We looked at some of the toys children would have played with in the past and talked about their features. We noticed that a lot of the toys were made out of wood, tin, or metal. The toys looked old, as they were chipped, rusty, broken, and sometimes a little bit dirty. None of the old toys contained batteries, wires, or lights as these features of technology had not been invented when some of the toys were around. We got a chance to play with some of the toys from the past, and we had to use our hands to push and pull the toys to make them move. 

We placed three toys along a timeline from the oldest toy to the newest toy and spoke about the differences between these toys. We had to explain why we placed the toys where we did by talking about their features and functions. We then repeated this game using three of the same toys, a jack-in-the-box! The oldest Jack-in-the-box did not work, it was made of rusty tin, and its face was rubbed off! The newest Jack-in-the-box was made of metal and was very colourful. It was the only one which played any music and it worked perfectly. Our favourite Jack-in-the-box was the middle Jack-in-the-box as, although it wasn't as new as the present day toy, it made a squeaky noise when it popped up and it was very amusing.

We also had the opportunity to see some outdoor toys from the past, such as an old bike, marbles, hula-hoops, tennis rackets and even a ceramic football from Egypt which was over 3000 years old! We tried to spot some outdoor toys from the past which looked similar to ones we see and play with today. We found lots and lots, although our ones look newer and shinier!

As part of our journey into the past, we also got to see what an old bedroom would look like, and we were able to compare an old and new bedroom by looking at the toys and technology you might find in those rooms. This was made even more exciting as the bedrooms were on the ceiling!

The children were able to pretend they were chimney sweeps and shimmied up a dark chimney before taking a vote to see if children should have to work in the present day. We then visited a Victorian classroom and sat at some uncomfortable wooden desks. We were all very happy to return to our bright, comfortable classroom on Wednesday!

We learnt so much about toys from the past on our trip and have brought this learning back to our classroom ready to build on this knowledge even further. 

Check out our amazing photos here - I wonder if you can spot any toys that you used to play with? You may be surprised at what is now considered a toy from the past! I was shocked to see a Tamogotchi and a Game Boy!