- Define and explain Toys Then and Now in your own words
- Use key terms such as Evidence accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
Toys are more than fun: they are clues about how people lived. A wooden spinning top and a plastic robot tell different stories about the worlds that made them. In this chapter you will compare toys across time and learn to read objects the way historians do.
This lesson focuses on Toys Then and Now: compare old toys like wooden trains with the toys children play with today.
Compare old toys like wooden trains with the toys children play with today.
Key ideas
The past was not all the same
Children long ago did not all play with the same toys. Rich children might own painted tin soldiers, while poorer children played with marbles or homemade dolls. Toys can show us that life was different for different people.
Some things change, some stay
Teddy bears have been loved for over a hundred years, so cuddly toys stayed the same in spirit. But a tin spinning top gave way to battery-powered robots, so the way toys work changed hugely. Spotting what changed and what stayed the same is a key historical skill.
Key term — Evidence: Anything that helps us learn about the past. An old teddy bear is evidence of how children played.
You see two teddy bears in a museum: one from about 1910 with straw inside and stitched eyes, and one from today with soft stuffing and plastic eyes. What do the differences tell you?
List what is the same: both are soft toys shaped like bears, loved by children. List what is different: straw stuffing and stitched eyes versus soft stuffing and plastic eyes. Ask what the differences mean: plastic and mass production did not exist in 1910. Conclude: the newer bear shows new materials and factory-made toys; the old bear shows handmade toys from natural materials.
Answer: Both bears show that children have always loved cuddly toys, but the materials reveal change: the 1910 bear was handmade from natural materials, while the modern bear is factory-made from plastics — a change in how toys were produced.
- Forgetting that rich and poor children played differently Expensive shop-bought toys belonged to wealthier families. Poorer children often made their own toys or played outdoor games that cost nothing.
- Saying old toys were worse Old toys were not worse, just different. Children loved them just as much; they were simply made with the materials and technology of their time.
Practice
The family could not afford it, so the child would make toys or play free games instead.
False. Toys depended on how much money a family had.
Wood and tin (metal) are two examples.
Changed: new materials like plastic and electronics. Stayed the same: dolls, balls and teddy bears are still popular.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "Evidence"?
What could a historian learn from a 100-year-old board game?
What is an artefact?
- Toys Then and Now: compare old toys like wooden trains with the toys children play with today.
- The past was not all the same: Children long ago did not all play with the same toys.
- Artefact: An object made by people in the past.
- Watch out for: forgetting that rich and poor children played differently