The Brief History Of Childrens Wooden Toys.

The most common wooden toy in early childhood days is the rattle. This continues to be a part of each childrens early years. It came as a shock to us that these very same wooden toys are being found to be the very first ever toy known to mankind. Archaeologists have found wooden toys which date around twelve hundred years before Christ. These were located in Cyprus and are now stored very safely in the famous and exotic collections of the British museum. The rattles of ancient Greece have got shapes of various creatures and birds such as ducks, rabbits and so on. Wooden toys were also found in the tombs of children in ancient Rome.

There were many play toys belonging to the ancient world. Archaeologists have also found the Egyptian tiger toy which is estimated to be around two thousand five hundred years old. Probably the most amusing part is the jaw of the tiger is movable and is attached onto a string from inside and joined to the tail, this means that every time the tail is pulled, the mouth opens. This clearly shows how wooden toys have always been an element of human life throughout centuries. Another famous play toy of the present world are dolls. But even these have been an element of a very old Egyptian culture.



This could be a perfect pointer as to how long dolls have been present as a playing companion to children. Many wooden toys were also found in the tombs of the Egyptian youngsters. Though most of them were very primitive in nature, but their very existence is the most important fact. Most of the wooden toys were made from flat boards of wood. To make a good body texture they were painted and also were dressed with linen. Of course, this toy was no ordinary toy, and it was unique when compared to all other dolls. This was mainly due to the fact that the quantity of different details added to the toy was very high. It would normally be wearing a dress which was white in colour. The size of the dress was small which portra[censored] that the wooden doll resembled a small girl. Also the most wonderful part was that the hands were movable. These are essentially the most advanced level of wooden toys that are purported to be dated thousands of years before Christ.

Some of these wooden toys were retrieved from the tombs of the Egyptian pharaoh's daughter. The doll also had hair which was made from soft threads and were beaded. The long hair and the traditional way of dress design around the hips shows that these wooden toys were feminine in gender. These wooden toys had one more very important feature. The geometrical design over the body. This is denoted to be the design of dress and jewellery of women. Being in a young females tomb it can be considered that it was left in the tomb as a faithful companion which had always accompanied the child. Also a few believe these wooden toys were a part of the ritual of Egyptians as gift for the afterlife of the child.