What does a toy mean to you? Is it just anything you play with; for example, two pieces of wood, a rock or a piece of cloth? While these may serve as toys sometimes, we really mean something more than that by the word “toy.”

A toy is usually something to amuse children that in some way mimics what grownups do. A gun, a car or wagon, a doll, or a little house are such toys. So are balls and tops. But since children, from the beginning of time, have liked to mimic grownups, we can assume that toys have probably existed since the earliest history of man.