Don’t forget the boys!

The 2022 Kids Study on the consumption and media habits of 10- to 14-year-old Austrians (TFactory and kids & fun consulting, June 2022) was the first to include the target group’s vacation activities. The findings confirmed many of the details already reported in other studies: Children like to surf the Internet, TikTok is their cool social media platform, and more than 65% of the target group participate in the family’s vacation decisions.

It is also well known that this generation generally likes to spend time with their families, and that they enjoy activities that bring the family together. Asked what they enjoy most on vacation, the children said they particularly like sports, outdoor adventures, cool experiments and paper chases.

However, if we go into greater depth in our analysis with regard to the question “Which activities do you enjoy on vacation?” and distinguish in particular between the answers given by boys and girls, we receive confirmation of something we suspected: Sports activities appeal to almost 60% of boys but to less than 30% of girls. On the other hand, around 45% of girls are interested in creative activities (handicrafts, painting, music, writing) compared with only about 12% of boys.

Boys are not keen on girls’ activities

Boys and girls are completely different in these age groups, and they do not really want to have that much to do with each other: Girls like to spend time on Instagram, while boys are more likely to be playing Fortnite and Minecraft on Twitch (a platform for gamers); on television, boys watch Spongebob and The Simpsons, girls Heidi Klum and Miraculous. Boys think the music of Capital Bra and Sido is great, while girls tend to go for Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran. And this nowhere exhausts the list; boys and girls are simply different at this age. There are always exceptions, of course, but in general boys want more competitive activities and girls more social interaction. Opinions differ as to whether this has biological or societal causes, but many studies on children do point out these differences.

The 2022 Kids Study, too, makes a strong case for these gender differences. The typical activities offered in children’s clubs, such as handicrafts, painting or other creative activities, only appeal to about 12% of boys. In other words: boys are not into handicrafts.

Kids’ clubs for visitors are too feminine

Unfortunately, the activities that boys like best are underrepresented in kids’ clubs for visitors. For them, sports, outdoor adventures and board games (where you can win) are high on the list. Cool experiments and paper chases are also the kinds of things that really appeal to boys. They also want an element of competition, something where they can win! This can take the form of group activities, i.e. where they compete as members of a team including the family team.

Include enough activities for the boys – also in summer

Since sports and physical exercise are the main drivers of vacation activities, anything that has to do with winter sports is ideal. Here the boys are in their element and can do the kind of things they enjoy. But what about summer? What can you offer in an indoor kids’ club that has more appeal to boys as well?

Here are a few tips:

• Include an element of competition in your activities. Which family can complete the challenge fastest? Could there even be a high score board (online)?
• Many summer adventure trails on the mountain already have competitive aspects. Where they do not, they can be added in many cases. This can also be done online as families always have their cell phones with them these days, and they have no problems using them for various activities.
• Organize competitions, perhaps with families playing against one another. The competitions can be a mix of creative activities and physical challenges.
• For your marketing, use cool boys’ language. To get the feel of it, watch a few commercials for Fortnite or Minecraft. You can also learn from TikTok. Speak the language the kids speak, and they will understand you.
• Be sure to do the right kind of marketing. Promote your activities on social media. TikTok in particular is a platform that is used by the target group of 10 to 17 year olds. Short cool videos can be used to highlight special activities for boys in winter and summer.

For more tips and tricks, go to office@kidsandfunconsulting.com