Toy

A toy is a plaything, which is usually for children. They can be for adults, and animals too. 

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The earliest toys were made from rocks, sticks or clay. In Ancient Egypt, children played with dolls made of clay and sticks.

Dolls may be the world’s oldest toys. Examples have been found in Egyptian tombs from 2000 BC.

Model soldiers date back 4,000 years to ancient Egypt.

In Ancient Greece children played with dolls made of wax, terracotta or sticks. 

Little horse on wheels, Ancient Greek children's toy. By Sharon Mollerus

The Greeks made charming small terra-cotta figures, known as Tanagra figurines, probably for use as ornaments or as children's toys. 

The yo-yo is the second oldest known toy in the world (only the doll is older), and was born over 3,000 years ago in the days of ancient Greece.

Boy playing with a terracotta yo-yo, Attic kylix, c. 440 BC, 

When Greek children, especially girls became adults, it was required to sacrifice the toys to the gods. On the eve of their wedding, young girls around fourteen would offer their dolls in a temple as a rite of passage into adulthood.

Toys became more widespread with the changing attitudes towards children as a result of the Enlightenment. Children began to be seen as people rather than just extensions of their household and they had a right to flourish and enjoy their childhood. 

Tin soldiers were first produced in Germany in the 1730s by molding the metal between two pieces of slate. They became widespread midway through the 18th century, inspired by the military exploits of Frederick the Great.

The Jigsaw puzzle was invented by the English mapmaker and geographer John Spilsbury in around 1760. He used a marquetry saw to produce maps cut in pieces to help children learn geography.

John Spilsbury's "Europe divided into its kingdoms, etc." (1766). Wikipedia

The kaleidoscope is an optical toy, where the user sees many beautiful, colorful patterns. It was invented in 1816 by Scottish physicist Sir David Brewster (December 11, 1781 – February 10, 1868). The word "kaleidoscope" is derived from the Ancient Greek kalos, "beautiful, beauty", eidos, "that which is seen: form, shape" and skope, "to look to, to examine." 

A patent was granted for the kaleidoscope in July 1817. Unfortunately the manufacturer originally engaged to produce the product had shown one of the patent instruments to some of the London opticians to see if he could get orders from them. Soon the instrument was copied and marketed before the manufacturer had prepared any number of kaleidoscopes for sale. An estimated 200,000 kaleidoscopes sold in London and Paris in just three months, most of them copies, which did not give a correct impression of Brewster's invention.

A toy kaleidoscope tube. Wikipedia

Stuffed toys are less than 150 years old with the first stuffed toy being a felt elephant originally sold as a pincushion by the German Steiff company in 1880. 

In 1892, the Ithaca Kitty became one of the first mass-produced stuffed animal toys in the United States, started a fad for plush toys that lasted from its introduction until after World War I.

Snow globes were accidentally invented in 1900 by a medical tool repair man. Austrian Erwin Perzy I  was trying to make a brighter light bulb for operating rooms, so he tried using a water filled glass with reflective particles to do this. The effect looked like snow to him which is how he got the idea for snow globes.

Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit was the first soft toy to be patented, in 1903, making Peter the oldest licensed character.

Joshua Lionel Cowen tried to make an electric train at age 7, but it exploded. Years later, in 1910 his efforts were successful and the Lionel train was born. It cost $6 and consisted of an electric flatcar and 30 feet of track.

Three Polish-Jewish brothers, Herman, Hillel, and Henry Hassenfeld started by selling pencils in 1923. When two decades later, they specialized in producing toys, including Mr. Potato Head, the company was renamed "Hasbro."

Silly Putty (originally called nutty putty) is a silicone plastic "clay" with unusual physical properties, that is sold as a toy for children.  It was first created when Scottish-born engineer James Wright, while attempting to develop a substitute for rubber, dropped a lump of gooey stuff on a General Electric laboratory floor and it bounced. Accidentally, he had invented Silly Putty.

Silly Putty was introduced as a toy on March 6, 1950 by Peter C. L. Hodgson, Sr. a marketing consultant, who packaged one-ounce portions of the rubber-like material in plastic eggs.

Silly Putty in the form of a solid cube

In 1952, little Anne Odell's school restricted students to toys no bigger than a matchbox. So her father an engineer, made her a tiny die-cast steamroller—the first ever matchbox car.

The first toy product ever advertised on US television was Mr. Potato Head, which was introduced in 1952.

The original Mr. Potato Head didn't come with a plastic body. The pieces were meant to be put into an actual potato.

The green clay humanoid character Gumby wasn't originally meant as a toy. Illustrator Art Clokey conceived the sweet, supple icon as a character for an animated jazz video, but studio heads quickly recognized his greatest fans would be children.

American children were first introduced to Play-Doh in the mid 1950s. Play-doh was originally designed as wallpaper cleaner two decades earlier by Joe McVicker. It was his sister-in-law, nursery school teacher Kay Zufall, who discovered its potential as a children's toy.

The inventors of Hot Wheels (Elliot Handler) and the Barbie dolls (Ruth Handler) were married for over two decades before either toy was invented. Barbie and Ken were named after their children.

1960 was the year of the Etch-a-Sketch. The Etch A Sketch toy was invented in the late 1950s by André Cassagnes, an electrician with Lincrusta Co, who named the toy L'Écran Magique (The Magic Screen). When The Ohio Art Company saw the product, they decided to take a chance it and renamed the toy Etch A Sketch. The very first Etch A Sketch rolled off of the Ohio Art Co. production line on July 12, 1960 and it quickly became the most popular drawing toy in the business. 

The Etch a Sketch's appearance in Toy Story 2 in a scene used to present sketches related to the investigation of Woody's kidnapping increased sales of the product by 20% and The Ohio Art Company was saved from financial ruin.

The Taj Mahal, complete with ripples in the reflection By Etcha - 

On March 5, 1963, the Hula Hoop was officially patented by Arthur "Spud" Melin, one of the co-founders of Wham-O, the company that popularized the toy. The Hula Hoop quickly became a sensation in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with millions of Americans buying and twirling the colorful plastic hoops around their waists. The Hula Hoop craze even sparked a number of related products and spin-off toys, such as the Super Hoop, the Shoop-Shoop Hula Hoop, and the Hula Hoopla game.

Rubber ducks have been around since at least the 1940s, but they had a popular resurgence when on February 25, 1970 Jim Henson performed the song "Rubber Duckie" as Ernie on Sesame Street. Ernie frequently spoke to his duck and carried it with him in other segments of the show. The rubber duck bath toy has been an iconic American symbol ever since.

Silly String (also known as aerosol string) is a toy of flexible, sometimes brightly colored, plastic string propelled as a stream of liquid from an aerosol can. After being invented in 1972, one of the inventors was trying to sell their idea to Wham-O, when they sprayed the can all over the person who was meeting with them and all over their office. They were asked to leave, however, a day later received a telegram asking them to send 24 cans for a test market.

Young girls playing with Silly String. By Eden Keller from Mechanicsburg 

In 1982, Air Force and NASA engineer Lonnie Johnson was performing experiments in his bathroom for a new type of refrigeration system. Johnson shot a stream of water across the room and thought, "This would make a great gun." The Super Soaker went on to make him some $73 million in royalties.⁠ 

The Rubik's Cube, a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974, is widely considered to be the world's best-selling toy.

The stick (yep, the small tree branch) was inducted into the (U.S.) National Toy Hall of Fame in 2008. Organizers called it one of the world's oldest toys and said sticks "promote free play - the freedom to invent and discover."

LEGO is the largest toy company in the world. 

McDonald's is the world's largest distributor of toys.

Here is a list of songs about toys.