Before the 18th century children had no separate toys to play with or books to read. Children and adults would do the same recreational activities. Childhood was not seen as a separate time. In the 16th and 17th century education involved physical beatings of children. Some philosophies changed because of John Locke who believed that play was an important part of learning. One of the ways Locke had this idea was seeing his friend's child play with lettered blocks and realized that was how he learned to spell. The blocks were described in his 1693 book Some Thoughts Concerning Education, these blocks became known as Locke Blocks. These kind of blocks are still being used today.