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I always wonder what kids could play with in other time periods. I guess that woodwork always was pretty excellent, so there could be all sorts of stuff that is

by myspy 6y ago

I always wonder what kids could play with in other time periods. I guess that woodwork always was pretty excellent, so there could be all sorts of stuff that is lost by now.

eckmLJE 6y ago
There's an interesting note on this in "The World Until Yesterday" by Jared Diamond about traditional societies (typically he's talking about pre-contact primitive humans). Many children fashioned their own toys after the real tools/equipment/vehicles used by the adults in their lives.
petermcneeley 6y ago
I always found the quite interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South-pointing_chariot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South-pointing_chariot
vnorilo 6y ago
I'm pretty sure kids would do just fine with sticks, mud, pine cones and whatever scrap is lying around. At least mine did before they got engaged in the paychological warfare that is cartoons, toy stores and catalogs. Even now they seem to stay interested in their paper boats/air planes much longer than the latest paw patrol truck.
dudeinjapan 6y ago
For girls in all cultures, playing with some form of doll is a near universal. It's even true of young female chimpanzees. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/101220-chimpanzees-play-nature-nurture-science-animals-evolution https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/101220-chi...
bluGill 6y ago
My aunt growing up in Korea (just after WWII when it wasn't nearly as rich as today) used carrots that had two legs for her dolls. Kids can make anything work.
- lnwlebjel 6y ago
  My daughter literally put a smiley face on a roll of tissue paper and used it as a stuffed toy, so yeah they can be pretty creative given the chance.
- zikzak 6y ago
  As a kid, the only real toy I had was Lego (and a bike, etc). I had other odds and ends but we didn't buy toys (my family was financially secure, my parents were just cheap/not into material stuff). Being the youngest grandchild of a large extended family, there was a lot of Lego. If I wanted to play "space", I'd build a rocket ship. I had friends and cousins in a similar situation but because thier families were probably cheque to cheque or worse. They didn't even have Lego. We'd make toys with sticks or stuff we found on garbage day, etc. As I got older, I had school friends with everything (full collection of Star Wars stuff, etc). They were always bored. "There's nothing to do!" :)

by myspy 6y ago

I always wonder what kids could play with in other time periods. I guess that woodwork always was pretty excellent, so there could be all sorts of stuff that is lost by now.

eckmLJE 6y ago

There's an interesting note on this in "The World Until Yesterday" by Jared Diamond about traditional societies (typically he's talking about pre-contact primitive humans). Many children fashioned their own toys after the real tools/equipment/vehicles used by the adults in their lives.

petermcneeley 6y ago

I always found the quite interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South-pointing_chariot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South-pointing_chariot

vnorilo 6y ago

I'm pretty sure kids would do just fine with sticks, mud, pine cones and whatever scrap is lying around. At least mine did before they got engaged in the paychological warfare that is cartoons, toy stores and catalogs. Even now they seem to stay interested in their paper boats/air planes much longer than the latest paw patrol truck.

dudeinjapan 6y ago

For girls in all cultures, playing with some form of doll is a near universal. It's even true of young female chimpanzees. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/101220-chimpanzees-play-nature-nurture-science-animals-evolution https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/101220-chi...

bluGill 6y ago

My aunt growing up in Korea (just after WWII when it wasn't nearly as rich as today) used carrots that had two legs for her dolls. Kids can make anything work.

lnwlebjel 6y ago
My daughter literally put a smiley face on a roll of tissue paper and used it as a stuffed toy, so yeah they can be pretty creative given the chance.
zikzak 6y ago
As a kid, the only real toy I had was Lego (and a bike, etc). I had other odds and ends but we didn't buy toys (my family was financially secure, my parents were just cheap/not into material stuff). Being the youngest grandchild of a large extended family, there was a lot of Lego. If I wanted to play "space", I'd build a rocket ship. I had friends and cousins in a similar situation but because thier families were probably cheque to cheque or worse. They didn't even have Lego. We'd make toys with sticks or stuff we found on garbage day, etc. As I got older, I had school friends with everything (full collection of Star Wars stuff, etc). They were always bored. "There's nothing to do!" :)