# Educational toy

Educational toys (sometimes also called "instructive toys") are objects of play, generally designed for children, which are expected to stimulate learning. They are often intended to meet an educational purpose such as helping a child develop a particular skill or teaching a child about a particular subject. They often simplify, miniaturize, or even model activities and objects used by adults.
Although children are constantly interacting with and learning about the world, many of the objects they interact with and learn from are not toys. Toys are generally considered to be specifically built for children's use. A child might play with and learn from a rock or a stick, but it would not be considered an educational toy because 1) it is a natural object, not a designed one, and 2) it has no expected educational purpose.
The difference lies in perception or reality of the toy's intention and value. An educational toy is expected to educate. It is expected to instruct, promote intellectuality, emotional or physical development. An educational toy should teach a child about a particular subject or help a child develop a particular skill. More toys are designed with the child's education and development in mind today than ever before.

## History

Toys have changed substantially throughout history, as has the concept of childhood itself. In Toys as Culture (1986), anthropologist Brian Sutton Smith discusses the history of toys and states that "in multifarious ways toys are mediating these cultural conflicts within the personal lives of children". Educational toys in particular tend to reflect the cultural concerns of their time.
Research on the history of toys and their use tends to focus on western cultures, but work has also been done on North Africa and the Sahara. Puppets or dolls made of wood, clay, wax or cloth may be the earliest known toys. Archaeologists have found them in sites from Egypt, Greece and Rome, and Antonia Fraser emphasizes their universality.
Dolls can be seen as an early "educational toy" because dolls acted as substitutes, allowing children to learn to care for living babies and children. Similarly, toy bows and arrows or other weapons acted as substitutes for real weapons, enabling children to develop skills needed for hunting or fighting.
Up until the 20th century, however, manufactured toys were not readily available, and most often were owned by wealthy families.$^{:172}$ Moulded miniature dishes and toy soldiers have been found in England dating to as early as 1300.$^{:172–173}$ There are records of wealthy medieval children owning elaborate toy houses and military toys, which could enable them to mimic adult activities such as managing a household or enacting a siege.$^{:174}$
Nonetheless, "We often forget that throughout history, children have happily played without toys and manufactured playthings."$^{:172}$ Children improvised a wide variety of toys and games using whatever came to hand, including fences, barrels, sticks, stones, and sand.$^{:175–177}$ Both children and adults played games such as backgammon, dice, chess and cards, which helped to develop manual dexterity, memory, and strategy.$^{:178}$ In 1560, Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted Children's Games. He depicts around 200 children in at least 75 play activities.$^{:166}$ Only a few activities involved toys made specifically for children, and even fewer might be classed as "educational toys": dolls, simple musical instruments and a water gun used to shoot at a bird.

### Locke's Blocks

The identification of specific toys as having an explicitly educational purpose dates to the 1700s. In 1693, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, liberal philosopher John Locke asserted that educational toys could enhance children's enjoyment of learning their letters: "There may be dice and play-things, with the letters on them to teach children the alphabet by playing; and twenty other ways may be found, suitable to their particular tempers, to make this kind of learning a sport to them." This type of block, one of the first explicitly educational toys, is often identified as "Locke's Blocks".

### Dissected Maps

French educator Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont may be the earliest inventor of the jigsaw puzzle or "Dissected Map". Records indicate that she used some type of wooden map to teach girls geography in the 1750s. However, since no examples of her maps still exist, it is impossible to confirm that they were "dissected" into pieces. British cartographer John Spilsbury is generally credited with inventing the jigsaw puzzle or "dissected map" in 1766. He intended it to be an educational tool for geography.

### A Rational Toy-Shop

In Practical Education (1798), Maria Edgeworth and her father Richard Lovell Edgeworth described a "rational toy-shop" where educational toys would be sold. They proposed that such a shop should sell materials for a wide variety of activities including carpentry, handicrafts, gardening, chemistry, and natural history.$^{:13}$ An important advocate for the education of women, Maria Edgeworth's ideas about science and education were influenced by the philosopher, chemist, and educator Joseph Priestley and the exciting discoveries of the first chemical revolution. Edgeworth even suggested that children be given a play area for loud and messy educational activities, to support the development of "the young philosopher", who she clearly expected to be well-to-do.
   "To those who acquire habits of observation, every thing that is to be seen or heard, becomes a source of amusement... most well ordered families allow their horses and their dogs to have houses to themselves; cannot one room be allotted to the children of the family? If they are to learn chemistry, mineralogy, botany, or mechanics; if they are to take sufficient bodily exercise without tormenting the whole family with noise, a room should be provided for them.
In contrast to the Edgeworths, Isaac Taylor in Home education (1838) and Charlotte Mary Yonge in Womankind (1876) championed the idea of less structured, more imaginative play.$^{:13}$ The range of manufactured toys broadened during the Victorian era but toys continued to be costly and belong to the wealthy. A toy might cost as much as a working man's wage for a week.

