Games as cultural heritage: Toys museums in brazil

Abstract

This study looks into toys museums in Brazil to understand the history of establishment, the collections and the educational relationship of the Museu do Brinquedo Popular, located at the Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, in Cidade Alta, Natal, RN. Using documentary analysis, interviews and observations, the study found that it is a toy museum of artifacts made by the very people who played with them. Its constitution highlights the importance of research in Physical Education, identifying, recording and gathering part of the playful heritage developed by the communities in the space of the museum. Much of the process and meanings of these toys fade when they are transferred to the museum but they gain the educational possibility of gathering the diversity that was dispersed, building new social relations, evoking memory, provoking the desire to play, and recognizing game as material and immaterial heritage.