What are the main types of toys

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Since ancient times, people have been aware of the need for toys for the development of the child. At first they were miniature copies of real objects. So, for girls, toys were of a household nature, for boys, objects of hunting and agriculture were created. Later, they were also an entertainment thing. Also, it was through toys that one could observe the cultural characteristics of each nation.

Toy Story

Archaeologists have repeatedly found different toys at excavation sites. For example, carved wooden figurines of animals were discovered in ancient Egypt. They depicted cats, cows, dogs, tigers, etc. Also, types of toys with moving parts of the body were found, which indicates the complex design of the product. Similar objects were found in large numbers at the site of Pompeii, Greece and Rome. In addition to figurines, various rattles and rattles were popular there. It was believed that their noise drives away evil spirits from the baby.

During excavations in Siberia, figurines of animals such as mammoth, rhinoceros, tiger were found in a large number. It is amazing, but, despite the time of creation, they were executed with amazing accuracy. And on the territory of Ukraine were found objects made ofsoft stone and mammoth tusks. Archaeologists considered that the age of the finds dates back to about the past era.

Separately, it is worth talking about dolls. Their first prototypes were found in Ancient Egypt. In Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, they had a special role: before marriage, the girl played them, and then sacrificed them to the goddess of love. After such a ritual, it was believed that the union would be especially strong.

Middle Ages and further development

It is not known for certain how toys developed in the Middle Ages. But the very word "toy" originated and gained its distribution in the Renaissance. France is considered the parent country. It was there that caring mothers sewed pieces of cloth and filled them with straw, forming small dolls. Already in the 16th century, various types of children's toys began to be made to order and sold. But since they were made as piece goods, they cost a lot of money, so they were available only to an aristocrat. Dolls at that time often acted as mannequins for fashionable clothes. Their mass production appeared only in the 19th century.

Types of soft toys have become diversified after the development of industrial production. At the same time, a fashionable trend appeared to print various patterns of toys in women's magazines. So, in 1879, a resident of a German town, chained to a wheelchair, sewed several Christmas gifts for her nephews. Wonderful little animals gained fame among the neighbors, and orders soon fell on Margaret. After some time, she was able to open a workshop where she worked with her sisters. A few years later sheestablished a factory where many kinds of toys were made.

Creating a Popular Beast

Few people know, but this character did not appear immediately. Margaret has patented a soft toy in the form of a teddy bear. His peculiarity was that he leaned on four paws. A year later, a teddy bear appeared, which forever went down in history and became popular with children. His speci alty was the combination of an articulated doll and a soft toy.

Why did the bear become Teddy?

Everyone knows that the default teddy bear is called Teddy. Where did this tradition come from? Since Germany was the birthplace of the bear, one of the Russian emigrants took the funny toy to the United States and placed it in a shop window. Visitors were delighted with the novelty, and offers with orders rained down on the bench. Therefore, the owners of the shop set up the production of bears and asked for permission to call them Teddy. Roosevelt was president then.

At the same time, the story of how the president refused to shoot a bear, which was specially brought to him, gained popularity in the newspapers. He justified this by the fact that the hunt must be honest - you, the gun and the beast. Then the chances of all are equal.

Porcelain dolls

Some dolls have not become toys in the truest sense of the word. For example, porcelain products became more of a decorative item and gained fame among adult collectors. The mass production of such specimens worsened their quality, so only beauties made in a single copy were valuable. Such dolls had individualfacial features, names, unique clothes. The master spent a lot of time creating his brainchild.

Becoming a collector's item, porcelain dolls became characters in creepy stories, as their striking resemblance to real people was believed to make them a receptacle for demons or evil spirits.

Their disadvantage is the heaviness and fragility of the material. Therefore, such products cannot be considered a full-fledged toy for children. Masters to this day make porcelain dolls in small quantities or in a single copy.

Special toys for the Slavic people

Every nation in the world has its own special toys. For example, matryoshka has long been considered a symbol of Russia. In fact, it appeared among the Slavs only at the end of the 19th century and served as the prototype of a Japanese hollow toy with loose figurines. They were amulets against evil forces. As a result, Russian craftsmen Konovalov and Zvezdochkin created a red-cheeked girl. But in fact, the types of folk toys in Russia are not limited to nesting dolls. For example, the very first fun for a newborn baby is rattles and rattles. For their manufacture, poppy heads and dry peas were used. Two halves were molded from clay, peas or a head were placed inside, after the part they were fastened together. Ratchets were made even simpler: wooden plates were attached to the handle, which, during rotation, began to creak and make noise. Such devices were important for introducing the baby to the world of sounds.

