Every society and its people have simple, practical, and useful knowledge, which is often expressed most creatively and effectively by the people of that society through their tales and toys. Thus, each region has a different and unique character that is reflected through these sources. These craftsmen have unique ideas for playthings that become popular in their areas. Many a times the basic principle behind the toy in many regions might be the same, but they reflect the look of the society from which it belongs to.

Today in the markets, you do get to see low-cost toys that are everyday playthings for millions of Indian children, past and present. But as compared to the past, toys made of clay are rarely seen. Most are factory-made toys using materials like plastic, metal, wood, etc.

To get back into the past, it is interesting to find that the folk toys of India, particularly those found at the excavated sites of ancient centres of culture, show very striking similarities to those discovered in Crete and ancient Egypt. As far as India is concerned, the most ancient toys of which we have any record belong to the period of the Indus Valley Civilization, dating from 2500 to 1700 BC, and bear a surprising affinity to the hand-made folk toys of a much later date. At the ancient sites of Mohenjodaro and Harappa have been found terracotta toys representing human figures, farm carts, cows, sheep, pigs, oxen, birds and animals, rattles, whistles, balls and kitchen utensils all pointing to a settled rural existence. It is worth noting that some of these toys, like bulls with nodding heads, were apparently worked by string, indicating that the toy makers of even such remote times had a mechanical bend of time.

Later Sanskrit literature literally abounds in references to toys and children’s games, and we are forced to the conclusion that the children of ancient India must have had a variety of toys to play with, toys which were not merely for amusement but instructive as well, and often decorated, though simply, indicating that the aesthetic aspect was not neglected by the toy makers of old.