Childhood

It was play and it was life.

Don and Debra McQuiston, 1995

Children's playthings and social life were miniatures of adult life. Throughout childhood, boys and girls were members of societies grouped by age where they learned, through play, how to be adults. Girls often had mini-replicas of their mother's household, right down to a tipi and toy horses.When the village moved, she packed up and moved exactly as her mother did.Sometimes girls used dogs to move their mini-villages.

Boys had mini-replicas of the tools they would use as an adult warrior.They learned to use a bow and arrow, for example, by watching their fathers, and then hunting on their own for small animals. Today, some Native American children play with toys like these in the gallery, and some play with contemporary toys.

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