When we imagine William Shakespeare, we often picture the playwright at his desk—or standing in a London playhouse—but before any of that, he was a child. A boy growing up in Stratford-upon-Avon, surrounded by siblings, neighbors, household noise, and the everyday rhythms of family life in Tudor England. So what did play look like for children in Shakespeare’s world? What toys were kept in small hands, what games filled courtyards and streets, and how did ideas about childhood shape the way young people learned, imagined, and passed the time? Today, we’re exploring the games and playthings of Tudor children—not as a curiosity on the sidelines of history, but as part of the cultural landscape Shakespeare himself would have known. From homemade toys and rattles for infants, to outdoor games and imaginative play, these experiences formed the backdrop of early modern childhood—and they surface, again and again, in Shakespeare’s language and imagery. To guide us through this world of early modern play, I’m joined by public historian Dr. Julia Martins, whose research into everyday life in Tudor England brings us closer to what childhood actually felt like in Shakespeare’s lifetime. Let’s step back into the playrooms, streets, and gardens of sixteenth-century England—and discover how Tudor children played.
Cassidy- there is a transcript for this one, but you mssed up with Gary. Update this later.
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About Julia Martins
Julia is a public historian specialising in early modern European history. Her research focuses on cultural history and everyday life, especially the history of gender and medicine. Julia has studied in Brazil, France, Italy, and England, and holds a PhD in history from King’s College London. Julia has a YouTube channel and blog about life in the past, called Living History by Dr Julia Martins. She combines her work as a historian with activism and volunteering, and she is the organiser of a feminist book club, called My Body, My Book Club, which raises funds for important causes each month. You can find Julia on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok @juliamartinshistory.
What We Talk About
In this episode of That Shakespeare Life, we step into the everyday world of childhood during the Tudor period to explore how children played in Shakespeare’s lifetime. Public historian Dr. Julia Martins joins the show to examine the toys, games, and imaginative play that shaped early modern childhood—from homemade dolls and hobby horses to rattles, spinning windmills, and miniature household objects discovered through archaeology. Together we explore how the word “toy” itself was understood in the sixteenth century and how objects of play appear in Shakespeare’s own language and imagery.
Drawing on archaeological discoveries, portraits of Tudor children, and written sources like Philip Stubbs’ Anatomy of Abuses and John Florio’s A World of Words, our conversation reveals a lively world of play that included pretend kitchens, toy soldiers, windmills, dolls for both boys and girls, and popular outdoor games like Blind Man’s Bluff, leapfrog, and stoolball. We also discuss indoor pastimes such as Nine Men’s Morris, chess, and card games—along with the moral concerns some Tudor writers raised about children spending too much time at play. Together these clues offer a fascinating glimpse into the games and toys that would have filled the streets, gardens, and households of the world Shakespeare knew as a child.
Related Episode: Want to know more about hobby horses? This children’s toy from the Tudor period has it’s own episode. Learn more about Hobby Horses with our guest, Natalia Pikli.
Where to Learn More
– Geoff Egan and Hazel Forsyth, Toys, Trifles & Trinkets: Base Metal Miniatures from London, 1200-1800 (Museum of London, 2005).
– Erasmus, On Civility in Children (first Latin edition 1530, De civilitate morum puerilium), various translations into English (first English edition translated by R. Whittington, published in 1532 under the title A Little Book of Good Manners for Children).
– Anthony Fletcher, Growing Up in England: The Experience of Childhood (Yale UP, 2008).
– Colin Heywood, A History of Childhood (Polity, 2018)
– Julia Martins, Playtime in Tudor England: Toys, Games, and Childhood, Living History Blog (June 2024).
– Nicholas Orme, Tudor Children (Yale UP, 2023).
**Books marked with an asterisk are priced at $50 or more at the time of this episode’s publication. I note this fact in quiet protest of an academic pricing model that I find both arbitary and largely inaccessible to general readers. These works are excellent and well worth consulting, and I encourage you to seek them out through a library or in collaboration with a trusted history friend.
