83-640: Gunpei Yokoi ( 横井 軍平 , Yokoi Gunpei , 10 September 1941 – 4 October 1997) , sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi , was a Japanese toy maker and video game designer . As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known as creator of the Game & Watch handheld system, inventor of the cross-shaped Control Pad , the original designer of the Game Boy , and producer of a few long-running and critically acclaimed video game franchises such as Metroid and Kid Icarus . Yokoi graduated from Doshisha University with
166-419: A degree in electronics. He was first hired by Nintendo in 1965 to maintain the assembly-line machines used to manufacture its hanafuda cards. In 1966, Hiroshi Yamauchi , president of Nintendo, came to a hanafuda factory where Yokoi was working and took notice of a toy, an extending arm that Yokoi made for his own amusement during spare time while doing maintenance. Yamauchi ordered Yokoi to develop it as
249-792: A fort with empty cereal boxes and tissue paper spools, or a toddler playing with a broken TV remote control. The term "toy" can also be used to refer to utilitarian objects purchased for enjoyment rather than need, or for expensive necessities for which a large fraction of the cost represents its ability to provide enjoyment to the owner, such as luxury cars, high-end motorcycles, gaming computers, and flagship smartphones. Playing with toys can be an enjoyable way of training young children for life experiences. Different materials like wood, clay, paper, and plastic are used to make toys. Newer forms of toys include interactive digital entertainment and smart toys . Some toys are produced primarily as collectors' items and are intended for display only. The origin of toys
332-520: A large and important part of human existence, the toy industry has a substantial economic impact. Sales of toys often increase around holidays where gift-giving is a tradition. Some of these holidays include Christmas, Easter, Saint Nicholas Day , and Three Kings Day . In 2005, toy sales in the United States totaled about $ 22.9 billion. Money spent on children between the ages of 8 and twelve alone totals approximately $ 221 million annually in
415-519: A member of the tourism industry. Yokoi's death was confirmed two hours later. Kiso suffered only a fractured rib . The title of his main biography from 2010 translates from Japanese as Father of Games – Gunpei Yokoi, the Man Who Created Nintendo's DNA . A 1997 book's title translates to Yokoi's House of Gaming , which was explored in English in 2010 by Tokyo Scum Brigade. A 2014 book about him
498-408: A model Noah's Ark with miniature animals and objects from other Bible scenes. With growing prosperity among the middle class , children had more leisure time on their hands, which led to the application of industrial methods to the manufacture of toys. More complex mechanical and optical -based toys were also invented during the nineteenth century. Carpenter and Westley began to mass-produce
581-710: A proper product for the Christmas rush. The Ultra Hand was a huge success, and Yokoi was asked to work on other Nintendo toys, including the Ten Billion Barrel puzzle, a miniature remote-controlled vacuum cleaner called the Chiritory, a baseball-throwing machine called the Ultra Machine , and a " Love Tester ". He worked on toys until the company decided to make video games in 1974, when he became one of its first game designers, only preceded by Genyo Takeda . While traveling on
664-519: A provocation to a new idea through the following methods: extract a principle, focus on the difference, moment to moment, positive aspects or special circumstances. A tool which is designed to ask the question, "Why?", in a non-threatening way: why something exists or why it is done the way it is. The result is a very clear understanding of "Why?", which naturally leads to new ideas. The goal is to be able to challenge anything at all, not just those things that are problematic. For example, one could challenge
747-540: A series of child labor laws, putting an end to child labor in nations such as the U.S. (1949). This fully entrenched, through law, the Western idea that childhood is a time for leisure , not work—and with leisure time comes more space for consumer goods such as toys. During the Second World War , some new types of toys were created through accidental innovation. After trying to create a replacement for synthetic rubber ,
830-656: A series of handheld puzzle games named Gunpey as a tribute to their original creator, Yokoi. Toy maker A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment . Simple examples include toy blocks , board games , and dolls . Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pets. Toys can provide utilitarian benefits, including physical exercise, cultural awareness, or academic education. Additionally, utilitarian objects, especially those which are no longer needed for their original purpose, can be used as toys. Examples include children building
