"The objects we used to play with were made by us. The little clay figures, the slingshots made from tree branches with rubber bands and leather from old shoes, the wooden tops, and the balls made from rags, the crowns and kites from reeds, blue paper glue, sponge and tails from rags, the arrows or swallows and paper darts cut from notebooks, the hoops from old barrel hoops and rusty wire. Also, the marbles we made from round snail shells, the little pebbles from pebbles, and the whistles and flutes from reeds, the dolls made from old cloth, and more."

On a small but widely known tourist Cycladic island, Antiparos, the students and teachers of the elementary school had for many years an inspiring figure in a simple village woman with inexhaustible mental strength and a disposition for selfless giving: Marouso Faroupo, who told children stories, made them toys, taught them words, songs, customs, and recipes, created lollipops and other sweets, painted and constructed settings, and sewed costumes.

It was the folk culture of her childhood years, through which she liberated the imagination and creativity of today's children. Serving as a tribute to her multifaceted cultural, educational, and humanitarian efforts, this book focuses on games as an integral part of childhood life in the island community of Antiparos in the second half of the 20th century. Play is described and studied not as a nostalgic memory or museum exhibit but as a lived, dynamic, and multifunctional process connected to the social spaces of its development, childhood, the relationship between parents and children, and peer groups.

Furthermore, this edition serves as a valuable testimony of what it means to be a child and to freely recreate the world through play, a universal condition beyond places and borders.

Cover photo: Handmade dolls made by Marouso Faroupo.