Toys

"Toys" takes a look at the toys and games that shaped the imaginations of today's creative leaders. Just as anywhere else around the world, a typical day for a Polish child revolves around his or her life at home and at school. Spare time was a period of unbridled ease, unaffected by the poor quality of toys. The toys available to Polish children were rather different from the toys lavished upon youngsters in the West. Simple, cheaply made with the use of inferior materials, or possibly a gift from abroad or a replica of a western toy produced locally by craftsmen. Quite often these were toys made by the children themselves or their relative. A comb and a few coins, an elastic band, a few bottle caps... Even the metal frame for beating rugs filled in for the monkey bars of the West was a source of recreation, social initiation and learning. It all marks a distinct anthropological link between the phenomenon of today's creative minds and the scarcity of toys growing up.