913-570: A similar philosophy. In the handheld market, Yokoi's refusal to adopt a color display for the Game Boy, in favor of long battery life, is cited as the main reason it prevailed against Sega's Game Gear and Atari's Lynx . Satoru Iwata , CEO of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015, claimed that this philosophy has been passed on to the disciples of Yokoi, such as Miyamoto, and it continues to show itself in Nintendo's then current use of technology, with
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#1732851920636996-524: A single repository. Lateral thinking Lateral thinking is a manner of solving problems using an indirect and creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. Synonymous to thinking outside the box , it involves ideas that may not be obtainable using only traditional step-by-step logic . The cutting of the Gordian Knot is a classical example. The term was first used in 1967 by Maltese psychologist Edward de Bono who used
1079-478: A specific age range can even harm the development of children in that range, such as when for example toys meant for young girls contribute to the ongoing problem of girls' sexualization in Western culture. A study suggested that supplying fewer toys in the environment allows toddlers to better focus to explore and play more creatively. The provision of four rather than sixteen toys is thus suggested to promote children's development and healthy play. Age compression
1162-427: A study found that parents who demonstrated some androgynous behavior have higher scores in support, warmth, and self-worth in regards to the treatment of their children. Even as this debate is evolving and children are becoming more inclined to cross barriers in terms of gender with their toys, girls are typically more encouraged to do so than boys because of the societal value of masculinity. With toys comprising such
1245-513: A toy bow and arrow from their father while young girls receive a toy basket from their mother. In North African and Saharan cultural communities, gender plays a role in the creation of self-made dolls. While female dolls are used to represent brides, mothers, and wives, male dolls are used to represent horsemen and warriors. This contrast stems from the various roles of men and women within the Saharan and North African communities. There are differences in
1328-493: A very broad range of ideas to consider. Based on the idea that the majority is always wrong (as suggested by Henrik Ibsen and by John Kenneth Galbraith ), take anything that is obvious and generally accepted as "goes without saying", question it, take an opposite view, and try to convincingly disprove it. This technique is similar to de Bono's "Black Hat" of Six Thinking Hats , which looks at identifying reasons to be cautious and conservative. The purpose of fractionation
1411-755: A wide range of other skills. One example of the dramatic ways that toys can influence child development involves clay sculpting toys such as Play-Doh and Silly Putty and their home-made counterparts. Mary Ucci, Educational Director of the Child Study Center of Wellesley College , has demonstrated how such toys positively impact the physical development , cognitive development , emotional development , and social development of children. Toys for infants often make use of distinctive sounds, bright colors, and unique textures . Through repetition of play with toys, infants begin to recognize shapes and colors. Play-Doh , Silly Putty and other hands-on materials allow
1494-687: Is Gunpei Yokoi: The Life & Philosophy of Nintendo's God of Toys . In 2003, Yokoi posthumously received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Game Developers Association . GameTrailers placed him on their lists for the "Top Ten Game Creators". An art gallery in Japan created an art exhibit in 2010 titled "The Man Who Was Called the God of Games" featuring all his key Nintendo works. In 1999, Bandai began releasing
1577-767: Is prehistoric ; dolls representing infants, animals, and soldiers, as well as representations of tools used by adults, are readily found at archaeological sites. The origin of the word "toy" is unknown, but it is believed that it was first used in the 14th century. Toys are mainly made for children. The oldest known doll toy is thought to be 4,000 years old. Playing with toys is an important part of aging. Younger children use toys to discover their identity, help with cognition , learn cause and effect, explore relationships, become stronger physically, and practice skills needed in adulthood. Adults on occasion use toys to form and strengthen social bonds, teach, help in therapy, and to remember and reinforce lessons from their youth. A toymaker
