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How are our toys different from those in the past?

© Elizabeth Batt

Have your parents share the activities here or ask a teacher if you can do it at school. This is for you younger children who are just beginning to learn that we "old people" had different ways of living when we were growing up.

If you ask your parents what toys they played with when they were young, I'll bet you haven't heard of some of them. You might even find some of them funny, but try not to laugh; we older people grew up in the past.

The Past is the opposite to the Future. Words we might use when we talk about the past are:
before,
when our parents were young (they were once, trust me!),
old,
ancient - another word for old.

Words we might use when we talk about the future are:
new,
modern,
after,
one day, (parents are good at that one right?)

Activities You Can Do

Why not ask your parents what toys they grew up with? Ask if they still have any of them or ask if you can find some of the toys they played with on the Internet. Look at their toys and compare them with your toys. How are they different?

Maybe some of the toys are still around today, but they have changed from the past and are more modern. Look at the way they have changed. Are some parts still the same or are some parts different?
Do you think that they might change again? Will your toys become old one day? Get a toy from your parents' past and put it beside one of your new toys. Then look at your new toy and see if you can think of a way that it might change in the future. Now, do you think your toy will get older?

How about a day trip? Maybe you can have your Mum or Dad take you to the museum to see some old toys? If you see an old toy, try to find out how it was used and who might have used it. Pretend it's your toy; what would you do with it? What do you think the person to whom it belonged did with it? Make a picture list of all the old toys you see and when you get home, see how different they are to what you have.

How do we know some toys are old and from the past? Are they rusty or broken? Or do they just look old? Try taking some of your new toys with you to the museum and see if they look shiny and new next to the older toys.

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