Playing with Toys is a Historical and Cross Cultural Phenomena

Wexford, Ireland based company, Somasix, designs and manufactures educational toys wants you to know that playing toys has been traced through time and across cultures worldwide.

Reconstructing life of children in ancient societies has led historians to find a common feature amongst them - play. As far back as 35-97 AD, Roman thinkers such as Quintilian recommended the use of play as the earliest form of teaching.

Play has been studied across cultures and time. According to Dr. David Whitebread, at the University of Cambridge, he reports two characteristic features gleaned from these studies are particular in human societies. One feature - play is found worldwide in all societies, both as adults and children. The second feature of play “that children’s play is consistently supported by adults in all societies and cultures, most clearly in the manufacture of play equipment and toys.”

These studies, according to Whitbread, also revealed a number of clear and consistent patterns that emerged. Human children engage in five types of play: physical play, play with objects, symbolic play, pretence/sociodramatic play and games with rules and all five types of play are found in different forms, depending on available technology in all cultures.

In the United States, play has been recognized as important by the American Academy of Paediatrics. The American Academy of Paediatrics reports, "Playtime allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. It allows children to explore the world, practice adult roles, and gain confidence. And it improves children's social skills as well, by helping them to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills."

Somasix recognizes the historical importance of play and its association with: creativity, cognitive development, and learning, particularly preschooler learning by manufacturing, safe educational toys for preschoolers, such as it’s ABC letters magnets. Obada Yousif, spokes person for Somasix, says that the company works on the philosophy that learning should be fun and offers quality products that meet USA and European safety standards.