The Egyptian children were inside playing with their toys and games. A hush fell over the players as the sticks were thrown. Rattling, they landed beside the game board. Four fell facing up. An unlucky move! The stick thrower groaned, while his smiling opponent reached to take his turn.
Toys
Games
How Do We Know That?
Children in ancient Egypt were fond of amusement. They played with toys and games
similar to those used by children today. Even
as Egyptian children got older and had to do chores, they still had time to
play.
Toys
Egyptian children played with colorful clay balls filled with seeds or small
beads that rattled. Other balls were made of leather or papyrus.
A popular pastime for girls was throwing and catching a ball.
Egyptian girls were also fond of tiny paddle-shaped dolls with hair made
from clay beads.
Other toys included spinning tops,
wooden dolls and carved animals. The
toys of upper class children were often made from rich materials, such as carved
ivory. Their toys sometimes had moving parts or wheels.
Lower class children played with simpler toys made of pottery or wood.
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Games
The Egyptians had several types of board games.
Two common games were Senet and Snake. Senet was a game for two people, similar
to checkers. It had thirty squares
that were either lucky or unlucky. Sticks
were thrown instead of dice. A player's move was determined by how many sticks
were facing up. The winner was the first person to move all of his or her pieces
off the board.
The game Snake had a stone board
shaped like a coiled snake. It was a two-person game played with counters.
The winner was the first player to move his or her counter around the
squares on the snake’s body to the center.
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How Do We Know That?
King Tutankhamun was only about eight when he became king, and eighteen when he
died. He loved to play games,
especially Senet. Inside his tomb,
archaeologists found four Senet boards.
The boards were made from the finest ebony, a black wood, and white ivory
carved from elephants’ tusks. Drawers
for the counters were built into the boards, and the legs were curved in the
shape of bull’s feet.
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