Contribute

Thank you for contributing to the PLAY-OBJECT-PLAY database! We look forward to adding your contribution to the database in due course.

Our database is made up of toys and tools made for and/or used by children from subsistence societies. Before you start, please ensure that your contribution meets the following criteria:

The object is a toy and/or a tool. We have defined tools as devices or implements used to carry out a particular function, usually held in the hand. We have defined toys as objects that children play with. These are not mutually exclusive categories. Objects such as clothes, adornments, or bedding unfortunately do not fit these criteria. If you are unsure whether the object you would like to submit fit our criteria, please first explore our database
he community from where the object originates is a subsistence society, such as a hunter-gatherer, pastoralist, horticultural, or agricultural community. We welcome contributions from transitioning communities, but those from fully urbanized settings or those where subsistence activities are not practiced are currently outside the scope of our database

In the following form, you will be asked to provide detailed information regarding the object. This will include:

Metadata such as information about you and the community where the object comes from
A description of the object such as its name, size, and component pieces
The object’s use such as whether it is a play object, its safety, and its social context
The age and gender of the object user
The manufacturing process including the age and gender of the manufacturer
The learning context in which the object is embedded

Filling out this form may take between 30 minutes to an hour. If you are contributing multiple object types, please note that a new form should be submitted for each. You can learn more about our coding rules by checking out our training documentation here. Please contact us if you have any questions at: f.riede@cas.au.dk. We may be in touch with points of clarification before publishing your contribution.

In all cases, if you lack the relevant information, please leave the field blank.

If your desired option is not available in the dropdown menus of any of the fields, please select 'Other' when possible and specify the missing option in the ‘notes’ field at the end of the form.

Meta Data

In this section, we will ask you to provide information about yourself, the community, and the source of the object.

Citation details*

Please provide the first and last name of all contributors who should be listed as authors for the entry. These names will appear in the database as part of the entry citation details. Please separate the last and first name by a comma, and different names by a semi-colon. For example: Doe, John James; Smith, Jane Emily.

Your E-mail Address*

Please provide the correspondent contributor’s email, so that we can get in touch with you about additional information and the publication of your entry.

Please select the subsistence strategy practiced by the community at the time of observation. The current mutually exclusive options are (from the Human Relations Area Files online):

Hunter-gatherers (foragers): Depend almost entirely (86% or more) on hunting, fishing, and gathering for subsistence
Primarily hunter-gatherers: Depend mostly (56% or more) on hunting, fishing, and gathering for subsistence
Pastoralists: Depend mostly (56% or more) on herding or pastoralism
Horticulturalists: Depend mostly (56% or more) on simple agriculture (extensive or horticulture)
Intensive agriculturalists: Depend mostly (56% or more) on intensive agriculture (with more or less permanent field cultivation and/or irrigation)
Agro-pastoralists: Intensive agriculture/horticulture and pastoralism combined contribute 66% or more to the economy, with agriculture contributing at least 36% but less than 56%, and pastoralism contributes at least 16% but less than 56%
Other: The subsistence is not reflected in any of the other choices

Please select the record type. The current mutually exclusive options are:

Human Relations Area Files: The observation comes from the Human Relations Area Files
Museum Collection: The observation is from an existing museum collection
Ethnographer Report: The observation is from ethnographic fieldwork conducted by the contributor
Other: The observation is not from the Human Relations Area Files, a museum collection, or from an ethnographer report

Continent*

Please select the continent on which the community resides.

Observation Years

Please write-in the year(s) in which the observation of the object was made.

Latitude

Longitude

Please give a GPS coordinate for the community as latitude and longitude in decimal degrees. If you do not have a specific GPS point for the community, please use Google Maps to estimate one. If the community range is large, please use a GPS point towards the center of the community.

Custom value

Please select the name of the community where the object comes from. If the community’s name does not appear on the list, please input a custom society instead.

Object Description

In this section, we will ask you to provide information about the object itself.

Object Name*

What is the object called? Because this is a searchable field, please use a general name in English (e.g., ball, canoe). You can provide the local name for the object in a later field.

Tool Size

Please describe the size of the tool. Please write in absolute measurements if available (e.g., cm, inches), or relative measurements otherwise (e.g., the size of a palm).