1660-413: Is facilitated by children through the use of toys to enact scenes recognizable in their community such as hunting and herding. The value is placed in a realistic version of development in preparing a child for the future they are likely to grow up into. This allows the child to imagine and create a personal interpretation of how they view the adult world. However, in other cultures, toys are used to expand
1743-490: Is generally not as looked down upon for girls to play with toys designed "for boys", an activity which has also become more common in recent years. Fathers are also more likely to reinforce typical play and discourage atypical play than mothers are. A study done by researcher Susan Witt suggests that stereotypes are oftentimes only strengthened by the environment, which perpetuates them to linger in older life. This stereotypical attribution of sex-typical toys for girls and boys
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#17328519206361826-408: Is gradually changing, with toys companies creating more gender neutral toys, as the benefits associated with allowing children to play with toys that appeal to them far outweighs controlling their individual preferences. For example, many stores are beginning to change their gender labels on children's play items. Target removed all identification related to gender from their toy aisles and Disney did
1909-518: Is isolated and independent of the social constraints placed on society leaving the children free to delve into the imaginary and idealized version of what their development in life could be. In addition, children from differing communities may treat their toys in different ways based on their cultural practices. Children in more affluent communities may tend to be possessive of their toys, while children from poorer communities may be more willing to share and interact more with other children. The importance
1992-428: Is key in the toy industry and to succeed one must create a 'wow' moment for kids by designing toys that have fun, innovative features and include new technologies and engaging content." In an effort to reduce costs, many mass-producers of toys locate their factories in areas where wages are lower. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world's toys and is home to more than 8,000 toy firms, most of which are located in
2075-403: Is no gender neutral section on their website. Those which are generally deemed for both genders more closely resemble what many would label "boy toys," as they relate closer to the stereotype of masculinity within play. Traditions within various cultures promote the passing down of certain toys to their children based on the child's gender. In Indigenous South American communities, boys receive
2158-424: Is the modern trend of children moving through play stages faster than was the case in the past. Children have a desire to progress to more complex toys at a faster pace, girls in particular. Barbie dolls, for example, were once marketed to girls around 8 years old but have been found to be more popular in recent years with girls around 3 years old, with most girls outgrowing the brand by about age 7. The packaging for
2241-466: Is the name of someone who makes toys. Toys and games have been retrieved from the sites of ancient civilizations, and have been mentioned in ancient literature. Toys excavated from the Indus valley civilization (3010–1500 BCE) include small carts, whistles shaped like birds, and toy monkeys that could slide down a string. One of the earliest examples of children's toys is a set of three stone balls found in
2324-399: Is the use of meta-analysis , which provides a way to assess patterns in a systematic way, especially relevant for a topic such as gender, which can be difficult to quantify. Nature and nurture have historically been analyzed when looking at gender in play, as well as reinforcement by peers and parents of typical gender roles and consequently, gender play. Toy companies have often promoted
2407-429: Is tracked in young infants, infant girls show a visual preference for a doll over a toy truck (d > 1.0). Boys showed no preference for the truck over the doll. However, they did fixate on the truck more than the girls (d = .78). This small study suggests that even before any self-awareness of gender identity has emerged, children already prefer sex-typical toys. These differences in toy choice are well established within
2490-733: The Game Boy , the latter of which became a worldwide success. Another of his creations, the Virtual Boy , was a commercial failure . Nintendo has denied that the Virtual Boy's poor performance in the market was the reason for Yokoi's subsequent departure from the company, holding that his retirement was "absolutely coincidental" to the market performance of any Nintendo hardware. According to his Nintendo and Koto colleague Yoshihiro Taki, Yokoi had originally decided to retire at age 50 to do as he pleased but had simply delayed it. According to David Sheff 's book Game Over , Yokoi never actually intended for
