Turns Out Lato-Lato Has Western Origins: What to Know About "Newton's Yo-Yo"
The lato-lato resurgence is here.
(SPOT.ph) You’ve seen those clacking plastic balls on the streets and on social media. There are several lato-lato competitions from Tarlac to Cainta to Batangas, with cash prizes as high as P10,000. Now, NU Baliwag is offering free lato-lato for the first 50 student enrollees for the incoming academic year.
Along barangay streets, it’s no longer chismis you hear, but the continuous sounds of clack, clack, clack, like the snapping of fingers. If there's anything we learned from fidget spinners, it's that bright and fast toys are bound to catch the younger generation's attention.
But it’s not just children. Indonesian president Joko Widodo was also spotted playing with the toy. Even Paul Rudd was asked to try the lato-lato during the Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantomania red carpet premiere in Indonesia.
This lato-lato resurgence across Southeast Asia started in late 2022, but Filipinos are only recently catching up to the trend in the past two months. Yep, you read that right: lato-lato is not a purely Filipino thing. In Western countries, it’s known as “clackers” and “knockers.”
Needless to say, this cultural obsession with lato-lato is in full swing.
Also read: 10 Classic Filipino Toys That Will Make You Super Nostalgic
What is lato-lato
According to a Borneo Bulletin, latto is a Buginese word that literally translates to “making clacking sounds.”
It’s a toy that consists of two plastic balls suspended on a string that, when swung, slams against each other to create that distinct clacking sound. With enough practice, the balls can be knocked together above and below the hand.
Popular as it is in Southeast Asia, it looks like lato-lato originated from the U.S. in the late 1960s. It was called Newton's Yo-Yo and was meant to be an educational toy (Read: physics). The earliest iterations had balls made with tempered glass instead of plastic, which would cause the toy to shatter into tiny pieces during play. This led the American Consumer Product Safety Commission to step in and set safety regulations in place. Some schools decided to ban it altogether. A 1990 article by the Washington Post described the toy as “little plastic orbs from hell” from a teacher’s point of view.
Today, you can easily buy lato-lato on Shopee and Lazada from P20 to P80 pesos a pair, but proceed to check out knowing that it’s not as easy as it looks.
How to play lato-lato
The goal of lato-lato is mostly personal entertainment. This is why students in schools and tricycle drivers waiting for passengers turn to lato-lato to cure boredom.
What makes it truly fun is the social spin of such a simple toy that turns it into a game. Lato-lato players come together to see who can maintain the clacking sounds for the longest time without losing rhythm. This also gave rise to the lato-lato challenge on TikTok.
Lato-lato is difficult and sometimes even painful to master, but it should provide some form of comfort that even children can get the hang of it. Here’s how to play with the toy:
- Hold the clackers by the string
- Move your hands up and down in a rhythmic motion, swinging the balls
- Allow them to hit each other and produce a clacking sound
- Adjust the speed of your hand movements to keep the clackers going
- Practice controlling the clackers to maintain a steady clacking rhythm
Whether you like it or not, lato-lato is here to stay—at least as far as nostalgic trends go.
Also read: 10 Cool Things That Were on Every '90s Kid's Wish List