Melton Carnegie Museum

Victorian Workshop 1: Victorian Toys

Aims:
To raise children’s awareness of what life was like for children in Victorian times.

Objectives:
To give an insight into ways in which Victorian children spent their spare time and to contrast the lives of rich and poor Victorian children and compare childhood with then and now.

Resources:
Selection of replica Victorian toys both ready made and homemade, materials for making simple Victorian doll or toy, pictorial reference of children 1870.

picture of toys from Melton Carnegie Museum

Methods:
Classes will be divided into three smaller groups of between 8 and 12 children per group, each group will have a 15-20 minute session and the groups rotate.

The Victorian Toy Box- Children will be encouraged to work in pairs and each pair will be given a replica toy with an accompanying work sheet. The work sheet will prompt them to ask a series of questions, e.g., how, why, where and when? The work sheets will be available for the children to take back to school for discussion- no group will get the same toy, so there is potential for teachers to reinforce what has been learned at the museum and for children to share information with their class.

Children at Play in 1870- Pictorial Reference. To colour and keep. This wood engraving shows children at play with a variety of games and toys. The group will be prompted to count the number of games, compare then and now and discuss rich and poor life in Victorian times and colour the picture as way of using observational skills.

Making a simple Victorian toy:
Each group will make at least one toy to take back to school, either – fish in a bowl, bird in a cage (optical illusion) or string doll. Both types of toy require design and technology skills and will reinforce the simplicity of homemade toys and the imagination of children for whom they were originally designed.

picture of movie tingy from Melton Caregie Museum

Learning Outcomes:
During the museum based session children should develop:

an awareness of rich and poor childhood in Victorian times
an understanding of how children spent their spare time
an introduction to comparative technologies e.g., mechanical versus electrical
an awareness of the limited types of material (natural) available for toy making in Victorian times
an ability to recall information about childhood in Victorian times

Melton Carnegie Museum

Victorian Workshop 1: Victorian Toys

further information