2573-564: The Hello Kitty brand and the Disney Princess franchise. Boys have shown an interest in computer games at an ever-younger age in recent years. Certain toys, such as Barbie dolls and toy soldiers, are often perceived as being more acceptable for one gender than the other. The turning point for the addition of gender to toys came about in the 1960s and 1970s. Before 1975, only about two percent of toys were labeled by gender, whereas today on
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2656-549: The Judgement of Solomon , the Nine Dots Puzzle , and the sewing machine (automating the work rather than adding more workers) as examples, among many others, of lateral thinking. Lateral thinking deliberately distances itself from Vertical Thinking , the traditional method for problem solving. De Bono argues lateral thinking entails a switch-over from a familiar pattern to a new, unexpected one. Such insight sometimes takes
2739-599: The Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province . 75% of all toys sold in the U.S., for example, are manufactured in China. Issues and events such as power outages, supply of raw materials, supply of labor, and raising wages that impact areas where factories are located often have an enormous impact on the toy industry in importing countries. Many traditional toy makers have been losing sales to video game makers for years. Because of this, some traditional toy makers have entered
2822-471: The Shinkansen , Yokoi supposedly saw a bored businessman playing with an LCD calculator by pressing the buttons. Yokoi then got the idea for a watch that doubled as a miniature video gaming pastime. In 1981, Yamauchi appointed Yokoi to supervise Donkey Kong , an arcade game created by Shigeru Miyamoto . Yokoi explained many of the intricacies of game design to Miyamoto at the beginning of his career, and
2905-494: The kaleidoscope , invented by Sir David Brewster in 1817, and had sold over 200,000 items within three months in London and Paris. The company was also able to mass-produce magic lanterns for use in phantasmagoria and galanty shows, by developing a method of mass production using a copper plate printing process. Popular imagery on the lanterns included royalty , flora and fauna , and geographical/man-made structures from around
2988-415: The "movement value" of statements and ideas. A person uses lateral thinking to move from one known idea to new ideas. Edward de Bono defines four types of thinking tools: The thinker chooses an object at random, or a noun from a dictionary and associates it with the area they are thinking about. De Bono exemplifies this through the randomly chosen word "nose" being applied to an office photocopier, leading to
3071-538: The "must-have toys" of the 1940s ), Mr. Potato Head , the Barbie doll (inspired by the Bild Lilli doll from Germany), and Action Man . The Rubik's Cube became an enormous seller in the 1980s. In modern times, there are computerized dolls that can recognize and identify objects, the voice of their owner, and choose among hundreds of pre-programmed phrases with which to respond. The act of children's play with toys embodies
3154-445: The 1750s, including A Journey Through Europe . The game was very similar to modern board games; players moved along a track with the throw of a die (a teetotum was actually used) and landing on different spaces would either help or hinder the player. In the nineteenth century, Western values prioritized toys with an educational purpose, such as puzzles, books, cards and board games. Religion-themed toys were also popular, including
3237-464: The 19th century. In 1903, a year after publishing The Tale of Peter Rabbit , English author Beatrix Potter created the first Peter Rabbit soft toy and registered him at the Patent Office in London, making Peter the oldest licensed character. It was followed by other "spin-off" merchandise over the years, including painting books and board games. The Smithsonian magazine stated, "Potter
3320-462: The American Earl L. Warrick inadvertently invented "nutty putty" during World War II . Later, Peter Hodgson recognized the potential as a childhood plaything and packaged it as Silly Putty . Similarly, Play-Doh was originally created as a wallpaper cleaner. In 1943 Richard James was experimenting with springs as part of his military research when he saw one come loose and fall to the floor. He
3403-620: The Disney store's website, considered a dominating global force for toys by researcher Claire Miller, all toys are labeled by gender. The journal Sex Roles began publishing research on this topic in 1975, focusing on the effects of gender in youth. Too, many psychological textbooks began to address this new issue. Along with these publications, researchers also started to challenge the ideas of male and female as being opposites, even going as far as to claim toys which have characteristics of both genders are preferable. A milestone for research on gender
