On many websites, online games for girls tend to run to imaginative dress-up games, with heavy doses of fairies and fantasies, home decorating, cooking and other domestic pursuits. Some encourage girls to adopt cute-but-homeless "monsters," while others feature familiar cartoon and toy figures such as Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, Holly Hobbie and the Bratz line of dolls.

Many of the girl games online focus on fashion in many forms. There are games for playing "dress up" with couples, babies, backpackers, a new homeowner (who also needs interior decorating as well), pop star girls, cheerleaders (of course!), Chinese "cuties," and graduation day girls. There's even a dress-up game for a bride's "wedding poodle" (and it doesn't mean her fiancé).

Cooking and preparing food also plays a big role. There are "dash" games in which the girl has to gather up ingredients to assemble a certain dish within a specified time. There are games to decorate confections such as gingerbread and cupcakes. There's also an "out-of-this-world" game for creating healthy breakfasts in space, and an ice cream factory for fairies.

Some games require girls to develop eye-hand coordination, such as a game in which a dancing panda has to navigate a series of spinning wheels to reach its goal. There's also a game in which pioneer women create lace doilies to bring a little interior decoration to their wilderness homes.

Witches, mermaids, elves and other magical creatures from fantasy and fairy tales also have their share of online games for girls. They star in familiar dress-up, home decorating, cooking and other themes. Girls also have their share of racing, action and adventure games online, proving that sugar and spice aren't all that little girls are made of.