Although the origin of the play "mamagoto" is not clear, the history of mamagoto dates back to Heian period. How children played with hina dolls, Grils' Day dolls, was described in Murasakishikibu Diary. Playing with hina dolls were called hiina asobi. It was mentioned in Makuranososhi, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, as well. She mentioned a sense of nostalgia when she saw dalls for hiina asobi in the book. One note is that one theory says hiina asobi led to Hina Matsuri, Girl's Day.

It is said that mamagoto was widespread and established as child's play in Edo period, when children of noble family used metal or lacquered toys whereas those of ordinary people used wooden or paper toys. As time passed, tin toys, glass toys, and plastic toys were made and commonly spread in Japan; toys for mamagoto are developed so that such toys will not do any harm to children including infants.

The name of mamagoto is a combination of mama and koto/goto. Mama means meal, and koto/goto means thing. Children imitate how adults behave in their daily life including cooking or preparing for a meal. Thus, we can see a great variety of tools for mamagoto, such as bedroom equipment as well as kitchenware.

Many toys for mamagoto are made from plastic these days. As for the size, mamagoto toys in Western countries are made smaller at the same rate; on the other hand, those in Japan are different in size. For example, chopsticks or a knife is big enough for children, but a table or a cupboard is very small.