The earliest yo-yo appeared in Greece 500 years ago and is still preserved in Athens National Museum. The characters in the jar hold their leisurely ancestors. The material of this toy is wood, metal or colored clay, and the patterns are mostly gods.

Yo-yo comes from Tagalog in the Philippines, which means "come back" or "go back". In A.D. 1500, the hunting people in the Philippines hung heavy objects such as dried fish shells at the front end of a 20-foot (about 6-meter) long rope as tools for hunting animals and fighting. It is said that children of hunting nations make smaller models of this tool and start to play with it. This is the origin of leisure.