Toys are usually considered accessory
objects, a complement on children’s life. However there hasn’t
been a single person who grew up without them. Even the most humble
sectors, that have no access to market toys, appeal to their imagination
to create their own toys with handy materials. Mud, cloth, cardboard,
paper, vegetable fibers, wood, metal, wax, tin and wire are precarious
solutions that may turn into diversion objects thanks to children’s
creativity and imagination.
The word toy is quite diverse. It includes within itself a huge
variety of products –there are about 250.000 different types
of toys- that are classified in hundreds of categories according
to: the age range of use, the materials used for it’s production
–plastic, wood, metal, cloth, paper, carton, etc.-, it’s
mechanisms –with or without movement, electric, with or without
batteries, etc- and it’s production process –plastic
injection, print, etc.- all of these are of great influence to what
is to be the final product.
A history that includes all toys is practically endless, therefore
historical analysis of toys is based on general issues regarding
it’s evolution. Of course we must examine closely certain
particular toys, since they were popular icons that directed the
course of the toy industry, we must refer to them specifically.
Considerations regarding games vary. On one hand, they are an instrument
of pleasure for children, and on the other they may serve to educational
purposes, with a great deal of importance in the child’s development
of creative qualities. Games are also considered to be very efficient
means for acknowledging reality. While playing the child reflects
the life that surrounds him, acquires and fixes knowledge.
Because of it’s own technical limitations, antique toys -precarious
if observed form the present time- gave children the opportunity
to use their imagination to complement and give certain meaning
to the everyday-game. Because the toys of yearn were not the same
as the ones we have nowadays, there weren’t other diversion
or entertainment means such as the movies or the television and
the limited practice of sports, popular toys had a much grater meaning
in every kid’s life.
Technological advances in the construction of toys as well as social
and urban changes of our cities have determined children’s
games. It used to be very common to see kids playing hide-and-see,
rayuela (which is a Spanish game of drawing lines and jumping) and
jumping the ropes on streets and parks, many years ago. Nowadays
the yo-yo, jackstones and ball mold aren’t as popular as in
the past. Television, traffic, homework and extracurricular activities
keep children of playing on the streets. Times change, different
generations gave different interests, and the games children choose
to play have much in common with the time they live in.
Toys have experienced many changes: from handcraft toys children
made out of remains or poor materials such as cardboard or tin,
to technological toys that function with microprocessors. Cars,
motorbikes, workshops, kitchens, cell phones, computers… Toys
model after the objects and way of life most adults choose. Nowadays
balls and dolls aren’t the favorite toy as they used to be,
kids don’t care vary much of table games and walking-talking
dolls… Even lead soldiers and the Scalectric have lost their
charm. On these days Electronics control toy markets with videogames.
Kids spend less time playing with their friends on the street than
their parents and grandparents use to spend. Today children share
their smiles and pleasure with their new best friends: the computer
and Nintendo set.
Toys throughout men’s history.
Ever since the existence of human beings there exists motivation
and need for distraction and diversion. This is common specially
during childhood. For that purpose men has built this kind of objects
all throughout history. Thereupon they have also influenced on children’s
intellectual and psychic development.
Childhood influences every person’s future, it’s at
that time when a man’s personality is outlined. What happens
during that period, for better or worst, affects that person’s
future life. Therefore it’s central importance for men’s
development. Toys have always been objects of entertainment and
instruction for children which help them to develop their mind,
creativity and sociability.
Children in Ancient Rome used to play with jackstones. During the
Middle Age kids used to play with whistles and maracas to make noise,
custom that has remained until nowadays. There are some particular
elements from pre- Columbian times that evidence the existence of
toys in American Continent. Unfortunately those toys where made
out of palm, wood, nut shells and other vegetable products, therefore
it’s conservation wasn’t possible.
One of the most archaic and popular toys has been the yo-yo. The
constant up and down movement of this toy has captivated men since
the beginning of times. Yo-yos where made out of wood, metal or
terracotta. Even though the first historical record of the yo-yo
is dated 500 B.C. in Greece –found during archeological excavations,
the vessels with the drawing of a child playing yo-yo- it’s
believed that this toy that functions with the laws of physics dates
form Ancient China. The following piece of evidence of this toy
dates from 1790 in Europe, and afterwards it is taken to America,
and so becoming an universal product.