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3486-401: The English lawyer Angelo John Lewis , writing under the pseudonym of Professor Hoffman, wrote a book called Puzzles Old and New . It contained, among other things, more than 40 descriptions of puzzles with secret opening mechanisms. This book grew into a reference work for puzzle games and was very popular at the time. The Tangram puzzle, originally from China, spread to Europe and America in
3569-461: The U.S. It was estimated that in 2011, 88% of toy sales was in the age group 0–11 years. Toy companies change and adapt their toys to meet the changing demands of children thereby gaining a larger share of the substantial market. In recent years many toys have become more complicated with flashing lights and sounds in an effort to appeal to children raised around television and the internet. According to Mattel 's president, Neil Friedman, "Innovation
3652-617: The Western World. At this point, name-brand toys became widespread in the U.S.–a new phenomenon that helped market mass-produce toys to audiences of children growing up with ample leisure time and during a period of relative prosperity. Among the more well-known products of the 1950s there was the Danish company Lego 's line of colourful interlocking plastic brick construction sets (based on Hilary Page 's Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, described by London's V&A Museum of Childhood as among
3735-521: The Wii has also been pointed to as an example of Yokoi's "lateral thinking" at work. On 4 October 1997, Yokoi was riding in a car driven by his associate Etsuo Kiso on the Hokuriku Expressway , when the vehicle rear-ended a truck. After the two men had left the car to inspect the damage, Yokoi was hit and injured by a passing car. The driver of the car that hit Yokoi in the second accident was Gen Tsushima,
3818-465: The archaeological record. Small figurines and models found in tombs are usually interpreted as ritual objects; those from settlement sites are more easily labelled as toys. These include spinning tops, balls of spring, and wooden models of animals with movable parts. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome , children played with dolls made of wax or terracotta : sticks, bows and arrows , and yo-yos . When Greek children, especially girls, came of age, it
3901-430: The book Yokoi Gunpei Game House . "Withered technology" in this context refers to a mature technology which is cheap and well understood. " Lateral thinking " refers to finding radical new ways of using such technology. Yokoi held that toys and games do not necessarily require cutting-edge technology; novel and fun gameplay are more important. In the interview, he suggested that expensive cutting-edge technology can get in
3984-469: The building of working models and mechanical devices. Dinky Toys pioneered the manufacture of die-cast toys with the production of toy cars, trains and ships and model train sets became popular in the 1920s. The Britains company revolutionized the production of toy soldiers with the invention of the process of hollow casting in lead in 1893 – the company's products remained the industry standard for many years. Puzzles became popular as well. In 1893,
4067-427: The child by the age of three. Another study done by Jeffrey Trawick-Smith took 60 different children ages three to four and observed them playing with nine different toys deemed best for development. They were allowed to play with the toys in a typical environment, a preschool classroom, which allowed for the results to be more authentic compared to research done in a lab. The researchers then quantified play quality of
4150-595: The child places on possession is dictated by the values in place within the community that the children observe on a daily basis. Toys, like play itself, serve multiple purposes in both humans and animals. They provide entertainment while fulfilling an educational role. Toys enhance cognitive behavior and stimulate creativity. They aid in the development of physical and mental skills which are necessary in later life. Wooden blocks , though simple, are regarded by early childhood education experts such as Sally Cartwright (1974) as an excellent toy for young children; she praised
4233-478: The child to make toys of their own. Educational toys for school age children of often contain a puzzle , problem-solving technique, or mathematical proposition. Often toys designed for older audiences, such as teenagers or adults, demonstrate advanced concepts. Newton's cradle , a desk toy designed by Simon Prebble , demonstrates the conservation of momentum and energy . Not all toys are appropriate for all ages of children. Even some toys which are marketed for
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#17328519206364316-431: The children with each toy based on factors such as learning, problem solving, curiosity, creativity, imagination, and peer interaction. The results revealed that boys generally received higher scores for overall play quality than girls, and the toys with the best play quality were those identified as the most gender neutral, such as building blocks and bricks along with pieces modeling people. Trawick-Smith then concluded that
