We all had our favorite toys growing up, including a few that let us create our own Star Wars adventures: figures and dolls, toy blasters and lightsabers, model ships and games of all kinds. But what do the children in the galaxy far, far away do during playtime? Kids are kids, no matter what galaxy they’re in, and they’ve got their own toys, from homemade to mass-produced. Here’s a closer look at some of the toys and games for children that we’ve seen in Star Wars:
Luke’s T-16 skyhopper model
Before he was flying an X-wing, Luke used to love flying his T-16 skyhopper around Tatooine with Biggs. He also liked to play at flying indoors with his model T-16, as seen in his hands in A New Hope. Did he build it himself or did it come pre-assembled? Was it from a kit? Did it have lights and sounds or carry a pilot figure? Or did Luke just go "vroom-vroom" with it as he pretended to dive through Beggar’s Canyon in search of imaginary womp rats.
Boba Fett’s airspeeder model toy
Future Jedi play with toys, and so do future bounty hunters. Young Boba Fett kept a toy model of an airspeeder in his quarters in Tipoca City on Kamino. With air scoops on the sides, and vanes on the front, the toy looked built for speed. Maybe when he wasn’t learning from his father or Taun We, little Boba raced down the corridors, imagining himself chasing some scoundrel.
Tooka dolls
With tooka dolls appearing in Star Wars all over the galaxy, it’s likely that a stuffed or plush representation of a tooka is the equivalent to the teddy bear here in our world. First appearing in the episode "Innocents of Ryloth" in Star Wars: The Clone Wars as a toy found by the clone trooper Waxer, and returned to the young Twi’lek Numa, tooka dolls represented a creature not seen until much later in the fur. In addition to a few more appearances in the series, tooka dolls of all shapes and color continued their cute cameos, appearing in the episode "Future of the Force" of Star Wars Rebels as the toy of the Force-sensitive Ithorian baby Pypey, and eventually showing up in Rogue One. On the Erso homestead on Lah’mu, young Jyn owned two tooka dolls -- one named “Starrie” and a more feline-looking one named “Koodie.” But tookas aren’t the only critters to be immortalized as toys in Star Wars -- Jyn Erso also has a stuffed snow lizard named "Tinta," "Sniksnak" the shaak, and an adorable white furry creature named “Abommy the Gig.”
Homemade dolls
When there’s no other kids around, sometimes you just have to make your own friends out of whatever material you can find. In The Force Awakens, we get a glimpse of a doll in Rey’s AT-AT home, a Rebel pilot made using found orange fabric. In her home on Lah’mu, Jyn Erso had quite a few homemade dolls as well, including the blue-furred “Lucky Hazz Obloobitt,” the scary-faced “Bad Mister Goob” and “Stormie” the stormtrooper. In another time, would Rey have her pilot battle Jyn’s stormtrooper? Or would they have gotten along and run a tooka ranch together?
Ball games
Quite a few kids play different kinds of ball games. As a child in Mos Espa, Anakin Skywalker kept some Noeu sphere racquets on the floor by his bed in his room. Hopefully he also had a Noeu sphere too – or a homemade equivalent. Did he play with his mom or did he play with his friends? Some of his fellow children in the slave quarters also liked to play ball – Seek mentions it as an alternative activity to watching Anakin work on his podracer in The Phantom Menace.
Dress up
In our world, kids play different roles by dressing up as princesses or pirates, police or superheroes, or Rey or Darth Vader. But in the galaxy far, far away, parts of real military uniforms might end up scavenged by children for their own imaginative storytelling. Rey salvaged a rebel flight helmet, letting her dream of piloting her own ship in the stars, while Ezra Bridger had a collection of Imperial buckets, though more as trophies of his own troublemaking against the Empire.
James Floyd is a writer, photographer, and organizer of puzzle adventures. He’s a bit tall for a Jawa. You can follow him on Twitter at @jamesjawa or check out his articles on Club Jade and Big Shiny Robot.
