Historical Toys can be a great project – especially for KS1 – where children will be able to ask parents and grandparents about their toys and learn from first-hand experience, before starting to look back further. Many people will still have some old, favourite toys to show and maybe even lend to school to make a display.
The BBC has several historical toys videos and pages: (NB some of the BBC historical pages are archived but still very useful, even though not being updated!)
- What toys and games were played in Roman times?
- What toys did children play with during World War One?
- Victorian Britain – Toys and Games ” from: train sets, toy soldiers, rocking horses, dolls and doll’s houses, tea-sets and toy shops with toy fruit, vegetables, meat, hats and medicines. Other popular toys were alphabet bricks, sailing boats, jigsaw puzzles and Noah’s Arks. In many homes, children were not allowed toys on Sundays – except Noah’s Ark, because that was in the bible.”(BBC)
There is a lovely set of images of toys from the past shared by My Learning
The School Run – provides a whole history of toys, aimed at Key Stage 1, with images, facts and a video. This is a very useful site for a toys project. It also has links to a set of toy museum sites at the bottom of the page.
