Articles
History of Toys (March 2010)
It’s all just a little bit of history repeating itself. Isn’t it amazing how the basic concept of toys has remained the same for thousands of years? One of the oldest officially recognised toys is a pull-along toy and was found in an ancient temple in Iran, over 3300 years old! Pull-along toys support gross motor skills & the physical development of toddlers as they encourage little ones to make positive steps in return for a clack of the wheels or a bob of the head.
Toys are also a reflection of the society we live in and the stories that are part of our growing up. Victorian children soon became enamoured by play train sets, upon arrival of the steam train. Today for our children it is toys such as Wooden Trains, Fire Engines, Noah’s Ark and even Pirate Ships to name a few. These types of toys help teach about the world around our children, whether it be fact or fiction. Learning through play became important to parents in Victorian times making educational toys very popular.
Pretend play has always featured heavily in historic times and still does today. Children adore making fun & games about the everyday life around them. In the 1560s, children are recorded to have enjoyed imitating adult behaviour such as Christening processions, a pretend wedding and even playing at keeping house or shop. Today, pretend play can be used to promote lots of good things such as healthy eating with pretend fruit & veg or learning about traffic signals, for example, with road & rail sets. Above all though, it’s about imagination.
Promoting imagination is, more than ever before, really important as it allows our children to be unique and creative. Albert Einstein himself said that “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” How true!
Toys have been the foundation of children’s education & development for thousands of years and in today’s modern world this should continue. Playtime helps to shape children’s learning experiences. At DiscoverMe we look to embrace the old with a modern twist. We’ve sourced traditional toys made to modern high standards, as well as new fun & intriguing designs.