4399-424: The console market in an attempt to change the ways video games are played, and consequently, to widen the audience for video games in general. This strategy demonstrated Nintendo's belief that graphical advancement isn't the only way to make progress in gaming technology; indeed, after the Wii's overwhelming success, Sony and Microsoft released their own motion control peripherals. Nintendo's emphasis on peripherals for
4482-474: The console to be released in its present form. However, Nintendo pushed the Virtual Boy to market so that it could focus development resources on the Nintendo 64 . Amid the failure of the Virtual Boy and the launch of the more successful Game Boy Pocket , Yokoi left Nintendo on 15 August 1996, after thirty-one years at the company. Leaving with several of his subordinates to form a new company called Koto, Yokoi led
4565-619: The daily flux of making and consuming, of getting along. They had no autonomy, separate statuses, privileges, special rights or forms of social comportment that were entirely their own." As these ideas began changing during the Enlightenment Era, blowing bubbles from leftover washing up soap became a popular pastime, as shown in the painting The Soap Bubble (1739) by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin , and other popular toys included hoops , toy wagons , kites , spinning wheels and puppets . Many board games were produced by John Jefferys in
4648-461: The development of a child's cognition in an idealistic fashion. In these communities, adults place the value of play with toys to be on the aspirations they set forth for their child. In the Western culture, the Barbie and Action-Man represent lifelike figures but in an imaginative state out of reach from the society of these children and adults. These toys give way to a unique world in which children's play
4731-487: The development of the Bandai WonderSwan handheld game console. Yokoi said "The Nintendo way of adapting technology is not to look for the state of the art but to utilize mature technology that can be mass-produced cheaply." He articulated his philosophy of "Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology" ( 枯れた技術の水平思考 , Kareta Gijutsu no Suihei Shikō ) (also translated as "Lateral Thinking with Seasoned Technology"), in
4814-520: The dolls labels them appropriate for ages 3 and up. Boys, in contrast, apparently enjoy toys and games over a longer timespan, gravitating towards toys that meet their interest in assembling and disassembling mechanical toys, and toys that "move fast and things that fight". An industry executive points out that girls have entered the " tween " phase by the time they are 8 years old and want non-traditional toys, whereas boys have been maintaining an interest in traditional toys until they are 12 years old, meaning
4897-608: The fact that they are relatively easy to engage with, can be used in repeatable and predictable ways, and are versatile and open-ended, allowing for a wide variety of developmentally appropriate play. Andrew Witkin, director of marketing for Mega Brands , told Investor's Business Daily that "They help develop hand-eye coordination, math and science skills and also let kids be creative." Other toys like marbles , jackstones , and balls serve similar functions in child development, allowing children to use their minds and bodies to learn about spatial relationships , cause and effect , and
4980-488: The field of electronic games and have even been turning audio games into toys, and are enhancing the brands that they have by introducing interactive extensions or internet connectivity to their current toys. In addition, the rise of distributed manufacturing enables consumers to make their own toys from open source designs with a 3-D printer . As of 2017 consumers were already offsetting millions of dollars per year by 3D printing their own toys from MyMiniFactory ,
5063-424: The form of humour but can also be cultivated. Critics have characterized lateral thinking as a pseudo-scientific concept, arguing de Bono's core ideas have never been rigorously tested or corroborated. Lateral thinking has to be distinguished from critical thinking. Critical thinking is primarily concerned with judging the true value of statements and seeking errors whereas lateral thinking focuses more on
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#17328519206365146-423: The handles on coffee cups : The reason for the handle seems to be that the cup is often too hot to hold directly; perhaps coffee cups could be made with insulated finger grips, or there could be separate coffee-cup holders similar to beer holders, or coffee should not be so hot in the first place. Ideas carry out concepts. This tool systematically expands the range and number of concepts in order to end up with
