| Back in the days, when home was a cave stuck on | | | | We have war games with tiny toy soldiers and |
| the face of a cliff. | | | | cowboy and Indian sets. What is to stop the tiny |
| Kids, babies, cubs, kittens or whatever you like to call | | | | carved human figures from prehistory being toys to |
| the offspring, all have one thing in common. They | | | | teach the kids the best way to hunt down a |
| love to play. So I think we can safely assume that | | | | mammoth or rhino or deer. |
| caveman kids played. But with what did they play | | | | If we made some replica models of some of the |
| with. | | | | artifacts, and gave them to our kids to play with in |
| What amused the minds of our ancestor's kids. When | | | | the sand pit. We might see them reenacting a |
| they were lying around the fire after a hard day | | | | mammoth hunt or chasing a wild deer into the |
| learning about staying alive. We are still trying to | | | | ground. |
| work out the minor details of the past lives of | | | | Some of the most valuable artifacts would suddenly |
| children of prehistory, but we can dream. | | | | be delegated from God status to kid status. |
| Anyway, were the first jigsaw puzzles just leaves | | | | I like to look at what we do now and them dream |
| that had been ripped up into little pieces so the little | | | | about what could have happened in the caveman |
| ones could put them back together. Was this a | | | | days. |
| teaching aid so the kids could learn which plants were | | | | Nowadays in any toyshop there is a shelf of toy |
| safe to eat. We will possible never know but it is | | | | plastic animals. Anything we see in the wild or on the |
| good to ponder. | | | | farm or in the home is there in little packets. |
| Back in prehistory, before houses and cars and TVs, | | | | Did the caveman kids also have collections of toys. |
| video games and all the modern gadgets that we | | | | Now, our kids even have toy cavemen to play with, |
| have nowadays. What toys did caveman kids play | | | | so what did caveman kids play with. |
| with, when daddy was out hunting the mighty | | | | I can remember "Fred Flintstone" on TV but did |
| mammoth or giant sloth. And mommy was gathering | | | | Pebbles and BamBam have any toys. All I can |
| vegetables and herbs and grasses and whatever else | | | | remember is BamBam running around with this big |
| they ate back then. | | | | club. Now you can buy big air-filled clubs and hammers |
| Anyway many artifacts have been dug up, mostly | | | | that don't hurt when they hit you on the head. |
| bone and rock carving of people and wild animals. | | | | But back to reality, kids love to play and caveman |
| Beautiful carvings, something to be really proud of. | | | | kids would also have played, but with what. |
| Don't you think that maybe, just maybe, it might | | | | Toy bows and arrows and toy spears. Like kids |
| have been made by a dotting daddy for his little son. | | | | today who love anything to do with war. Would all |
| In the future when future man digs up what we | | | | the spear points belong to daddy's toolbox or would |
| leave behind, what conclusions will they come to. | | | | the smaller ones belong to the son. |
| Looking at some of the dinosaur toys available, would | | | | They must have had something to play with, but |
| they conclude that these beasts actually walked | | | | with what. |
| among the skyscrapers. | | | | Maybe in the future someone scratching around in a |
| In the 25th century if you dug up an old car toy that | | | | long forgotten cave will unearth the Barbie prototype. |
| hadn't rusted away, how would you explain it. | | | | Or the lovely bird carved from a long dead mammoth |
| Would you say it was some sort of God that we | | | | tusk just might have been from mummy to daughter. |
| worshiped, or was it a decorative item we used to | | | | And not some elegantly carved offering to an |
| show power. It could have been a model of the | | | | unknown God. |
| king's chariot. | | | | Article by copyright © Peter Legrove 2006, at |
| But do we stop to think, that it may have been | | | | **You have permission to reprint this article. Use it on |
| something for our kids to play with. While we were | | | | your website, in your ezine or newsletter. The only |
| out making more money to buy even more things | | | | requirement is to include the footnote at the base of |
| for our kids to play with. | | | | the article. |