Did children have dolls in olden times?


Today, we have dolls that walk, talk, cry, sleep, eat drink—they are made to look like living beings. But suppose a little girl’s parents can’t afford to buy her a doll she might take a piece of wood and wrap it in a cloth and say it’s her doll. And it would be a doll! For a doll is simply whatever a child wants to consider a doll.

That’s why we can never trace the idea of dolls back to its beginning. Even before recorded history, wherever there were children, there were dolls. Indian children used a slab of wood with a knob for a head for their dolls.

Persian children played with dolls simply of folded cloth with a face painted on it. And dolls made of clay or bone have been found in the graves of children  in all parts of the world.

Among the earliest dolls known to us are those of the ancient Egyptians. They seemed to have been very fond of dolls. They were made of wood with flat painted beads strung on threads.

Even today, in various parts of the world, children have different types of dolls. Ghanaian children  played with dolls made of cloth and other materials.The little Eskimo girl for instance has a doll made of carved whalebone. The Mexican girl has dolls made of baked clay.

Modern dolls are made of wax, cloth and other materials. The head of the most expensive dolls are often created by very good artists. But as you probably know, a girl’s favourite doll may not be the most expensive one at all!

Source: graphic.com.gh