5229-499: The highly successful Nintendo DS and Wii . The Wii's internal technology was similar to that of Nintendo's previous home console, the GameCube , and was not as advanced in terms of computational capability and multimedia versatility compared to its competitors: the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 . Instead, the system offered something completely different by introducing motion-based controls to
5312-481: The idea that the copier could produce a lavender smell when it was low on paper. A provocation is a statement that we know is wrong or impossible but used to create new ideas. De Bono gives an example of considering river pollution and setting up the provocation, "the factory is downstream of itself", causing a factory to be forced to take its water input from a point downstream of its output, an idea which later became law in some countries. Provocations can be set up by
5395-535: The late 18th and early 19th century, many families needed to send their children to work in factories and other sites to make ends meet—just as their predecessors had required their labor producing household goods in the medieval era. Business owners' exploitation and abuse of child laborers during this period differed from how children had been treated as workers within a family unit, though. Thanks to advocacy including photographic documentation of children's exploitation and abuse by business owners, Western nations enacted
5478-533: The pieces. In Iran , "puzzle-locks" were made as early as the 17th century (CE). Toys became more widespread with changing Western attitudes towards children and childhood brought about by the Enlightenment . Previously, children had often been thought of as small adults, who were expected to work in order to produce the goods that the family needed to survive. As children's culture scholar Stephen Kline has argued, Medieval children were "more fully integrated into
5561-450: The primary influencer on the gender roles of their children. Parents, siblings, peers, and even teachers have been shown to react more positively to children engaging in sex-typical behavior and playing with sex-typical toys. This is often done through encouragement or discouragement, as well as suggestions and imitation. Additionally, sons are more likely to be reinforced for sex-typical play and discouraged from atypical play. However, it
5644-529: The project only came to be approved after Yokoi brought Miyamoto's game ideas to the president's attention. After the worldwide success of Donkey Kong , Yokoi continued to work with Miyamoto on the next Mario game, Mario Bros. He proposed the multiplayer concept and convinced his co-worker to give Mario some superhuman abilities, such as the ability to jump unharmed from great heights. After Mario Bros. , Yokoi produced several R&D1 games, such as Kid Icarus and Metroid . He designed R.O.B. and
5727-519: The same for their costumes. The Disney store is an especially prevalent example of gender in play because they are a global identity in the toy world. A study done regarding their website found that though they have removed gender labels from their costumes, the toys online reflect more stereotypical gender identities. For example, toys depicting males were associated with physicality and females were associated with beauty, housing, and caring. Though Disney promotes their toys as being for both genders, there
5810-410: The segregation by gender in toys because it enables them to customize the same toy for each gender, which ultimately doubles their revenue. For example, Legos added more colors to certain sets of toys in the 1990s, including colors commonly attributed to girls such as lavender. It has been noted by researchers that, "Children as young as 18 months display sex-stereotyped toy choices". When eye movement
5893-425: The study encourages a focus on toys which are beneficial to both genders in order to create a better balance. While some parents promote gender neutral play, many parents encourage their children to participate in sex-typed activities, including doll-playing and engaging in housekeeping activities for girls and playing with trucks and engaging in sports activities for boys. Researcher Susan Witt said that parents are
5976-401: The supply to meet this rising demand. Intellectual emphasis was also increasingly being placed on the importance of a wholesome and happy childhood for the future development of children. Franz Kolb , a German pharmacist, invented plasticine in 1880, and in 1900 commercial production of the material as a children's toy began. Frank Hornby was a visionary in toy development and manufacture and
6059-400: The tomb of a four-year-old girl at Xi'an Banpo Neolithic site. The earliest toys were made from natural materials, such as rocks, sticks, and clay . Thousands of years ago, Egyptian children played with dolls that had wigs and movable limbs, which were made from stone, pottery, and wood. However, evidence of toys in ancient Egypt is exceptionally difficult to identify with certainty in