Scale

What is the scale of the object? Please select one of the following options:

Mini: Objects that are scaled down (i.e. small) versions of adult tools. These include miniature, small, toy, or imitation versions of adult tools. Note that these not be functional objects
Child Only: Objects that children use that have no adult equivalent. These include things like dolls, games, or child-only subsistence activities
Adult Version: Objects that belong to adults that children use in a similar way to adults. These include objects borrowed from adults, or objects children and adults use together
Other: If the object does not fit the above three categories please select this option

Composite Material

Here, we define composite objects as those made with two or more material types. For example, an arrow made of feathers, wood, and stone tips; a spinning top with a whip. If the object is simple, i.e., made with only one material type (e.g., a basket made of willow, a doll made of rags), it is not composite.

Please select a type for the object. The mutually exclusive options are:

Animal figure: A model of an animal, typically used as a toy. Examples include willow horses and stuffed skins
Human figure: A model of a human figure. Examples include dolls and rag babies
Game: Organized play which is structured by rules, and/or during which players coordinate their activities. Games are typically played sitting down. Examples include tops, marbles, string figures
Physical game: Play that involves exercise, and/or involves feats of strength or skill. Examples include games with balls, monkey bars, jungle gyms, swings, skipping rope, kites, stilts, and darts
Musical instrument: A device created or adapted to make musical sound. Examples include whistles, rattles, a buzz disk, a bull roarer, and flutes
Container: An object for holding or transporting something. Examples include pots, bags, baskets, packs, vessels, and bowls
Tool: Hand manipulated objects used in subsistence to collect relatively non-mobile or harmless food resources OR hand manipulated objects used in the manufacture of other objects. Examples include knives, axes, ladder, spindle, chisel, scissors, and crimpers
Tended facility: A form that controls the movement of a species or protects it so that it can be collected. When the presence of one or more people is essential, this is a tended facility. Examples include hunting nets, fish trap, bird trap, fishing rod, fence for corralling animals, lasso, cow-milking stand, torches to clear plots of land, and fish poison
Untended facility: A form that controls the movement of a species or protects it so that it can be collected. When the facility functions in the absence of people, this is an untended facility. Examples include snares, traps, bells for grazing animals, scare crows, protective barriers for plants, and substances to repel predators
Shelter: A constructed place giving permanent or temporary protection from the elements. This category includes play shelters. Examples include wickiups, hammocks, hut lodges, tents, tipis, play camps, or doll houses
Transport: An object which conveys or assists the movement of people or goods from one place to another. Examples include canoes, sleds, kayaks, saddles, and paddles
Weapon: An object designed or used for inflicting bodily harm or physical damage during hunting and/or interpersonal conflict. Examples include bows and arrows, bolas, spears, throwing boards, blowguns, and slingshots
Other: The object is not an animal figure, a human figure, a game, a physical game, a musical instrument, a container, a tool, a tended or untended facility, a shelter, or a weapon

What materials make up the object? Please select as many of the following non-mutually exclusive categories, making sure to list all other materials in the ‘material detail’ field below:

Metal: This can include tin cans, copper, steal, metal, nails, spring, metal wire, etc.
Plant: This can include wood, bark, roots, branches, poles, bushes, leaves, nuts, grass, flowers, stems, or specific species (e.g., willow, birch), etc. The exception to this is specific chord/line/string/rope/babiche/fiber made from plants (e.g., willow bark line), which should be coded as ‘other’
Stone: This can include rocks, stones, flint, chert, pebbles, soapstone, granite, etc.
Bone: This can include bones, teeth, specific bones (e.g. ribs, fibula), etc.
Antler: This can include the antler of any species
Other: Other material types not covered in the other categories. Examples include horn, cloth, skin, bucksin, ochre, rope, string, cardboard, shells, clay, pitch, canvas, leather, quills, line, wool, feathers, etc.

Material Detail

Please describe the object materials in detail, making sure to list any materials categorized as ‘other’ in the previous field.

Object Use

In this section, we will ask you to provide information about how the object is used.

Custom value

Please select the contexts in which the object is used. If the context of use does not appear in the following list, please input custom contexts of use instead. The non-mutually exclusive options are:

Play: Objects that involve pretense or games; an object used in a non-instrumental way; or an object used with the aim of discovering the objects’ properties and attributes (e.g. target practice)
Instrumental: Objects used in service of a goal, to access resources, or to manufacture/repair a functional object
Ceremonial: Objects used in cultural or religious ceremonies
Musical: Objects that make music

Risk

If using this object poses some risk of injury or death to the user or to others around them, please select 'Risky'. For example full-size functional swings, weapons, and boats pose a risk of injury to the user. Objects that are not in themselves risky, but facilitate risky activity (e.g. paddles, saddles) should also be considered risky. Tended facilities through which children encounter livestock or wild animals should also be considered risky. If using the object is safe to use in the sense that it poses no risk of injury or death to the user or to others around them, please select 'Safe'. For example, marbles, toy houses, and pots do not usually pose a risk to the user. Non-functional imitative toys of risky objects (e.g. small toy boats) should be coded as safe. Potentially risky objects used in contexts outside of their normal use in a safe manner should also be coded as safe.

