Paper Dolls
When I was a little girl I used to play with paper dolls.
Have you ever played with them ? Not sure if it was just a ‘girl thing’ but I could spend hours cutting out the doll and her paper outfits, then folding the tabs over to give her new outfits.
The first manufactured paper doll was “Little Fanny”, produced by S&J Fuller, London, in 1810. In Europe, particularly France, the first paper dolls were popular since the mid-18th century.
From 1930 to 1950, paper dolls experienced a golden era, as paper proved affordable during the Depression and remained available in World War II's ration economy. According to Google paper dolls remain popular today; they're mess-free, portable, and encourage creativity.
Growing up, my sisters and brother and I did a lot of imaginative play. We didn’t own a big dollhouse so we threw a blanket on the couch and used all the puckers and folds for different ‘rooms’ for our little dolls.
We made puppets out of our old socks by sewing on buttons for eyes and then putting the socks on our hands.
We put on lip syncs before they became the popular thing they are today like on Jimmy Fallon. One time our parents returned from a night out and we children blacked out some of our teeth, the girls wore nighties with old boots, our brother made a pretend instrument out of a bucket and an old mop, and we all lip synced to a hillbilly sounding song that mum and dad had on a record. “Evolution Mama, revolution Mama, don’t you make a monkey outta me….”
When I was a young mum I passed on the joys of simple play. We had very few battery operated toys in the house but we did have a massive piece of paper taped to the basement/ playroom wall so the children could draw murals.
We had a very large costume trunk so they could put on plays. And they found their own form of play by working together the four of them to imagine a world where all of their “stuffies” existed in a home made out of skipping ropes laid out on the lawn , and ‘magic cards’ in every corner which told the story.
I am SO happy that we all had the blessing of growing up in a time where we did not yet have electronics. Of course I see the value in these things …( I am writing this blog of course!) ….but I love that if we wanted to ‘see the world’ we could just read a book.
I know that my husband also had a childhood where he was encouraged to use his gifts of imagination. He knitted clothes for his sisters’ Barbies and he spent hours building things out of wood to name just two.
We played jacks and tiddlywinks, pick up sticks and marbles.
What were some of your favourite toys/games?
