Identifying Toys

Signs of a toy are distinguished upon different materials: archaeological, ethnographic, of folk art and of personal experience. In the shape of the toy, there are signs of the impossibility of using it as a real prototype object: the nonconformance in the material, size, and simplification of the design. Appearance of a toy accurately points to the real prototype. Unlike sacred images, the toy focuses on the reality and pleasantness of the look, unlike decorative ones, it subordinates the decorative features to the concrete features of the prototype, although the toy is associated with the style of the time. The toy’s features point at its use in the game, possibility of free movement in the game space: absence of any details tightly fastening it with other objects; presence of details contributing to movement and change of position. Concrete toys go out of use due to a change in the nature of the games, a change in the attitude of the player: growing up, propensity to admire, rejection due to taste preferences. Works of folk crafts called “toys” become interior decorations, figurines, beautiful gifts. But they preserve the idea of a game, looking at them the human mind recreates the game, and for some time homo becomes homo ludens.