Toys with small pieces, such as these LEGO figurines, are required by law to have warnings about choking hazards in some countries. With the invention of materials easy to shape such as plastic, the range of puzzle possibilities grew. Rubik’s Cube, arguably the most famous puzzle worldwide, would not be possible without modern polymers. There are many different types of puzzles, for example a maze is a type of tour puzzle. Other categories include; construction puzzles, stick puzzles, tiling puzzles, transport puzzles, disentanglement puzzles, sliding puzzles, logic puzzles, picture puzzles, lock puzzles and mechanical puzzles. Some other examples include Bayko, Erector Sets, and Tinkertoys.
The toys of the cup and ball family have been favorite childhood amusements for many centuries, unchanging in their basic form but marvelously various in the specific designs. Children have played with miniature versions of vehicles since ancient times, with toy two-wheeled carts being depicted on ancient Greek vases. Modern equivalents include toy cars such as those produced by Matchbox or Hot Wheels, miniature aircraft, toy boats, and trains.
You weren’t supposed to use your whole arm to toss the hoop from stick to stick, only your wrists! Boys were also allowed to have more outside time than girls, especially as girls got older. Older girls were expected to learn other skills that people didn’t expect boys to know, like handicrafts .
Noah’s Arks, All About Old Toys A photographic history and interesting facts about Noah’s Ark wooden toys. Rufus and Mary King raised five boys, two of them at King Manor. While the oldest three – John, Charles, and James – were away at school in Europe, their brothers Edward and Frederick (“Fitty”) grew up in the house. Later, their own children, like John’s daughter, Cornelia, and Charles’ daughter, Eliza, would visit or even live at King Manor.
The oldest clearly identified toys were unearthed on the site of a 3300-year-old temple in Iran. These small, carved, limestone figures of a lion and a porcupine are mounted on wheeled platforms and pulled along by a string. An even more remarkable early discovery is a crude bearded gi joe doll with movable arms and legs, which kneads bread or grinds corn when a string is pulled. Wind-up toys are sometimes called mechanical toys or clockwork toys. The earliest examples date back to 15th-century Germany, where Karel Grod produced a number of mechanical toys.
The earliest doll house on record is a German one, but Holland is also famous for its early doll houses that were actually miniature rooms built as cabinets. Most cast-iron toys appeared relatively late on the American scene. Stevens of Connecticut, one of the first and ultimately largest producers, advertised cast-iron Fire Cracker Pistols in 1859. But the industry got into high gear only after the Civil War, fueled in part by the discovery of vast iron ore reserves.
Tinplate remained popular into the 1930s and 1940s, but was then replaced by less expensive plastic components. By the end of the 19th century large German factories were turning out dolls, mechanical toys, and construction sets, as well as the standard favorites from the past. These toys were attractive and of high quality, in spite of being mass produced, and could be sold for a reasonable price. They were so popular in the United States that before World War I, American merchants purchased one quarter of the factories’ output.
Sometimes children, especially girls, would learn to make their own dolls clothes which taught them skills like sewing, knitting, and embroidery. Miniature versions of indoor quoits were played near the Welsh-English border for at least a century. It seems that the game was invented toward the end of the 19th century, but the history of indoor quoits is not really known. “Deck quoits” were made from rope and used on cruise ships. “Rope quoits” is probably the same game and is popular in Australia.
The growth of television and video games has affected traditional pastimes. In 1880, toy makers modified the classic bow design, adding a set of crossbars perpendicular to the bows. This so-called “safety rocking horse” made it more difficult for kids to tip the toy and reduced both injuries and damage to walls and furniture.