There are two toys that have practically shared their history with
the history of men in society: the doll and the ball. Both of them
are among the first registered toys in Men’s history.
The
Ball.
Most ancient nations used the ball. In 1400 BC Egyptian children
already played with it; it was made out of papyrus, cane, ivory,
gold, clay or wood. Carved balls on wedding glasses representing
nuptial Greek rituals were discovered through archeological excavations
in Ancient Troy. Celtic tribes ancestors used sheep’s and
lamb’s bladders to play something very similar to soccer.
However according to historical data, the most organized ball game
was the one played by pre- Columbian American tribes. Form the Eskimos
to the most southern extreme of the continent, whether filled with
sand, air or rubber, they all played ball games.
Different European and pre- Columbian nations used it for diversion,
sport and different religious ceremonies.
The
Doll.
However the remote existence and use of balls, the most ancient
toy we have information on are dolls. Around the year 3,000 BC,
tiny figures –made out of clay, bone and wood- were used as
mystic and religious symbols for death and power. Children were
allowed to play with them nevertheless their ritual value.
There’s also information confirming the existence of this
kind of toys in the North Pole; throughout the centuries the Eskimos
made ivory dolls for their children. Further in history, archeological
evidence exhibits an important amount of ivory and bone dolls form
the Marco Aurelio Era.
As time went by we observe a sophistication of dolls. In 1810, doll
manufacturers incorporated the use papier-mâché on
doll’s faces which resulted in a much more natural look. By
1860 the first sit-down baby was invented. At the same time new
materials such as gutta-percha, glazed porcelain, rubber and ceramic
were being used for their production; faces imperfections were covered
with plaster and make-up for surface finish. All these changes gave
birth to the modern doll.
Baby-dolls were the fist ones produced with standard production,
developed in the early days of the twentieth century in the United
Sates, afterwards all, rag, plastic, vinyl dolls were industrially
produced. Between 1925 and 1945 the American doll industry shows
great and continuous improvement of models: from the ones that open
and close their eyes, to the incorporation of finishing touches
such as eyelashes, teeth, fingernails to plastic and rubber dolls
that drink water and wet their dippers.
Figures,
soldiers and puppets.
The first animal figure dates from the late nineteenth century,
it was a green elephant made by a handicapped seamstress. By 1902
teddy bears were standard- produced, with motion of their arms,
legs and head; it was the first time they used mohair (Angora goat
fur), though of higher cost and price and a elite market, this soft
and fuzzy feeling was the prelude to plush.
Toy soldiers production begun a long time ago together with a militarist
ideology many times translated into nationalism. In the American
continent, for example, they make their appearance together with
the independence wars, early in their lives children are taught
to love and respect their newly born country and army. From that
epoch there are registers of toy soldiers made out of polychrome
clay, lead, wood, even silver.
Puppets have centuries of existence. In the eighteenth century,
made out of clay or wood and dressed authentically, they represented
popular and theatrical characters which reflected real life. All
toys throughout history show this attribute: they always model after
real life.
Talent
games.
The first puzzle was from 1762, shortly after it’s
invention it was not only a child game but an adult game also. However
it became popular by 1870. One hundred years before, during the
eighteen century, board games were very popular in Western Europe,
specially in France, alike the puzzle children and adults played
them.
Trains
and cars.
The first metal wagon was invented in 1927 making a statement
in toy’s history. This was the famous red wagon that had a
black number fifty on it’s side, with metal wheels at first,
latter on changed for rubber ones. The first ones, with a rectangular
shape had sharp endings hurt children, therefore they rounded the
extremes to avoid this.
Car toys are an other icon in toy’s history. Their enormous
popularity through generations is a proof of it. The first toy car
standard production was in 1952, the company who did it: Matchbox.
By 1960, the American company Mattel competed with Matchbox with
the famous Hot Wheels Cars: miniature cars with wheel friction.
This motivated a vertiginous competence and industry evolution.
Therefore we had battery cars and remote controlled cars, lights,
sirens, opening and closing windows and doors, and so on. Likewise
other toys, cars reproduced at a tiny scale real cars, even their
details. Toys inventors throughout history have always produced
a reflection of their world but at a different scale: a smaller
world for small people, kids.
The
first robot.
During the 1950s celluloid industry invaded the market with sci-fi
movies. This monsters, robots, space voyages denoted the modern
development of science and technology. The toy industry also followed
those steps. In 1954 Robert, the first robot was born in the U.S.
