Playing is a habit that emerged at the beginning of humanity. There is even a scientific concept that defines this act: it involves the development of pleasant behavior, repeated for no apparent reason, in addition to entertaining the one who plays.
Plays and games can be used for countless things: to work on motor and physical skills, to stimulate creativity and independence, to learn about adult life and just for fun. They can occur with the help of objects (toys) or not.
Over the millennia, man has created countless games that have helped him in this very rewarding activity. The most curious thing is that, for hundreds of years, there were no specific toys designed for children: they used to have fun with objects that were also intended for adults.
In this text, we talk about which are the oldest toys that history has ever identified.
1. Rattle
(Source: Digventures )
During excavations carried out in the city of Kültepe Kanis-Karum, which is in present-day Turkey, archaeologists found a ceramic rattle that dates back 4,000 years. They believe that this may be the oldest children’s toy ever discovered.
The rattle is formed by small pebbles and makes noise when shaken, and was located in a region where, 4,000 years ago, there was a settlement with a population of 70,000 people, which lived on the basis of commerce. It is believed that the rattle may have served to entertain the babies of the families.
2. Sticks
(Source: Clickhole )
Anyone who lives with children knows that they love to collect sticks to use in your games. You can use a stick to make a magic wand, a gun, a doll, a character, a cutlery, etc.
Because of this, the National Toy Hall of Fame (a “hall of fame” of toys) has placed the wooden chopsticks among the oldest toys that have ever been identified. It is, without a doubt, a living proof of children’s creativity, capable of inventing so many things with such a simple object.
3. Dolls
(Source: Quora)
Dolls are also very old toys : the first ones that were identified date from 2 thousand years before Christ. They were already found in several ancient cultures and were made of various materials, such as wood, cloth and clay.
In common, these objects serve to represent small copies of humans, and were adopted by children as a kind of “training” for adult life. A curiosity is that many of these old dolls were not intended for children: they belonged to priests, healers and sorcerers, and children could not even get close to them.
In 2004, archaeologists identified a stone doll head in the Italian village of Pantelleria that would be the oldest ever found, dating back 4,000 years. It was buried among miniature kitchen utensils, which could also be an indication that it was used in children’s games, not adults.
4. Balls
(Source: Aventuras in History)
For a long time, children adopted objects used by adults to play with. Because of this, balls are believed to be among the first toys created intentionally for children. They date back more or less to 4 thousand years before Christ, which would be the time of origin of a small ball found in the tomb of a child in Egypt.
The ancient Egyptians, by the way , they already had games in which they used balls made of papyrus and fabric such as linen, and that used to distract the little ones. The first rubber balls were created by peoples of Central America 3,700 years ago. Children at that time even used to play with them on stone courts.
6. Sand
(Source: Freepik )
Amazingly, the National Toy Hall of Fame also elected prehistoric sand as a of the oldest toys in the world. According to the entity, since the beginning of humanity, children all over the world have used sand to play with, making it a universal toy. If we think about it, it makes perfect sense.