What types of toys were popular in Russia? Rag dolls were made for girls. They are strikingly different frommodern copies. They cannot be considered primordially Russian, since all nationalities had dolls, but in Russia they had their own characteristics. They were made from straw and rags.

In Ukraine, such a toy was called a motanka, in Russia - a twist. The doll was not so much fun for the child as a talisman for him. Therefore, traditionally it was made by the mother, reading special conspiracies. The peculiarity of rag dolls was the absence of a face. It may seem to someone that the reason for this is the laziness of the master. In fact, this was due to superstition: the eyes can “jinx” a child, since by drawing a face, a person can endow an object with an evil spirit. Psychologists are sure that such a doll without a face gives an excellent impetus to the development of imagination. Another belief was associated with the ban on the use of piercing and cutting objects in the manufacture of the chrysalis. Since it should be done with love, so the rags were simply torn by hand.

It is noteworthy that until the age of seven, the types of toys for children were the same. That is, both girls and boys played with dolls. Children up to this age were not divided by gender and wore the same shirts to the toes. Later, the boys wore pants, and the girls wore dresses. Interestingly, there was no "daughter-mother" game, but there was a "wedding", where the role of the groom was played by a twig. This is how the girls prepared for their future marriage.

With the development of pottery, more types of toys for children appeared. While the men were engaged in the manufacture of household utensils, the women sculpted cute figurines for kids. After sculpting, they were fired in a kiln andreceived fully functional toys. Colorfully painted, they captivated the child for a long time. Basically, soldiers, animals and compositions (weddings, tea parties, etc.) were made from clay. Over time, in some regions of Russia, their own special clay toys appeared.

Clay toys

So, the authentic type of toys for Russia is Dymkovo. They were created in the city of Vyatka. Initially, these were whistles in the form of animals. But in the future, no one was sculpted from red clay! There were horsemen, and animals, and ladies. A bright palette of colors, unforgettable motifs have made this type of toy a brand in Russia. The most commonly used characters are sheep, turkeys, nannies with children, deer, buffoons and more.

Many kinds of toys were based on someone else's ideas. So, the inhabitants of the village of Kargopol slightly modified the Dymkovo specimens and came up with their own toys. Their peculiarity was that the figurines wore traditional clothes, and mythical animals appeared, for example, centaurs and fauns. They were also dressed in national costumes.

In the Tula region, toys were invented, the distinguishing feature of which was a three-color coloring. Most often it was green, yellow and crimson colors. Also, all the characters had a very long neck. Scenes with a mother who had an animal and a child in her arms were most often used as plots.

Folk toys

Every nation has its own unique toys. For example, Nenets children played with dolls in national costumes. They didn't haveears, eyes and face, since it was believed that with such organs the doll would carry away the soul of the child. The realism of the toy was also not welcomed, as it could come to life and kill the child.

Kokeshi and Daruma play a special role in Japan. Kokeshi is a wooden doll. Her body was cylindrical, and her head was round. The whole body was covered with patterns. Daruma is a tumbler doll, the personification of Bodhidharma, the deity of good luck. It is made of wood or papier-mâché and has no arms or legs. According to the legends, the limbs atrophied after nine years of meditation. Daruma is associated with the tradition of making a wish. Having formulated it, you need to draw the pupil of the chrysalis. It is necessary to keep it in a conspicuous place for a year, and if the wish is fulfilled, the second eye is added to the chrysalis, and if not, it is burned. So it will be clear to the deity that other ways of realizing the desire are being sought.

Christmas and New Year

In addition to toys for children, the history of mankind has developed special traditions of decorating sacred trees. This custom was also among the pagans, who performed rituals and made donations. In today's world, we cannot imagine life without Christmas trees. Christmas decorations were popular, the types of which were not limited to balls. For example, in the Middle Ages, the green beauty was decorated with products: waffles, sweets, fruits, etc. It had a religious basis. So, apples were a symbol of the forbidden fruit, which was plucked by Eve. Wafers are part of Communion. Later, a tradition appeared to decorate the Christmas tree with paper figures.