Inspired in the movie Tabor, the fantastic, this plastic toy is
an other icon in toy’s history.
The
most important toys of the twentieth century.
The 1950s where, no doubt about it, the most productive decade in
the evolution of the child use artifacts. The industry’s and
commerce direction was settled then. Furthermore, the appearance
of this new material, plastic, and the invention of Barbie and Lego
represent such a deep revolution, that its very own limits exceeded
the toy industry itself, giving birth to a parallel industry.
Lego was invented in 1936 in a small Danish town. By 1949 this plastic
construction blocks burst into the toy market, and in 1958 the block’s
size was reduced and the fitting improved. This toy is recommended
by almost every specialist based on the conception that it incentives
the child’s creativity, because of it’s dynamic: the
construction and alteration of the figure they build as many times
as they want to.
Barbie was born in 1959, putting together all the fashion ideals
of the moment: closed lips, lined eyes, wavy hair and a perfect
body. Since then, Barbie production has never stopped, it even design
her perfect match: Ken. More than 90% of American girls have at
least one Barbie doll.
The
Industrial Process.
The manufacturing of toys to an industrial scale took
place during the second half of the nineteenth and the beginning
of the twentieth century. New and modern materials –such as
the rope, which gave the toy movement- are used in toys; polychrome
wood, wax and rugs, paper and cardboard were materials of great
importance in the confection of toys.
The real change in the world of toys is during the first decades
of the twentieth century, when specialists acknowledge that toys
are pedagogic objects, that stimulates children’s intelligence
and cognitive aptitudes.
For more than three decades –until the upcoming of plastic-
industrial produced toys coexist with the traditional popular ones,
made out of mud, wood or paper. In the 1930s celluloid doll production
outspreads, these washable hygienic dolls show a clear German influence.
Also at the beginning of the twentieth century we find the embryo
-coinciding with motor vehicles standardized-production- of high-tech
toys, during the game the child played a passive role, with little
direct participation.
Plastic was invented during the 1940s, but it’s use for industrial
production of objects for children broadens during the ’50s.
It’s quality to mold into different shapes and colors suited
perfectly the toy industry. Here fore we can say that starting at
1960 plastic initiates a new era in the toy industry.
Before 1950 industrial toys production centers were concentrated
in high-consumer countries such as the United States and Western
Europe. But after WW2, all main companies relocated their production
plants in developing countries with low labor costs in order to
increase their profits. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea first and in the
late ‘70s China, Malaysia and Indonesia hosted those production
plants. As a result of these relocations we see how production and
mass consumers were geographically separated in order to keep up
the benefit. Nowadays, toys world production is concentrated in
the far East, especially in China. In the future, Latin America
and Eastern Europe may turn into the new toy industry hosts.
World toys consume numbers in 1995 reached US$ 45.350 millions (without
considering videogames purchases), numbers that make toy business
men take very seriously the game’s industry.
Because of the Spanish conquest of the American territory and centuries
of colonial dominance, life in the “New Continent” suffered
radical transformations, in which foreign influences played a main
role. Spanish lifestyle, because of the crown’s domain, set
the margins, but also England, France, Portugal and Holland were
of great influence to all Latin-Americans. As time went by, foreign
and indigenous handcrafts (the very few that survived the colonization)
were slowly altered and style depurated, toys were no exception
to this rule. Nowadays, Latin America is a foreign toy consumer
center. We not only import toys but also heroes.
Closing
remarks:
The history of toys is no other than a part of the history of men
in society. Toys played an important role in men’s evolution.
Therefore, no toy is accurately understood out of the historical
context that made it happen. For they are elements of social life
identity, they say much about the time they were conceived, form
their historical adaptations we can trace their evolution. The industrial
revolution in the toy production area, although late if compared
to the ones in other industrial areas, was of great significance
because of the transformations and profits it brought.
In the long run, we find out that toys wont always be objects of
pleasure for children, but archeological evidence of pristine societies
or objects with great collectable value. Mankind has never lived
without toys, they have always been both amusement and development
objects, as well as distractions from their everyday life for adults.
They serve as means through which the social relationship between
children and their intellectual and ideal creative development is
possible. The basis of an adult man is his childhood; at that time,
toys play an essential role.
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Toys throughout men’s history.