Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Cultural Services

The descriptive Choctaw language has an apt term for children's toy, "isht washoha", which literally means "played with".  Ancestral Choctaw parents and grandparents have been making toys for children to play with for millennia.  Many of these toys seem to have been training tools to help children develop the skills and practices that they would need as adults.

Today, due to a lack of recording, there is, unfortunately, a great deal that we do not know about early Choctaw toys.  Fortunately, at least two incredible groups of Oklahoma Choctaw dolls dating to the 1880s, have survived in excellent condition.  These artistic representations appear to depict still earlier Choctaw people, probably from around the time period of the 1830s.  They give us a window into an earlier period of Choctaw life, and early toys that were made for some fortunate Choctaw children. A few of these dolls are featured on the following pages.