| A toy is an object meant to be played with. | | | | excavated from the Indus valley civilization |
| Toys are usually associated with children and | | | | (3000-1500 BCE) include small carts, whistles |
| pets, but it is not unusual for adult humans | | | | shaped like birds, and toy monkeys which |
| and some non-domesticated animals to play | | | | could slide down a string. |
| with toys. Many items are manufactured to | | | | |
| serve as toys, but items produced for other | | | | The earliest toys were made from materials |
| purposes can also be used as toys. A child | | | | found in nature, such as rocks, sticks, and |
| may pick up a household item and 'fly' it | | | | clay. Dolls are some of the oldest types of |
| around pretending that it is an airplane, or | | | | toy[citation needed]. Thousands of years ago, |
| an animal might play with a pinecone by | | | | Egyptian children played with dolls with wigs |
| batting at it, chasing it, and throwing it up | | | | and movable limbs which were made from stone, |
| in the air. Some toys are intended primarily | | | | pottery, and wood. In Ancient Greece and |
| as Collector's items and are not to be played | | | | Ancient Rome, children played with dolls made |
| with. | | | | of wax or terra cotta, sticks, bows and |
| | | | arrows, and yo-yos. When Greek children came |
| The origin of toys is prehistoric; dolls of | | | | of age it was customary for them to sacrifice |
| infants, animals, or soldiers, and miniature | | | | the toys of their childhood to the gods. |
| representations of the tools of adults are | | | | |
| readily found at archaeological sites. The | | | | Hoops have long been a popular toy across a |
| origin of the word is unknown, but it is | | | | variety of cultures.As technology changed and |
| believed to have been first used in the 14th | | | | civilization progressed to what it is today, |
| century. | | | | toys also changed. Whereas ancient toys were |
| | | | made from materials found in nature like |
| Toys and play in general are an important | | | | stone, wood, and grass modern toys are often |
| part of the process of learning about the | | | | made from plastic, cloth, and synthentic |
| world and growing up. The young use toys and | | | | materials. Ancient toys were often made by |
| play to discover their identity, help their | | | | the parents and family of the children who |
| bodies grow strong, learn cause and effect, | | | | used them, or by the children themselves, |
| explore relationships, and practice skills | | | | nowadays modern toys are often mass-produced |
| they will need as adults. Adults use toys and | | | | and sold in stores. |
| play to form and strengthen social bonds, | | | | |
| teach the young, remember and reinforce | | | | One example of this change in the nature of |
| lessons from their own youth, exercise their | | | | toys is embodied by the changes that have |
| minds and bodies, practice skills they may | | | | taken place in one of the oldest and most |
| not use every day, and decorate their living | | | | universal of human toys; dolls. The earliest |
| spaces. Toys are more than simple amusement, | | | | dolls were simple wooden carvings and bundles |
| and they and the way they are used profoundly | | | | of grass; Egyptian dolls were sometimes |
| influence most aspects of life. | | | | jointed so that their limbs could move |
| | | | realistically; dolls that could say "mama" |
| Most young mammals play, and will play with | | | | were around in the early 1800s; and today |
| whatever they can find, turning such things | | | | there are dolls that can recognize and |
| as pinecones or rocks into toys. It simply | | | | identify objects, the voice of their owner, |
| makes sense then that toys have a history as | | | | and choose among hundreds of pre-programed |
| old as human civilization itself. Toys and | | | | phrases with which to respond. The materials |
| games have been unearthed from the sites of | | | | that toys are made from have changed, what |
| ancient civilizations. They have been written | | | | toys can do has changed, but the fact that |
| about in some of our oldest literature. Toys | | | | children play with toys has not changed. |