In Germany, types of New Year's toys were invented: Christmas balls of different colors, garlands, angels. But it was entertainment for rich people. Balloons came into fashion in the 19th century. The first copies were made of glass and covered with a lead solution, which made them strong but heavy. Later, the craftsmen learned how to blow thin glass balls. Then they began to paint and cover with patterns.

In wartime, toys were made with their own hands, the types of which were extremely diverse. So, a star was easily constructed from flasks and beakers. And parachutists were created from paper. Santa Claus was painted on postcards, who kills enemies.

Types of educational toys for preschool children

In recent decades, early childhood development has become popular. Methods and manuals are being developed, shops offer a wide range of goods on the topic. For example, for the development of motor skills it is useful to sculpt and draw. This requires only paper, paints, pencils, plasticine. You can find a wide variety of study materials online. Do not try to teach a child academic drawing from an early age, as you will only turn away from classes. Psychologists urge to use as a tool for applying paints not only brushes, but also your own fingers, foam sponges, etc.

Not so long ago a novelty appeared in Russia - "kinetic sand". Possessing the physical properties of sand, it can be molded into different figures, as it does not crumble. This material is toxic and not harmful to children.

It is important to use ordinary cubes for the development of spatial imagination. They come in different sizes, colors, with or without drawings, they can build houses and turrets. Since the types of wooden toys are diverse, the cubes are one of them. It is an environmentally friendly and safe material, besides it is pleasant to the touch. Another alternative for one-year-olds is soft cubes. They are easy to shift, squeeze, they will not cripple the child. But at the same time, their danger is that the child does not form a logical connection between shape and weight. There is a kind of cubes that need to be added in a certain sequence and get a picture. They can be printed with letters, which allows them to be used when teaching to read.

Main types of physical education toys

It is difficult to argue with the fact that in addition to spiritual education, physical education should be given. After all, he alth is laid from childhood, and in the nature of a child it is natural to want to move. For this, sports toys are used. For example, hoops and balls are needed for the development of general motor skills, and a skipping rope is needed for endurance. They also include scooters, bicycles, etc. Separately, it is worth mentioning such games as table football and the like.

It is no less popular to arrange various kinds of sports complexes in a child's room. So he can give vent to his activity and exercise physically. As a rule, complexes consist of rings, wall bars, ropes. It all depends on the size of the room. Any toys in this group are aimed at developingphysical data. So, the game "towns", the task of which is to knock down a construction of dice with a bat, is aimed at developing an eye.

Theatrical and musical toys

Already in ancient times, people clearly realized that different types of children's toys solved different problems. For example, musical toys have been created to develop special hearing. They are used during children's holidays and in independent play. They can be miniatures of real objects: xylophones, metallophones, drums, etc. For the development of speech, it is considered useful to play a certain rhythm on them and ask the child to repeat it.

There are also plot musical toys. For example, if you perform certain actions with an object, a melody will play. Some types of soft toys are equipped with a miniature player. When you press the button, the song will play. In recent years, due to the large abundance of counterfeit products, these types of toys are more likely to cause harm, as they do not meet the quality criteria: aesthetics, production from good materials and euphony.

Theatrical types of toys are worth mentioning separately. They can be puppets, bibabos, story figures, etc. The peculiarity is that, using them, you can create a small representation. At the same time, experts do not recommend using them in everyday life, as they should be associated with the holiday.

Constructors and stuff

There are different types of toys, photos of which can be seen in the article. For the development of spatial imagination, it is useful to use constructors andConstruction Materials. Technical toys include various vehicles, household items such as cameras or spyglasses. They can be fitted with small motors and motors, making the item fun for kids.

Handmade

Despite the wide range of products in stores, it is still popular to make toys with your own hands. Their types are varied. They can be created for theatrical performances, role-playing game and other needs. They can be skillfully executed, or they can be done in a hurry. Also, the creation of toys is used in the activities of schoolchildren to develop the skill of creation.

When choosing toys, remember that they must be made of quality material. Don't skimp on kids, as at best a cheap toy will break and at worst it will harm a child (low quality materials can be toxic). Choose trusted stores.

From an early age, a child should be surrounded by toys, since his main activity at preschool age is play. Different types of toys allow him to develop comprehensively. It is useful to periodically hide some items and get others, then the child does not have time to get bored. Also remember that toys are selected for a certain age.