# toys (play)

An item made of physical material that can be used in a playful game.

- Computed level: L14 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: common  ·  Arena: toys

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [items](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-items.object), [play](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-play.game), [substance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-substance.material), [game](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-game.playful), [make](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-make.verb), [use](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-use.application), [material](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-material.physical), [physical](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-physical.material), [playful](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-playful.behavioral)

**Through:** Through making, parts come together into a structure that persists as a material object, enabling playful game activity through use.

**Novel properties:**
- persistent material structure
- enables unstructured play
- artifact for game engagement

## Examples
- Lego bricks snapped together to build a spaceship during a child's Saturday morning play session in Copenhagen. *(everyday life)*
- The MIT Robot Block Project’s programmable cubes interacted with toddlers in a 2003 Cambridge nursery lab trial. *(engineering)*
- Pokémon cards traded and flicked in schoolyards during recess in Osaka elementary schools, 2019. *(institutions)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-toys.play*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-toys.play.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*