I recently saw an ad for a toy gyroscope. A list of reasons to purchase one for your child was that it was educational and did not require batteries. We had a gyroscope as children and enjoyed playing with it, but did I learn about rotation on more than one axis? Not until I just Googled it.
We had lots of “learning” toys, but they were just called checkers, blocks, board games, art supplies, Tinkertoys, puzzles and always lots of books. There has been a real shift in why we buy toys. Just for fun? Nah. Toys are burdened with the ability to teach – even the ones we buy for infants. There is quite a bit of information on the history of educational toys, but I read a good bit of it and it wasn’t fun either.
Apparently store-bought toys were not manufactured until the 1900’s. Most of the ones available were owned by wealthy families. Here are a few things I learned that I found both fun and educational.
Tinkertoy was developed and patented in 1914 by Charles H. Pajeau of Evanston, Illinois. Sets contained interlockable wooden spools and rods that could be combined to make a wide variety of constructions. They were marketed in different sets, according to the types and numbers of pieces included, allowing them to be identifiable by difficulty level (e.g. junior, big boy, grad). In addition to use as a construction toy, they have been used by scientists and students to model molecules, and even to build a primitive computer.
Lincoln Logs were introduced in 1918 by John Lloyd Wright, second son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. They were inspired by structural work for the second Imperial Hotel, built in Tokyo, Japan. The architect designed a system of interlocking timber beams that were intended protect the hotel against earthquakes. His son adapted the idea to enable children to build constructions that would stand up to rough play. In the 1950s, Lincoln Logs were one of the first toys to be marketed on television.
The first box of Crayola crayons rolled off the assembly line in 1903. The cost was 5 cents for 8 safe wax crayons. The company began when cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith took over Edwin’s father’s pigment business in 1885.
The building toy Lego was developed in the 1930’s by Ole Kirk Christiansen in Denmark. The namee Lego may be based on the Danish phrase for “play well”. By the 1950s, the sets were becoming available beyond Denmark and Germany, eventually being marketed worldwide and surpassing all previous construction toys in popularity.
So here’s a question that illustrates one current line of thinking about educational toys. Is a rock or a stick considered an educational toy? Answer: “A child might play with and learn from a rock or a stick, but it would not be considered an educational toy because 1) it is a natural object, not a designed one, and 2) it has no expected educational purpose.”
But according to www.toyhalloffame.org/toys/stick, the stick may be the world’s oldest toy. Children find sticks an endless source of make-believe source of make-believe fun. Sticks can turn into swords, magic wands, majorette batons, fishing poles, and light sabers.” I vote yes for the stick.
Don’t forget Pick-up Sticks! I still remember playing with those.
Possibly the best low tech, no batteries needed, noiseless test of hand-eye coordination ever.