It is not precisely known when popular toys appeared, it is only known that they are found in all societies, throughout history.
In the folkloric context, popular toys are fundamental pieces for children’s intellectual development and motor coordination.
Characterized as a handcrafted product, the toy acts interactively in the children’s fantasy worlds, bringing them closer to the social reality they live in, developing internal and external experiences to their world, and achieving better learning results.
Toys underwent major technological changes during the Industrial Revolution. The demand for handmade toys diminished and society started to consume industrialized toys, with new shapes and garments that diverged from the social reality of middle- and low-class children.
Despite technological advances, handmade toys preserve their cultural identity, which delights rich and poor children of all generations and social classes.
The manufacture of Handcrafted toys have never ceased, especially in the poorest regions of Brazil, where handicrafts are the means of subsistence for most of the population.
There is a great variety of toys, ranging from wooden or tin cars, cloth dolls, puppets, paper airplanes, spinning tops, slingshots, badoque, kite, shuttlecock and others. All are found in fairs, markets, grocery stores and museums.
Bodoque or badoque
Originally from India, it was brought to Brazil by Portuguese sailors. It is made from a thick quince stick, flexible and fire-dried, with a hook at the ends where the rope is attached, more or less in the center. The wood should be tapered for better flexibility. The rope is made of twisted string and then waxed to increase strength and durability. In the middle of the string, coinciding with the handle of the bow, a braid is made, called a “mesh” or “net,” where the projectiles, usually small stones or boiled clay pellets, are placed.
Toy car
Toy cars can be made from industrial scraps such as cans of milk, oil, candy, depending on the craftsman’s creativity. They are found in vibrant colors and in various models such as trucks, buses, racing cars, locomotives. The tools used for making are the anvil, pliers, soldering iron, and hammer. They are found in fairs, markets and grocery stores.
Slingshot
Also known as setra, baladeira, and sling, its use is to measure the aim of the participants. It consists of three distinct parts: the frame (handle), the bands, and the pouch. The frame is preferably made of orange, guava, or Brazilian grape tree (jabuticaba). At the ends of the two rods of the fork, the elastic is tied directly to the wood. The rubber band used is from automotive tire inner tubes, on which two parallel lines are drawn in pencil and two long strips of about 30cm long and 1cm wide are cut. The pouch is a part of the leather where the projectile are placed: stone, green castor bean, or baked clay pellet..
Mamulengo
It is a kind of puppet theater in the form of a glove. The dolls are carved from mulungu, cork or made of papier-mâché, reusing paper scraps. The mamulengo, like the traditional puppet, has a hollow head and arms and is manipulated by the index, middle, and thumb fingers of the mamulengueiros or artisans.
Mula manca (Lame mule)
The lame mule is a toy made of light wood, with the characteristics of a donkey, with limbs (legs, neck, and tail) connected by wires from its inside. It is placed on a base and tensioned by wires connected to a kind of spring located at the base that, when pressed by the fingers, the donkey moves to all sides.
Spinning top
According to Câmara Cascudo, in his Dicionário de folclore brasileiro (Dictionary of Brazilian Folklore), the spinning top game has been around since ancient times. In Greece it was known as strombo and in Rome as mob. In Brazil, the spinning top is a small object made of wood or metal, with a nail or stinger at the end. A string is wound from the lower to the upper part of the spinning top. Then it is thrown to the ground and, as it unwinds from the string, it spins around. The player brings the spinning top to the palm of their hand with the index and middle fingers in a scissor shape and there lets it spin or snore until it stops.
Little mouse
The mouse is made in a raw clay mold, using a mixture of water, starch, and paper. The craftsperson models the toy, places a spool of raw clay under it, tensioned by rubber, pulled by a thread. Finally, the craftsperson puts on a tail, rubber tire ear and paints the pet’s body with strong primary colors.
Xipoca
The xipoca is made of a bamboo of about 30 centimeters in length and a plunger made of resistant wood a little larger than the size of the tube, which must run not too loosely inside the straw. Ammunition is made from pieces of wet newspaper crumpled into balls and placed in the tube with the stick until it reaches the end and then fires. This toy is used in the "war", between two groups of children distant from each other about five to eight meters. The higher the pressure, the farther the projectile is launched.
Recife, July 22, 2003.
sources consulted
FEIRA-ATIVIDADE: brinquedos e brincadeiras populares: uma experiência no Museu do Homem do Nordeste. Recife: Fundaj, Ed. Massangana, 1992. 44 p.
SILVA, José Nilton da. Brinquedos populares: subsídios para o professor de educação do 1º grau. João Pessoa: Secretaria de Educação e Cultura, 1982. 59 p.
RIBEIRO, Paula Simon; SANCHOTENE, Rogério Fossari. Brincadeiras infantis: origem-desenvolvimento-sugestões. 2. ed. Porto Alegre: Sulina, 1990. 75 p.
how to quote this text
MACHADO, Regina Coeli Vieira. Popular toys. In: PESQUISA Escolar. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, 2003. Available from: https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/pt-br/artigo/brinquedo-populares/. Access on: Month. day, year. (Ex.: Aug. 6, 2020.)