Play With Your Food
August 14, 2012 12:53 PM Subscribe
A Collector's Weekly article on 19th Century butcher shop playsets.
Also available in the 21st Century. If you prefer LEGO, your options are more limited.
Also available in the 21st Century. If you prefer LEGO, your options are more limited.
My daughter would have a field day with one of these.
posted by kjs3 at 1:15 PM on August 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by kjs3 at 1:15 PM on August 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
My grandma showed me how to gut a fish when I was seven years old.
posted by Decani at 1:26 PM on August 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Decani at 1:26 PM on August 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
The early modern doll houses are wonderous, of course - I love early modern things, and I love minitures - they are basically my dream toy.
But I object to the long-out-of-date assertion, "Before the Enlightenment, children were mostly regarded as imperfect miniature adults themselves". Will people not read some family/childhood history printed AFTER 1980? Children have been children since the beginning of time - every culture is different on the details, but no, six-year olds weren't treated as adults.
that said, I haven't read the original Ariès book on childhood (what with it already being out of date by the time I got to uni), so I didn't realize that he used portraits as evidence -- and, as was pointed out, portraits don't represent what children actually wore.
posted by jb at 1:57 PM on August 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
But I object to the long-out-of-date assertion, "Before the Enlightenment, children were mostly regarded as imperfect miniature adults themselves". Will people not read some family/childhood history printed AFTER 1980? Children have been children since the beginning of time - every culture is different on the details, but no, six-year olds weren't treated as adults.
that said, I haven't read the original Ariès book on childhood (what with it already being out of date by the time I got to uni), so I didn't realize that he used portraits as evidence -- and, as was pointed out, portraits don't represent what children actually wore.
posted by jb at 1:57 PM on August 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
Reminds me of my favorite Beatrix Potter book, The Tale of Two Bad Mice, "about two mice who vandalize a dollhouse. After finding the food on the dining room table made of plaster, they smash the dishes, throw the doll clothing out the window," etc. (long Wikipedia article!)
posted by emhutchinson at 2:10 PM on August 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by emhutchinson at 2:10 PM on August 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
I'm holding out for a Play-Doh Sausage Factory.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:22 PM on August 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:22 PM on August 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
There are sweet.
Old toys are so charming. I could look at the detail for days.
posted by Mezentian at 4:08 PM on August 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
Old toys are so charming. I could look at the detail for days.
posted by Mezentian at 4:08 PM on August 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think it would be cool to have a whole tiny street with these baby little houses!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 5:30 PM on August 14, 2012
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 5:30 PM on August 14, 2012
So butcher shops are uncommon in the USA these days, I gather?
I get some of our meat at the supermarket, but it is expensive, so I still buy most stuff at the butcher.
My kids have had playsets which included food items like steaks, chicken legs etc., though admittedly not a butcher shop (but they haven't had a bookshop, newsagent, liquor store, florist or gift shop either).
I think the default play shop today is a grocer/supermarket or a cafe.
posted by bystander at 7:33 PM on August 14, 2012
I get some of our meat at the supermarket, but it is expensive, so I still buy most stuff at the butcher.
My kids have had playsets which included food items like steaks, chicken legs etc., though admittedly not a butcher shop (but they haven't had a bookshop, newsagent, liquor store, florist or gift shop either).
I think the default play shop today is a grocer/supermarket or a cafe.
posted by bystander at 7:33 PM on August 14, 2012
WARNING!
Choking Hazard; Small parts; Not for children under 3 years.
posted by unliteral at 10:31 PM on August 14, 2012
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posted by Melismata at 12:58 PM on August 14, 2012