6142-536: The toys that are intended for girls and boys within various cultures, which is reflective of the differing roles of men and women within a specific cultural community. Research on the repercussions of gender in toys suggests that desegregation of the genders can be achieved by encouraging more gender-neutral play. Researchers Carol Auster and Claire Mansbach have argued that allowing children to play with toys which more closely fit their talents would help them to better develop their skills. In terms of parental influence,
6225-575: The traditional toy industry holds onto their boy customers for 50% longer than their girl customers. Girls gravitate towards "music, clothes, make-up, television talent shows and celebrities". As young children are more exposed to and drawn to music intended for older children and teens, companies are having to rethink how they develop and market their products. Girls also demonstrate a longer loyalty to characters in toys and games marketed towards them. A variety of global toy companies have marketed themselves to this aspect of girls' development, for example,
6308-562: The use of any of the provocation techniques —wishful thinking, exaggeration , reversal, escape, distortion, or arising. The thinker creates a list of provocations and then uses the most outlandish ones to move their thinking forward to new ideas. The purpose of movement techniques is to produce as many alternatives as possible in order to encourage new ways of thinking about both problems and solutions. The production of alternatives tends to produce many possible solutions to problems that seemed to only have one possible solution. One can move from
6391-418: The values set forth by the adults of their specific community, but through the lens of the child's perspective. Within cultural societies, toys are a medium to enhance a child's cognitive, social, and linguistic learning. In some cultures, toys are used as a way to enhance a child's skillset within the traditional boundaries of their future roles in the community. In Saharan and North African cultures, play
6474-433: The way of developing a new product. Game & Watch was developed based on this philosophy. At the time of its development, Sharp and Casio were fiercely competing in the digital calculator market. For this reason, there was a glut of liquid crystal displays and semiconductors . The "lateral thinking" was to find an original and fun use for this cheap and abundant technology. The NES and Game Boy were developed under
6557-630: The world. The modern zoetrope was invented in 1833 by British mathematician William George Horner and was popularized in the 1860s. Wood and porcelain dolls in miniature doll houses were popular with middle-class girls, while boys played with marbles and toy trains. The golden age of toy development occurred during the Industrial Era . Real wages were rising steadily in the Western world, allowing even working-class families to afford toys for their children, and industrial techniques of precision engineering and mass production were able to provide
6640-462: Was also an entrepreneur and a pioneer in licensing and merchandising literary characters. Potter built a retail empire out of her "bunny book" that is worth $ 500 million today. In the process, she created a system that continues to benefit all licensed characters, from Mickey Mouse to Harry Potter ." In tandem with the development of mass-produced toys, Enlightenment ideals about children's rights to education and leisure time came to fruition. During
6723-421: Was customary for them to sacrifice the toys of their childhood to the gods . On the eve of their wedding, young girls around fourteen would offer their dolls in a temple as a rite of passage into adulthood. The oldest known mechanical puzzle also comes from ancient Greece and appeared in the 3rd century BCE. The game consisted of a square divided into 14 parts, and the aim was to create different shapes from
6806-485: Was intrigued by the way it flopped around on the floor. He spent two years fine-tuning the design to find the best gauge of steel and coil; the result was the Slinky , which went on to sell in stores throughout the United States. After the Second World War , as society became ever more affluent and new technology and materials (plastics) for toy manufacture became available, toys became cheap and ubiquitous in households across
6889-402: Was responsible for the invention and production of three of the most popular lines of toys based on engineering principles in the twentieth century: Meccano , Hornby Model Railways and Dinky Toys . Meccano was a model construction system that consisted of re-usable metal strips, plates, angle girders , wheels, axles and gears , with nuts and bolts to connect the pieces and enabled
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