The commonest wooden toy in early childhood days is the rattle. This continues to be a part of each childrens early years. To our surprise these exact same wooden toys are being found to be the first ever toy known to mankind. Archaeologists have found wooden toys which date around twelve hundred years before Christ. These were found in Cyprus and are now kept very safely in the famous and exotic collections of the British museum. The rattles of ancient Greece have got shapes of different animals and birds similar to ducks, rabbits and so on. Wooden toys were also located in the tombs of youngsters in ancient Rome.
There were many play toys belonging to the ancient world. Archaeologists have also found the Egyptian tiger toy that has been estimated to be around two thousand five hundred years old. By far the most amusing part is the jaw of the tiger is movable and is fixed to a string from inside and joined to the tail, this means that each 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 a part of a very old Egyptian civilization.
This may be the perfect pointer as to how long dolls have been present as a playing companion to young children. Many wooden toys were also found in the tombs of the Egyptian youngsters. Though most of these were very primitive in nature, but their very presence is the most substantial fact. Most of these wooden toys were made out of flat boards of wood. To create a good body texture they were painted and then were dressed with linen. Needless to say, this toy was no ordinary toy, and it was unique when put next to all other dolls. This was mainly due to the fact that the amount of different details added to the toy was very high. It would normally be wearing a dress which was white in colour. The scale of the dress was small which portrayed that the wooden doll resembled a small girl. Also a really wonderful part was that the hands were movable. They are the most advanced level of wooden toys which 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 out of 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 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.
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I have been making Wooden Toys for a many years and it is still the best sight in the world when you see the childrens faces light up after giving them a wooden toy to play with.
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