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Basic Aztec facts: AZTEC TOYS

21st May 2016

Ancient Mexican wheeled dog figure ‘toy’

Aztec toys are a bit of a mystery. Look them up online or in books and you find virtually no information. Since the discovery of ancient small wheeled animal-figure objects (see pic) people guessed they might have been pull-toys. But now there are serious doubts, as the few found are in ‘unused’ condition - very unlikely if they were actual kids’ toys! (Written by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

Perhaps they were special gifts, part of burial offerings. So what DID Aztec kids play with? Probably (there are zero toy clues in ancient codices) with loads of ‘scrap’ household materials - bits of reed, wood, rope, cloth, palm leaf, clay... - that they had fun making things out of. ‘Genuine’ toys may have included dolls for girls (see pic 1) ...

... and small bow and arrow sets (see pic 2) for boys. Whistles too would have been something boys and girls had fun with (pic 3). Whistles had many uses in ancient Mexico (from war signals to bird callers) but being so small and handy they could easily have been passed to children to play with at home - perhaps to call (or pester) domestic dogs with...

Talking of whistles, check out this cute ‘toy’ (pic 4): a model of a couple holding hands sitting on a swing: set the swing in motion, and the whistles attached to the backs of the figurines produce two different sounds... Natty!

One thing’s for certain: in Mexico there is a VERY long tradition of making miniatures of all kinds. We know that in Aztec times mums and dads gave miniature objects to children as gifts at their naming ceremony, such as a shield-and-arrows for a boy or a cotton spindle and whorl for a girl (follow link below to learn more...)