Toys are an important ingredient of play and are therefore invaluable for children’s physical, mental, social, and emotional development. Although play differs from culture to culture and generation to generation, it is clearly an instinctive, essential part of growing up. Anthropologists have found evidence of toys dating as far back as there is a record of human life.
Early Ancient Times
-4000
Megalithic tombs
Europe
-4000
Miniature rattles and pottery
Europe
-3000
Hieroglyphs scripture
Egypt
-3200
Mehen, game in the form of a coiled snake
Egypt
-2500
Pyramids of Giza
Egypt
-2900
Toy animals
India
-2000
Moving wooden figure of grain miller
Egypt
-1350
Tutankhamen
Egypt
-1900
Ball game
Egypt
-1200
Trojan War
Greece
-1350
Senet game
Egypt
-776
First Olympic Games
Greece
-1100
Toy hedgehog on wheels
Persia
-753
Founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus
-700
‘Dolls’ in bell shape
Greece
-560
Buddha
IndiaAncient Times
-437
Athens Parthenon
Greece
-400
Dolls in terracotta
Greece
-400
Hoop and stick
Greece
-221
Great Wall of China
China
-350
“Football”
China
-57
Caesar conquers Gallia (Belgica)
Europe
-220
Knucklebones
Roman Empire
80
Colosseum
Rome
79
Pompeii Rattles
Rome
161
Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Rome
100
Hobby horse
China
410
Fall of Rome
350
Toy soldiers
RomeMiddle Ages
532
Constantinople Aya Sophia
622
Mohammed in Mecca
625
Origins of chess
India
800
Charles the Great becomes the first Holy Roman Emperor
800
Weiqi game "Go game"
China
1066
Battle of Hastings
England
960
Toy kites
China
1096
First crusade
Europe/Asia
1150
Mechanical toy soldiers
Europe
1255
Marco Polo’s voyage of discovery through Asia
Rome
1255
First picture of a hobby horse
Europe (Germany)
1302
Battle of the Golden Spurs
Flanders
1283
Libro de los juegos "Book of games"
Spain
1447
First printing by Gutenberg
Germany
1400
Nuremberg doll manufacturers
Germany
1453
Fall of Constantinople (Mehmed II)
1450
Wooden dolls
Europe
1492
Columbus discovers America
1491
Traditional production of dolls
EuropeNew Times
1500
Birth of Charles, later Holy Roman Emperor
Ghent
1516
Weißkönig, “The White King” Two boys play a tournament with miniature horse riders
Europe
1506
Leonardo da Vinci, The Mona Lisa
Italy
1560
Knucklebones game by Brueghel
Europe
1560
Children’s games by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Flanders
1580
Bilboquet or “cup-and-ball game”
France
1616
Death of Shakespeare
England
1610
First rocking horse
Europe
1650
Diabolo (Chinese origin)
Europe
1715
Versailles Louis XIV
France
1730
Tin soldiers
Germany
1789
French revolution
France
1730
Grödner Tal dolls
AustriaRecent Times
1814
First train of Stephenson
England
1815
Defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo
1835
First toy train
Germany
1860
Colonisation of Africa (and Congo)
1850
Porcelain dolls
Europe
1887
Eiffel Tower & first car by Karl Benz
Paris/Germany
1882
Richter’s anchor stone building sets
1903
First flight of the Wright brothers
United States
1901
“Mechanics Made Easy” (Meccano)
England
1926
Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney
United States
1903
Teddy bear
United States
1929
Tintin, Hergé
Belgium
1923
First miniature car by André Citroën
France
1932
Empire State Building
United States
1935
Monopoly
United States
1942
Start of the atomic age
United States
1936
Fisher-Price, Snoopy Sniffer
United StatesModern Times
1958
Atomium
1955
Lego System
Denmark
1955
Robots and science fiction toys
Japan
1960
Television makes its way into homes
1959
Barbie
Unites States
1964
G.I. Joe
United States
1969
Armstrong walks on the moon
1966
Batmobile
United States
1974
Playmobil
1977
Rubik’s Cube
Hungary
1989
Fall of the Berlin Wall
1990
Gameboy
Japan
1989
Rights of the child: right to play
1990
Transformers
Japan
1995
Breakthrough of the use of the mobile phone
1999
Furby
United States
2001
New York 9/11
2002
Introduction of the Euro
2006
Wii
JapanImages and text provided by Speelgoedmuseum Mechelen