Sofia Pavlaki presents a replica of an ancient game to school students in Manchester, UK.
Across European classrooms, ancient Greek toys are finding new life through Greektoys, a program created by Sofia Pavlaki (photo), her husband Luis Santos and her sister Fotini.
Using 3D replicas, animation and a digital museum, the project introduces children to clay rattles, spinning tops and wheeled horses inspired by artifacts discovered in museums and graves nearly 3,000 years old.
Pavlaki, a Greek computer scientist who moved to Brussels during Greece’s economic crisis, said the workshops invite children to handle replicas, test their dexterity and build their own toys from clay or modeling paste.
“We encourage children, when they visit museums, not to look only at the impressive works of high art, but also at the small, humble finds, because these testify better to how people lived,” she said.
