Kids With Their Favorite Toys Around the World

Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti traveled the world for 18 months to capture images of kids with their favorite toys from different countries for his book Toy Stories. His journey led him to a revelation of what the kids played with is a complete reflection of their socioeconomic background and their surroundings. The well-to-do kid from China likes the game Monopoly because he is surrounded by buildings and hotels while the kid from a farming community in Mexico loves trucks because they are a daily presence in the village he lives in. Galimberti also found that there is a difference between those with a lot of toys versus those with 2 or 3 when it comes to the value of sharing. The kids with the least toys did not have a problem with sharing while those with more toys were more apprehensive to the idea. This may be due to the fact that the kids in Africa with the least toys spent their time playing outside more and are thus used to sharing with others. The toys are also a direct reflection of the children’s parents. The Latvian mother who drives a taxicab buys his son miniature cars while the Italian farmer gives his daughter plastic rakes, hoes and spades to play with. Though the number or the kind of toys the kids played with differed, the universal truth remained the same according to Galimberti, “At their age, they are pretty all much the same. They just want to play.”

For a similar article featured on Lost in Internet, try James Mollison’s Photos of Where Children Sleep.