Tracey works at he museum and she came into our class with a box of Victorian toys.  We found that most Victorian children would have only a few toys.  Very different to our childhoods now!  Toys were mainly made from wood and some of them were home made. She thought some children might have only been allowed to play with their toys once a week.  Never on a Sunday though!

Football

Football was a common sport amongst men at that time.  No women would be involved!  The ball was hard, not bouncy and it would have been very sore if it hit you in the face!

 

Duckie Doll

This was made from straw.  It’s a doll you would have seen a lot particularly in Shetland.  It was not a cuddly toy and could break easily.

 

Kaleidoscope

This made lovely patterns when you turned the end.  Some pupils had something similar at home.

Skipping Rope

Less popular now, but it has been popular till recently.

 

Tumbler

This had two bits of wood which when squeezed together made the wooden acrobat spin.

 

 

Ball and Cup

We were all a bit frustrated with this!  It was so hard to get the ball in the cup!

Spinning Top

A lot of pupils recognised this one.

Even though these toys were really simple we all had fun trying them.  Tracey asked us to compare these toys to the toys we have now.  A lot of pupils have ‘gadgets’ rather than toys.

 

Pupil Voice

“They were really cool and interesting.”

“It was interesting to see a real Victorian toy.”

“It was surprising how similar some toys looked to todays toys.”

“I was amazed to find out the spinning top would have been the most expensive.”

 

Next Step

We are going to make our own replicas of some Victorian toys.