Children From Around the World Share Their Favourite Toys

An Italian photographer and journalist, Gabriele Galimberti takes us around the world with an amazing gallery of children and their favourite playthings. 

The collection, which includes shots from more than 50 countries, is thought-provoking and insightful. 

Galimberti’s best images have been compiled in a book that was released March 25, entitled – Toy Stories – Photos of Children from Around the World and Their Favourite Things. 

Galimberti describes the significance of such a project and what it taught him:

“I learned more about being a parent than I did about being a child from this whole process. Hopes and ambitions are passed down through the toys parents choose from their children.”

In some countries, Galimberti saw impressive collections of miniature cars, action figures, and airplanes. Elsewhere, he met children with just a single, cherished stuffed animal.

In a Zambian village, Galimberti met a group of children who had no toys of their own but found fun playing with a box of sunglasses they found along the side of a road.

Galimberti found that the fewer toys a child had, the less possessive the children were about them, and that free-roaming children tended to be more likely to share their toys than city children who often play alone. While he documents different dynamics across cultures and social classes, the project also highlights a number of similarities between children living on opposite sides of the world. 

I love the simplicity of the project, the beautiful shots, the geometric set-up, the changing scenery. Ultimately, the gallery provokes the universal nostalgic power of our favourite toys. As Galimberti explains:

“My eighty-five year-old grandmother doesn’t know where some of the countries I visited are — places like Zambia, Malawi, or Fiji — but she remembers her favorite toys. Everybody does.”

You can check out the Toy Story collection by clicking here.