Toys - UEN

Toys

Mr. Rogers reminds us that "play" is a child's "work". It's an important part of growing up and continues to be important throughout our lives in the development of imagination and creativity.

Sample some of the following activities to learn more about toys.

Places To Go | People To See | Things To Do | Teacher Resources | Bibliography

Places To Go

The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out about toys.

FAO Schwartz
Visit the most famous toy store in the world.

Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City
Located on the campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City was founded in 1982. The museum contains twenty-four rooms filled with antique dolls, doll houses, cast iron toys, trains, and scale miniatures.

People To See

John Lloyd Wright
Meet John Lloyd Wright, the son of architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Did you know that John Lloyd Wright was the person who first marketed Lincoln Logs? This site has an interesting 1922 directions sheet from the early Lincoln Logs.

The History of the Teddy Bear
Stuffed animals have been around as toys and keepsakes for a long time. However, the actual "Teddy" bear is a creation of the 20th century. Meet Teddy bears from around the world and discover President Theodore Roosevelt's possible connection to the name of this kind of stuffed bear.

Ole Kirk Christiansen
Meet Ole Kirk Christiansen. He founded the Lego Company in 1934. The word Lego comes from the Danish words "LEg GOdt", which mean "play well". Later, it was realized that Lego is Latin for "I study" or "I put together". Ole Kirk Christiansen was a carpenter and his company first made wooden toys. The interlocking coupling system that is used today was invented and patented in 1958. The village of Billurd where the headquarters of the company is located is the site of LegoLand, an amusement park built mostly out of Legos. It took about 44.5 million Legos to build the park.

Mr. Potato Head
Re-acquaint yourself with Mr. Potato Head and read his biography. He went to law school!

Barbie
Visit with the one and only Barbie, an enduring toy. And of course, there's also G.I. Joe.

Dr. Toy
Send your toy-related questions to Ask Dr. Toy. This site also has sections on Toy History, Classic Toys, and 100 Best Toys.

Things To Do

Silicone Bouncing Putty
Look at Silly Putty artistic creations on the web. Try making your own. Then learn about the development of Play-Doh.

History of the Skateboard
Learn about the development of the skateboard. Then study the physics of skateboarding.

Star Wars Toys
Buy yourself a Jedi light saber.

The History of the Picture Puzzle
Learn about the history of jigsaw puzzles. They were first made in England to teach geography in the late 1700s. They were called dissected maps and were made by drawing a map on a sheet of wood and sawing it into irregular pieces with a saw.

Paper Airlplanes
Build the best, strongest, longest-flying, coolest-looking paper airplane in the world. Teach students about aerodynamics.

Worldwide Scrabble
Have students use the anagram builder at this site to make words. They put in 7 letters and see what words are automatically generated for them. The Official Scrabble Dictionary is also online here. You can also purchase a set of 6 Scrabble games with a Scrabble video and teacher's guide.

Reg's Magical World of Marbles
Find out if you have any collectible marbles. Marbles have been used for games since the times of the Egyptians.They were made out of fired clay. Clay marbles were also made by Native Americans. The first glass marbles were made in Venice, Italy around 900 AD. Today, most glass marbles are made by a machine. Each marble starts out at the end of a rod of semi-molten glass. After a round blob is formed, it is sliced off by a pair of special scissors. The rod usually contains strands of different-colored glass, and these appear as colored shapes in the final marble.

Probabilities in the Game of Monopoly®
Find out what the chances are that you will ever land on Boardwalk when no one else owns it and you already own Park Place and you have a lot of money with which to purchase it. Design math projects where students figure out probabilities for other popular games.

Science Explorer
From the fantastic Exploratorium site, learn how to make a toy paper helicopter and learn about aerodynamics along the way.

Pioneers
From the menu, choose "Pioneer Toys" to find descriptions of bull roarers, whimmydiddles, and mountain bolos.

Daily Life in Ancient India
Find out what children used for toys in ancient India. Have students find similar information for ancient China, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, etc.

Abwenzi African Studies
Choose "Games and Toys" from the menu to learn about Bao, an ancient counting game that is still played by children in Africa today.

History of Toys and Games
Discover the origins of your favorite toys and games, from chess and checkers to Barbie and Atari. Find out who invented Lincoln Logs, and which classic toy truck is the brainchild of a group of Minnesota school teachers.

Teacher Resources

Lesson Plans/Webquests

Bibliography

Friedhoffer, Robert. Toying Around with Science :The Physics Behind Toys and Gags. New York : Franklin Watts, c1995.
Kaye, Marvin. The Story of Monopoly, Silly Putty, Bingo, Twister, Frisbee, Scrabble, Etc. 1973.
King, Constance Eileen. The Encyclopedia of Toys. 1988.
Turpen, Carol. Baby Boomer Toys and Collectibles. Atglen, PA : Schiffer Pub. Ltd., 1998.