List of Children’s Games and Toys in Antiquity
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Children love to play, regardless of the era in which they are born. Playtime is an essential part of growing up; it can teach young people important social and life skills, including communication, sharing, and sportsmanship.
Young people today have much to choose from when it comes to play. Video games are tremendously popular, but more-traditional forms of play, including dolls and board games, still have their fans.
But what about children in antiquity? What types of toys and games occupied youngsters in the past? Let’s take a look.
Dolls
Some scholars believe that the earliest dolls were objects of worship or used as votive offerings. Eventually, they became playthings—and popular playthings, too. Toy dolls were common in many ancient cultures around the world, and dolls of some sort have been found on every inhabited continent. Children in many places in the ancient world played with dolls made of wood, fabric, terra-cotta, or other materials. While many dolls were simple, others were more complex. Some high-end Roman dolls made of wood even had articulated arms and legs.
Pull toys
Small wood or clay figures with rolling wheels, commonly animals such as horses, were simple yet popular pull toys among children in much of the ancient world. Examples have been found in archaeological sites ranging from those of the Indus civilization to those of the Roman Empire. In addition to animal-shaped versions, some pull toys were vehicles, such as chariots or carts. Pull toys could be simple in their finish, but many were decorated with fine carvings and vibrant colors.
Whistles
Clay whistles, often in the shape of birds, helped children in antiquity pass the time. The figures were hollow, with small holes that produced a whistling noise when a child blew into them. Some Roman whistles had a shape similar to more recent water-warbling whistles, leading some to suggest that they were used in the same way: the whistler would pour a small amount of water into the whistle before blowing into it to produce a warbling sound. During the 9th and 10th centuries ce bird-shaped whistles were in demand; indeed, kilns in the Chinese city of Changsha mass-produced the items for export to Central Asia and the Middle East.
Balls
Rubber was unknown in most of the ancient world, so toy balls had to be made of something else. People used fabric, leather strips, dried leaves, reeds, and even animal bladders to make balls for play. Solid balls were made by tying bundles of material together, often with thin rope. Some skilled craftspeople made hollow balls, which had sturdy sides and were filled with air.
Dice
Dice are found across many cultures. Some dice, especially in ancient Egypt and Rome, looked exactly like the standard six-sided die we know today. But other types of dice in the region have more than six sides and look like something that you would find in a set for Dungeons & Dragons. On the other side of the world, Indigenous Americans used two-sided dice in a variety of shapes. Some were flat or curved on one side and flat on the other, while others were split reeds or sticks. Dice have had a variety of uses, from games played by children and adults to divination rituals.
Knucklebones
The term knucklebones refers to games played with sheep or goat ankle bones (astragaloi, which became the games’ name). Some games that used knucklebones were the forerunners of dice games played in the ancient Mediterranean world. In one knucklebones game, the winner was decided by which side of each knucklebone landed face up. Another game of knucklebones was reminiscent of contemporary jacks: a player tossed a single knucklebone in the air and tried to grab as many knucklebones from the game surface as possible before the airborne knucklebone landed. Not all knucklebones games used real bones; indeed, archaeologists have found examples of “knucklebones” crafted from bronze, glass, and other materials.
Board games
In addition to playing with toys, children in antiquity enjoyed a variety of board games. The oldest board game archaeologists have found is called the royal game of Ur (since it was first found in the royal cemetery at Ur) or the game of 20 squares. The board consisted of a three-by-four grid connected by two squares to a three-by-two grid. The goal of the game was to move your counters to the other end of the board before your opponent did. A similar game, senet net hab, or senet, that was popular in Egypt had players race their counters to the other end of their rectangular boards. Ancient Egyptians also played other board games. Mehen, or the snake game, was played on a circular plate with a sectioned snakelike pattern. Another board game that is now called hounds and jackals was played with 10 pegs—5 with dog heads and 5 with jackal heads—and a board with 58 holes. The exact rules are unknown, but they may have been similar to those of the modern game of snakes and ladders.
Kites
Kites were first popularized about 3,000 years ago in China, where they may have originated. Early kite makers used bamboo for the frame, silk string for the flying line, and silk or paper for the sail. People used kites for military purposes at first, but kite flying had become a hobby by the Song dynasty (960–1279 ce). As kites spread from China to other parts of Asia, new forms of flying became popular. Kite fighting, a form of flying in which participants try to cut the line of one another’s kites or otherwise knock them out of the sky, probably originated in India some time after the kite’s introduction there.
Chunkey
Chunkey (also spelled tsung-kee) is a game that originated in Cahokia, outside what is now St. Louis, Missouri, about 600 ce. From there it spread through much of North America. The game was played by first rolling the chunkey stone, a disk most commonly made of stone or clay that was concave on both sides, although some convex examples exist, and at least one variation of the game used a netted wooden hoop. Then another player or other players threw long spears, each trying to get a spear closest to the chunkey stone. Some variations involved running along the path of the stone; others required players to throw spears through a hole in the stone or hoop. Adults as well as children played chunkey, and adults even gambled on the outcome of games.
Playacting
Children love using their imaginations. Writers in ancient Rome observed children, especially wealthy children with a lot of free time, playacting. It was not uncommon for children to engage in mock sword fights, using weapons made of wood, or to pretend to be their favorite gladiators—professional athletes of their era. Important moments in Roman history were also ripe for playful reenactment by children. Although such imaginative play has not left artifacts for archaeologists to find, we can assume that children throughout history spent some of their playtime in this way.