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What Toys Are Made Of

Discover how toys changed as makers switched from wood to tin to plastic.

  • Define and explain What Toys Are Made Of in your own words
  • Use key terms such as Materials accurately
  • Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
  • Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic

This lesson focuses on What Toys Are Made Of: discover how toys changed as makers switched from wood to tin to plastic.

Definition: What Toys Are Made Of

Discover how toys changed as makers switched from wood to tin to plastic.

Key ideas

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.

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.

Key term — Materials: What something is made from, such as wood, metal or plastic. New materials meant new kinds of toys.

Worked example: What Toys Are Made Of

Give one way toys have changed and one way they have stayed the same.

Changed: new materials like plastic and electronics. Stayed the same: dolls, balls and teddy bears are still popular.

Answer: Changed: new materials like plastic and electronics. Stayed the same: dolls, balls and teddy bears are still popular.

Common mistakes
  • Thinking everything changed Some toys, like balls, dolls and teddy bears, have been played with for hundreds of years. Always check what stayed the same too.
  • 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

Name two materials old toys were made from.
Think of trees and metal.

Wood and tin (metal) are two examples.

Why might a poor Victorian child not own a shop-bought toy?
Shop toys cost money.

The family could not afford it, so the child would make toys or play free games instead.

True or false: every child in the past played with the same toys.
Did rich and poor families live the same way?

False. Toys depended on how much money a family had.

What is an artefact?
It is an object from the past.

An object made by people in the past.

Quick check

What Toys Are Made Of — quick check

Which of these best defines "Materials"?

What something is made from, such as wood, metal or plastic. New materials meant new kinds of toys.

What could a historian learn from a 100-year-old board game?

What games people enjoyed, what the box pictures show about the time, and what materials were available.
Key takeaways
  • What Toys Are Made Of: discover how toys changed as makers switched from wood to tin to plastic.
  • Some things change, some stay: Teddy bears have been loved for over a hundred years, so cuddly toys stayed the same in spirit.
  • Artefact: An object made by people in the past.
  • Watch out for: thinking everything changed
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