### Froebel's gifts

The center of toy making in the 1800s was Germany, renowned for its fine craftsmanship. Between 1836 and 1850, German educator Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel introduced a set of specially shaped geometric solids which he called "gifts" and less solid materials such as foldable papers which he called "occupations". Through interaction with these manipulatives, all five senses were stimulated. They were intended to support learning of concepts such as number, size, shape, weight, and cause and effect.$^{:24}$ Froebel also established the first "Kindergarten".$^{:49}$ It provided care and education for pre-school children whose parents were absent at work during the day.
By 1880, the wooden blocks designed by Froebel had inspired the development of Anchor Stone Blocks (German: Anker-Steinbaukasten) made of artificial stone in Germany by the Lilienthal brothers. These early construction toy sets have remained in almost continuous production since then, and modern components are still compatible with the durable antique elements made more than a century ago.

### La Science Amusante

French engineer Arthur Good (under the pen name "Tom Tit") published weekly articles about La Science Amusante, or Amusing Science in the French magazine L’Illustration. They were collected and published starting in 1889. His geometrical demonstrations, craft projects, and physics experiments could be carried out with everyday household materials.

### Montessori's manipulatives

A wide array of manipulatives was introduced in the early 20th century by Maria Montessori. Based on her work in Italy, her book The Montessori method was translated into English and published in 1912. Montessori's curriculum focused primarily on tactile and perceptual learning in the early years, and was based on developmental theories and work with students. She emphasized practical exercises using ready-to-hand materials such as pouring rice or tying a shoelace. She also developed sets of Montessori sensorial materials, manipulatives for learning mathematics and other skills and concepts. Today, Montessori's methods are used in both homes and schools, and her manipulatives have been extensively studied. Her work was strongly motivated by slum conditions and the social and economic disadvantages facing poor women and their children. The Montessori method formed the basis for the creation of educational toys busy boards.

### Construction sets

During World War I (1914-1918), countries such as Great Britain embargoed German goods, including toys. Later, toy-making businesses were established in Britain and other countries, in some cases employing ex-soldiers. Britain became a principal supplier of toys, to be followed by America, and later Japan and China. Toys became cheaper and accessible to more people. However, the emergence of an industrialized toy manufacturing industry in Canada, Britain, and elsewhere was disrupted by the Great Depression.$^{:148}$
Meccano, Erector Sets, Tinkertoy, and Lincoln Logs all appeared in the early 20th century, and were promoted as developing fine motor skills, encouraging free play and creativity, and introducing children to engineering and construction ideas.
Frank Hornby of Lancashire, England designed the construction toy Meccano in 1899 to encourage his children's interest in mechanical engineering. Patented as "Mechanics Made Easy" in 1901, it became known as "Meccano" in 1907. Educators were aware of societal changes caused by industrialism, and hoped to interest youngsters in possible new careers.
In 1913, A. C. Gilbert introduced the Erector Set with the first national advertising campaign for a toy. The Erector Set contained girders and bolts that could be assembled into miniature buildings or other structures, and was acclaimed as fostering creativity in constructive play. In 1924, it was redesigned to include miniature electric motors and other pieces which could be used to create all sorts of self-actuated machines.
Tinkertoy was developed and patented in 1914 by Charles H. Pajeau of Evanston, Illinois. Sets contained interlockable wooden spools and rods that could be combined to make a wide variety of constructions. They were marketed in different sets, according to the types and numbers of pieces included, allowing them to be both interoperable and identifiable by difficulty level (e.g. junior, big boy, grad). In addition to use as a construction toy, they have been used by scientists and students to model molecules, and even to build a primitive computer.
Lincoln Logs were introduced in 1918 by John Lloyd Wright, second son of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. They were inspired by structural work for the second Imperial Hotel, built in Tokyo, Japan. For the hotel, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a system of interlocking timber beams that were intended protect the hotel against earthquakes by allowing it to sway without collapsing. His son adapted the idea to enable children to build constructions that would stand up to rough play. In the 1950s, Lincoln Logs were one of the first toys to be marketed on television.
Throughout the early part of the 20th century, a variety of new materials such as plastics were developed, and manufacturing processes became increasingly automated. This supported the development of educational toys, including construction toys, since it enabled the standardization of pieces. Toys such as Tinkertoy and Lincoln Logs, which were originally made of wood, were later also made in plastic versions.
In the mid-1950s, more explicitly engineering-themed construction toys appeared, including plastic girders, columns, and panels that could be assembled into a model curtain wall skyscraper. Later, this Girder and Panel structural system was extended to a Hydro-Dynamic setup by adding pipes, valves, tanks, nozzles, and pumps to allow construction of model plumbing, HVAC, and chemical engineering systems like a simulated distillation column. Other extensions of the system supported suburban-style housing developments (Build-A-Home), or monorail transportation systems (Skyrail).
The building toy Lego was originally developed by Ole Kirk Christiansen in Billund, Denmark, in the 1930s. The name Lego is said to be based on the Danish phrase leg godt, or "play well", and is also translatable in Latin as "I study, I put together". By the 1950s, the sets were becoming available beyond Denmark and Germany, eventually being marketed worldwide and surpassing all previous construction toys in popularity. Lego bricks are versatile and are used by adults as well as children to make a near-limitless variety of creations. The company has created a line of kits for complex architectural structures such as the Taj Mahal. It has also partnered widely to create theme-based kits for franchises such as Star Wars.
In the late 1960s, Fischertechnik introduced what would eventually become a versatile and powerful set of modular construction components, incorporating sophisticated pneumatic, electrical, electronic, and robotic capabilities. The company's products also achieved some success in the hobbyist and school markets, including vocational education programs, but was overshadowed by Lego in the consumer segment.