When the kids got home from school,
they played with their pets, their toys, and their friends.  

TOYS:  Balls, board games, hobbyhorses, kites, tiny models of people and animals. The ancient Romans played with hoops, with pieces of metal on them, like bells, to jingle and warn people in their way. Boys walked on stilts and played games with balls. They played tic-tac-toe, and a game called "knucklebones", which is a lot like jacks, only played with bones.

The boys played war-type games. They played war, and fought with wooden swords, quite fiercely. The game of "Troy" (lusus Troiae) was a team thing involving resisting a whole pack of kids outnumbering you, who'd try to drag you across a line.

The girls played with rags dolls and dolls of wax or clay. Some dolls even had jointed legs and arms. The girls played board and ball games, and even lifted weights.

The ancient Romans loved games. Horace tells of children building small houses, riding on hobbyhorses, and hitching mice to little carts. Kids from poor families had to work a great deal, but they still found a little time to play. Kids from wealthy families did not work or help around the house. They had slaves who did all the work for them, so they had lots of time to play.

PETS: Dogs were common and favorite pets. Many kinds of birds were pets including pigeons, ducks, quail, and geese. Monkey were known but they were not very common. Cats started to become pets around 1c CE.

Play some Roman Games! 

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