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Toys in the Past

Explore the history of toys with your child, what is their favourite toy, what toys were like in the past and how they are different to toys today.

Victorian Toys

Poor Children

Poor families made their own, such as cloth-peg dolls and paper windmills. Children would save their pocket money to buy marbles, a spinning top, skipping ropes, kites or cheap wooden toys. 

Children in poor families made their own toys. Girls played hopscotch and made skipping rope with whatever bits of rope they could find. Another popular game for both girls and boys was to roll an iron hoop along the ground. Because there were no cars, streets were their playgrounds.

Boys from poorer families collected the marbles that were used to seal drinking bottles, usually made of glass or clay. They played jacks and tops, and with toy drums and tin soldiers when they could get them.

 

Rich Children

Children in wealthier families had a wider range of playthings, as well as the leisure time to enjoy them. In the nursery, the room dedicated to the child or children and their nanny, there was a collection of toys for them to play with. Most nurseries had a rocking horse with a mane and tail made of real horse hair. Girls had elaborate tea sets with which they would practice serving tea to their stuffed animals and dolls.  Girls in wealthy families also played skipping rope, but with ropes with carved handles.

 

Boys often had chess and checkerboard sets. Train sets were also very popular, as were wooden toy soldiers with which to recreate battles both historic and fictional.  Upper-class children also played with puppets, and would put on shows for their families in puppet theatres. These shows often featured Punch and Judy puppets.

Girls played with dolls and tea sets whilst boys played with toy soldiers and marbles.

thaumatropeDuring Victorian times, people became fascinated by toys that made pictures move. One of the earliest and simplest of these was the thaumatrope. This is a disc with a picture on either side that is attached to two pieces of string or a stick. When you spin the disc quickly, the two pictures appear to combine into one.

Topic Vocabulary

Past

A period in time in which something has already happened

Present

The time period that is happening right now

Toy

An object for a child to play with

Old

Something from the past/earlier time

New

Something produced, introduced or discovered recently or now for the first time

Modern

Something relating to the present or recent times, not the past.

Entertainment

Something that can provide you with enjoyment, pleasure and amusement.

Electronic

Something that using electricity to work

Develop

When something gets better/more advanced over time.

 

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