Object User

In this section, you will be asked to provide information regarding the object user.

User Age

How old are children that use the object? If the object is used across a range of ages, please select the youngest appropriate age category. For example, if an object is used by children in both early childhood and middle childhood, select early childhood. If you do not have exact ages for object users, please approximate the age category as closely as possible. Please select one of the following options:

Infancy: The child is three years old or younger
Early Childhood: The child is between three and six years
Middle Childhood: The child is between seven and twelve years
Adolescence: The child is between thirteen and eighteen years
Other: If the object manufacturer does not fit the above four categories, please select this option

User Gender

Which gender uses the object? Please select one of the following options:

Girls: Girls (but not boys) use the object
Boys: Boys (but not girls) use the object
Both: Both girls and boys use the object
Other: If the object user does not fit the above three categories please select this option

Manufacturing

In this section, you will be asked to provide information about the object manufacturers and the manufacturing process.

Manufacturer Age

How old is the object manufacturer? Please select one of the following options:

Adult: Adults nineteen years old and over (but not children) manufacture the object
Child: Children eighteen years old and younger (but not adults) manufacture the object
Both: Both children and adults manufacture the object
Other: If the object manufacturer does not fit the above three categories, please select this option

Manufacturer Gender

Which gender manufactures the object? Please select one of the following options:

Girls/women: Girls and/or women (but not boys and/or men) manufacture the object
Boys/men: Boys and/or men (but not girls and/or women) manufacture the object
Both: Both girls and/or women and boys and/or men manufacture the object
Other: If the object manufacturer does not fit the above three categories, please select this option

Manufacturer Kin

How are the manufacturer and object user related? If manufacturers can come from multiple kin categories, please select the closest kinship category such that parents are selected over grandparents, grandparents are selected over generic, and generic are selected over nonkin. Please select one of the following options:

Parent: The manufacturer is the user’s mother or father
Grandparent: The manufacturer is the user’s grandmother or grandfather
Generic: The manufacturer is related to the user, but is not the parent or grandparent
Nonkin: The manufacturer is not related to the user
Other: If the object manufacturer does not fit the above four categories, please select this option

Description of the manufacturing process

Please write-in how the object is manufactured in as much detail as possible. For example, describe the weaving process for a basket, detailing all material transformations occurring during the process.

Learning

In this section, you will be asked to provide information regarding whether the object is embedded within specific formal learning experiences.

Learn

Here, objects used in learning are those embedded within specific formal social learning interactions. Such interactions can involve teaching, imitation, practice, etc. For example, a mother may place a stone on a child’s back to help her/him learn to swim. An elder may illustrate a story by making small traps. Adults may set up a target range for boys with the explicit purpose of helping them develop their shooting accuracy skills. If the object described is embedded in formal learning interactions, please select 'Yes'. If the object is not embedded within specific formal learning interactions, please select 'No'.

Object Details

In this section, you will be asked to provide images and a detailed report of the object. You will also be asked about sharing permissions.

Images Select images

Please upload relevant pictures or drawings of the object, its components, manufacturing process, and/or use. If you are providing a picture, please blur any faces.

Image Caption(s)

Please provide captions for each image, ensuring to give credit where necessary. If you are uploading multiple images, please number the captions sequentially, matching the order of the image upload.

Notes

If you selected ‘other’ for record type, subsistence strategy, object type, context of use, pathway, and/or mechanism etc., please provide information about these fields here. Please also add any notes for the database team.

Report*

In approximately 500-1000 words, please describe the object in detail, making sure to cover as many of the above categories as possible. Specifically, please briefly describe the community, data collection, the object itself including its local name, size and components, how the object is used, who uses it, who makes it and how, whether it is embedded in formal learning interactions, and what those learning interactions look like. Please also feel free to add any relevant information not covered in the sections above. If you reference uploaded images in the text, please do so sequentially.

Permissions

Please read and agree to the following disclaimers before submitting your contribution.

All data were collected following relevant ethical protocols*

I/We take full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the submitted work*

All authors have reviewed and approved the submission*

The publication of this work does not infringe on any existing copyrights*