Toys — Then and Now

Years P–2

How has changing technology affected people’s lives? What was life like during your parents’ and grandparents’ childhoods? Find out how people played with toys in the past.

Activities

How many different types of toys can you find at home?

Ask a parent or grandparent about how they played with toys differently when they were your age.

Draw a picture of a toy from the past and one from the present.

Australian Curriculum links

Year 1 History

Differences and similarities between students’ daily lives and life during their parents’ and grandparents’ childhoods (ACHASSK030)

Year 2 History

How changing technology affected people’s lives (at home and in the ways they worked, travelled, communicated and played in the past) (ACHASSK046)

In our collection

Wooden toy truck

Studio photo of a game board with three pieces, an instruction manual and the box they came in. the box has a colourful illustration showing men holding a flag pointing at ships at sea. The pieces on the game board are ships and the board itself suggests that the game involves moving around an oval sea with an illustration of gold diggings in the centre.

Race to the Gold Diggings board game

Toy ball woven from coconut palm leaves

A discoloured and stained cream cotton rib sock toy that has a painted face depicting a dog with blue patches around the eyes.

Sock toy dog

A homemade white with floral design bag and strap with a plastic frame and clasp.

Homemade fabric toy bag

A miniature green plastic toy triceratops with painted facial features, including black and pink eyes, pink nostrils and a mouth.

Minature toy triceratops

A paper and metal hexagonal shaped concertina with wooden handles and corroded white metal buttons that is decorated with a red and blue rising sun and polka dot motif.

Toy concertina

A wooden oval-shaped toy shield with a handle made from two sticks which are inserted through holes on the posterior surface.

Wooden toy shield

Details

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Related resources

Chores — Then and Now

Explore the defining moments of three very different families and then investigate your own family’s defining moments.

Investigating family

1920

Qantas established