The Multimodality of Children’s Artefacts: Towards a Toy Literacy

Abstract

Whether toys are made of metal, plastic, leather, fabric, wood or any soft material, they seem to reveal cultural references and evoke emotional reactions. The aim of this article is to expand the agenda of childhood studies from a linguistic perspective by constructing a multimodal framework – which I have called toy literacy – to analyse toys in their three-dimensional features, with a view to discussing some of the roles provided by toys’ multimodal messages and reflecting upon the kind of childhood that has been constructed through toys’ material representations. By means of a metalanguage, I have created a framework that may be of help to different social sectors – from the academic to the more general public – to show how toys end up communicating and reinforcing stereotypes and social behaviours through the verbal and visual choices behind their design, packages and campaigns. In providing a systematic language to talk about toy choices, I hope to promote reflection on the social structures pertaining to toys’ gender and cultural representations, which, for long, have been kept concealed.