Games and jokes in the children’s magazine O Tico-Tico (1950s)

Abstract

The article examines the interweaving of school practices and cultural practices through the analysis of the final editions of the children’s magazine O Tico-Tico, published in the 1950s. Launched by the publisher O Malho in Rio de Janeiro, then the federal capital, this magazine circulated nationally between
1905 and 1962, with the declared aim of contributing to children’s education. By utilizing textual and visual
elements designed to guide young readers’ comprehension, the magazine is analyzed as a discursive space that enables discussion about the intertwining of school and cultural practices—serving as an object of knowledge and entertainment, a producer of meaning, and a product of society. The analysis encompasses editorial devices and various sections, such as comics, games, and playful and pedagogical activities, emphasizing its contribution to shaping children’s behavior and transmitting values idealized by adults through educational and cultural practices, which were often interconnected. The study highlights that the magazine’s adherence to the characteristics and values that marked its trajectory was decisive for its longevity of more than five decades but also contributed to its decline by not fully keeping pace with the social and cultural transformations of the period.