ABSTRACT
From the beginning of history, children have played alone or with other people, sometimes with adults, more often with other children. Historical sources in print, artistic representations, and surviving artifacts document the evolution of playthings. Until the 1600s, European adults and children often played the same games (Ariès, 1962). Children have played indoors and outdoors with toys, games, animals, and found objects. Among the earliest toys are dolls, balls, pull or push toys on wheels, and miniature boats. Children have invented, or learned and recited, riddles, rhymes, songs, and verse; collected and traded objects they prize; joined in festivals and celebrations; and engaged in sports. Play activities, sometimes varying from culture to culture, are often a function of a child’s age, gender, and socioeconomic position, but can be seen as the “natural right” of childhood. The United Nations Convention (1989) recognized all children’s need and right to play.
