Teaching Gender Concept

Lately I have been working on introducing gender concept to Tuhina. I have not come across a standard way to do this nor has the concept been introduced by her educators previously. I was advised by one of her educators that it might be a bit early to introduce gender to her but in my heart I felt that she would be able to grasp it and so I started with the very basic level and was happy to see that she is getting some understanding of it. Since, I could not get pointers to teach the concept, i devised a series of steps which I felt would work for her. I am listing down the method I am using with the thought that someone else might find it useful for their special child.

1. Sorting: Start with picture of family members and people the child knows. Explain to him Which member is a boy and which is a girl. To keep it simple, it can help to introduce only one gender at a time and gradually introduce the other gender. I started with 'girl' but tuhina quickly moved to understanding both girl and boy. I took pictures which were easily recognizable as girl and boy (i.e typical get ups ). Next I used 2 pictures as place holders and asked to sort the pictures of family members as girls and boys ( started with 'girls' and 'not girls'). Also teach the child to sort his own pic correctly.
   
2. Identification: Once sorting of pictures as per gender is achieved, ask the child to show/give the girl (or boys) from a set of 2 pictures. E.g. I would keep mine and my husband's pic on the table and ask her 'who is a girl among mumma and papa and prompt her to give my picture. Gradually increase the number of pictures and ask the child to give all the girls (or boys). If the child is verbal ask questions like - dadi is a girl or boy? or simply ask him to say 'girl'. 
3. Generalization: Increase the pictures to include unknown faces and or people outside the family and immediate circle and let the child to identify the genders.
4. Since Tuhina is interested in laptop I prepared a power point presentation with animations to work on the concept in a fun way. The presentations was designed keeping in mind her requirements and strengths, having a mix of family members and general people, changing the position of girls and boys in pics. I prompted her to point on the correct pic of girl or boy as asked. This method improved her pointing and let me work on the concept in a way other than table top, which she also liked. 

I am still working on the gender concept, but Tuhina has develop some idea which I hope will improve with more generalization and time. This is the way that is working for my child. However each child is at a different level and has different ways of learning, but still I hope this can give some idea to work with other children. I am also on the look out if there are other or better ways to teaching the gender concept to kids. Any ideas or techniques that can help are welcome. Happy teaching :)