Inuit seal game

Game with fish-shaped pieces of animal skin and a bone threaded onto a fishing line

This child’s toy was made by Inuit people in northern Canada. It is made of bone, (the scapula or shoulder bone of a Harp Seal), dried skin with fur and wood. The stick and line fed through the piece of bone are thought to represent fishing through a hole in the ice. Through play it would have helped children to understand how to fish for food in later life.

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