PLAYTIME!THE EVOLUTION OF TOYS IN 1950–70s GREECE
- Portes Magazine
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
The 1950s marked a significant turning point in the evolution of toys in Greece. Emerging from the hardships of war, occupation, and civil conflict, Greek society began reshaping its understanding of childhood and play.
In an era when the abundance of modern toys was unimaginable, parents prioritized education and the hope of a better life. Christmas and New Years gifts often included a small coin bank—both a toy and symbolic gesture. Filled with a few coins, it represented wealth and served as a child’s first lesson in the value of saving.
During the early 1950s, the streets came alive with improvisational play. Children created their own toys from readily available materials. Slingshots, reed arrows, jump ropes, hopscotch, and rolling metal hoops (katrakýli) encouraged precision, creativity, and social interaction. Earth–drawn board games used pebbles, nutshells, and tiles as pieces, echoes of ancient traditions. One of the period’s most iconic toys, the spinning top, saw widespread popularity throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
This period also marked the beginning of industrial toy production in Greece, primarily with tin, pull toys and wind–up toys. Early domestic manufacturers began appearing in the 1950s, gradually expanding toward the end of the decade.
Greek companies such as ELVIP and FINO began imitating toy designs showcased at international trade fairs in Nuremberg, Milan, and Paris. Among them were ELVIP’s “Puss in Boots” (inspired by a German version), Ananias Ananiadis’s wind–up monkey on a scooter, and FINO’s “ice cream vendor” and “ice–skating kittens”, one of the few Greek–made toys exported to European markets.
The 1960s introduced new materials and manufacturing methods. Tin, once widely used, was now considered dangerous and expensive due to its complex manufacturing process. It was replaced by plastic, which offered safety, flexibility, and lower production costs.
By 1960, over one hundred Greek toy makers were active, crafting dolls, tin and wooden toys, board games, and toy soldiers made from lead or plastic. One of the era’s key innovators was Ioannis Kehagias, who developed a line of fashionable plastic and vinyl dolls, Leoni, Laura, Linda, Niovi, and Natali, accompanied by their complete wardrobes reflecting the fashion trends of the time
The dolls shared a standardized size, allowing children to mix and match outfits from the “Kehagias Fashion Line,” offering a new level of imaginative play. In the early 1960s, the legendary company El Greco was founded by Georgios and Fifi Vakakis. It quickly became renowned for its iconic toys, including Spirtoúlis, Bibi–bo doll and others that left a lasting imprint on Greek toy heritage.
While the toy industry flourished, traditional handmade toys still had a place in Greek culture. In neighborhood shops and festival fairs, affordable folk toys like whistles, noisemakers, and cloth dolls with papier–mâché heads continued to delight children. These toys preserved elements of popular tradition, offering a more accessible alternative to mass–produced products.
By the late 1960s, Japanese battery–operated toys appeared in Greek shops, either through direct import or imitation. These toys, featuring robots, astronauts, and anthropomorphic animals, reflected both the rise of electronic technology and the global fascination with space and science fiction.
Simultaneously, puppet theatre also gained traction. The Athens Puppet Theatre – Barba Mytoussis, created by Eleni Theocharis–Peraki in 1939, enjoyed widespread popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Its handcrafted glove puppets and unique characters inspired Greek manufacturers to produce home puppet theater sets, often based on fairy tales, further integrating narrative and performance into play.
In 1970, the Lyra Toy Factory was founded as a family business. In 1976, Markos Lyras negotiated with the creators of Playmobil to secure exclusive production rights in Greece. Until 1980, he remained the brand’s sole representative in the country, acquiring molds from the German company or producing them locally.
The history of toys in Greece from 1950 to 1970 illustrates a broader cultural transition, from self–sufficiency to industrialization, from handmade to standardized, and from simplicity to technological complexity. More than mere amusements, toys served as educational tools and mirrors of the country’s social, cultural, and economic evolution. They entertained, nurtured imagination, and helped shape the personalities and social development of generations of Greek children.
WORDS | MARY VERGOS
IMAGES | BENAKI TOY MUSEUM
