kids should decide for themselves what they think is fun. Why put these limits on play?<br>
> - Play matters. Children need a wide range of play to develop different skills. ... <br>
> - The real world  has moved on. These gender stereotypes are tired and out of date.

[Let Toys Be Toys - For Girls And Boys: Why It Matters][1]

So the obvious answer is to say that you should do with her whatever things you did with your son at that age. But I realise that's not necessarily a helpful answer! So - some suggestions:

 - Activities related to things she's interested in<br> With one of our daughters that was ballet and drama, with our other daughter it was steam trains and racing cars. Either way is good.

 - Activities relating to things that *you're* interested in.<br> It's really fun sharing an adult interest with a small child - if you have an enthusiasm then it can really rub off on them. If your particular enthusiasm is for an activity which is traditionally male-dominated then don't let that stop you from sharing it with your daughter; perhaps she'll become a world-champion boxer or a superstar programmer - or maybe not, but either way you'll both enjoy sharing an activity together.

 - Dinosaurs. Everybody loves dinosaurs. :)

So once you've got some kind of a subject or topic, the actual activities that you do (based on that topic) could be almost anything:

 - Junk modelling (this is particularly fun if you do it **really big**)

 - Painting and drawing

 - Role-play type playing ("you be a racing car and I'll be the other racing car!") - can be with or without dressing-up

 - Making costumes for dressing-up (cardboard and sticky tape are good for this, you don't have to sew)

 - Playing with 'small world' toys (ones that represent objects in the adult world e.g. toy cars or dolls)

 - Building with construction toys such as Lego

 - Playing running-around games ("you're the T Rex and we're the stegosauruses and you have to catch us and then we'll swap around!")

 - Making up stories together

 - Reading stories relating to the subject together

 - Reading non-fiction children's books about the subject together

 - Going to an event or show e.g. a sports fixture or a ballet performance

 - Board games and similar e.g. Dino-opoly, Top Trumps (they have TT for practically everything now), jigsaw puzzles, etc etc

 - Going to a relevant museum e.g. for cars we've been to [Brooklands][2], for ballet/performance we've been to the [Theatre and Performance gallery of the V&A][3].

 - Watching relevant movies or TV shows together (not too much)

Of course there's other things that everyone does with kids that aren't themed but are equally suitable for either gender: going to the playground, playing on the climbing frame, climbing a tree, playing chess, feeding the ducks, playing snakes and ladders. 

It depends on the individual child and their preferences. What does she like doing?


  [1]: http://www.lettoysbetoys.org.uk/why-it-matters/
  [2]: http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/
  [3]: http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/t/theatre-and-performance/