Toys
Toys have been an essential part of a human life for ages. It doesn't matter if they were made of bones, wood, clay, paper, string or pieces of fabric. Toys were always the most precious property of children. People began making miniatures of everyday objects - persons, animals, tools, dishes, armours and weapons. With toys, children were allowed to get involved in the adult world, for example children from aristocratic families were preparing themselves for their role in society when they grow up.
Let's start with girls and their favourites - dolls. Dolls were made from wax or porcelain. Some of them had features like blinking eyes or real hair. Clothes for the dolls were hand-sewn with silver or gold threads and decorated with imitations of expensive gemstones. Dolls go hand in hand with dollhouses but not every dollhouse was made to be played with. Some of them were even forbidden to touch. Each dollhouse was a rare piece of art made by the best craftsmen of their time. They were also a valued part of family property, and they were carefully inherited by women till the beginning of the 20th century. They displayed perfect miniatures of real houses and households, including precise details like furniture, porcelain and dishes of all kinds.
In the next part, we're going to talk about young men, who were always raised from a very young age to have a military or diplomatic career. In order to develop their logical thinking and strategy, they used various board games and puzzles, which usually came from Asia, such as chess or a Chinese game called mah-jong (similar to dominoes). Adult men were entertained with venturous games including roulette, or playing cards of different sizes, shapes and variations. Spatial imagination, manual dexterity and fantasy were practiced with building kits, made either from stone, wood, or metal. In the second half of the 18th century, the well-known picture composing game called puzzle appeared for the first time (it was used as an educational tool in British schools).
Of course, we can't forget about generally popular soft toys or outdoor activities like croquet and badminton.
Quiz
- Were toys for boys targeted in a way?
- What matherials were offten used for toy making?
- Who usually made dollhouses?
- Name some baroque boardgames.
Toys workshop in the Czech exchange