Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games - KS1
a teaching resource
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Contents
01
Outreach Learning Session - Victorian Outdoor Toy and Games
02
Curriculum connections and Learning Outcomes
03Resources
Teachers Notes
Image Bank
Supporting Documents
Rich and Poor Victorian Children
Girls and Boys
Materials Matter
Outdoor Games
Make your own Peg Doll
Make your own Paper Windmill
04
Glossary
05
Useful links
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Herbert Learning
Outreach Learning Session - Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games
introduction
Session length: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Suitable for: KS1 (Toys from the Past) and KS2
(Victorians)
This session is adaptable to suit your age group
and classroom topic.
Cost: See website for details.
Learn all about Victorian outdoor toys and games
and what life was like for a Victorian child in this
highly active learning session.
Your class will be given an introduction to the
subject of Victorian outdoor toys and games,
where they will learn about Victorian childhood,
the difference between rich and poor families,
handle real Victorian objects from the Herbert’s
collections and discover what the different toys
and games are that they will be playing with
during the activities.
Your class will then be split into 6 groups, with
each group taking it in turn to play with different
Victorian replica toys, including quoits, skittles,
hoop and stick and more, to experience first hand
what life was like for a Victorian child.
At the end of the group activities the whole class
will come together to play the Victorian group
game ‘Ball’.
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Learning Outcomes
Through attending this session your children will
build on the following skills:
• An increase in learning about children’s lives
and lifestyles from the past.
• An improved understanding of how the past is
different from the present.
• Improved enquiry when asking and answering
questions about the past.
• Higher ability to identify different ways of life in
the past.
• Raised awareness of materials used in the past.
Herbert Learning
Curriculum Connections and Learning Outcomes 02
An increased understanding of
number
shape, space and measures
Look at and describe the
shapes of toys
Pupils could solve problems
such as ‘How many toys are
made from wood, clay, metal or
plastic?’
Share and display what toys our
parents and grandparents played
with and record interviews with
relatives about toys and games
they enjoyed when they were
young
Discuss the toys in this pack and
their modern equivalents. Visit
the Herbert to handle and explore
more toys from the past
Science
Toy Time
Design &
Technology
An increased knowledge and understanding
through working with materials
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Sort toys into groups on the
basis of their simple material
properties
Mathematics
Book an outreach toy session to
explore the sensory qualities of
materials the toys are made from
through object handling
Active participation
in speaking, listening,
group discussion and
interaction
Increased ability in
developing ideas for
composition
Discuss why some families had
more money than others in the
Victorian times. How do you
think this affected the children?
History
Literacy
Discuss and create own stories
involving toys
A better understanding of chronology,
knowledge and understanding,
historical enquiry and organisation and
communication
An increased
ability to group
and classify
materials
and a better
understanding
of forces and
motion
Discuss how the toys work. Do
they move? If so how?
Art
Are any of the toys in this pack
decorated? Design your own
Active participation in exploring
and developing ideas
An increased
knowledge and
understanding of
colours and textures
Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Teacher’s Notes 03
Why was it called the Victorian times?
- The Victorian times are named after Queen
Victoria - she was queen from 1837 until 1901.
- Britain changed a lot during the Victorian times.
- The railway was invented and the population
doubled in size.
- Some people got very rich because of factories,
coal mining and transport, but a lot of people
stayed very poor and lived in horrible conditions.
Children in Victorian Times
- Children had to be well behaved, respectful and
quiet - especially when they were with adults.
- What children’s lives were like depended on how
much money their parents had.
- Poor families could not afford to send their
children to school so they sent them to work
instead to earn extra money for the family.
- Rich families treated their children like royalty,
giving them with expensive toys, gifts and nice
clothes.
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Playing Outdoors
- Playing outside has always been popular with
children.
- In the Victorian times it was safer to play outside
because cars had not been invented so the roads
were much quieter.
- Toys cost a lot of money, so children would make
up games to play outside, such as ‘Hide and Seek’
and ‘Tag’.
- Poor children had to play outside because their
homes were so small.
Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Tea Set
Girls from middle and upper class
families could afford expensive toys
like this tea set made out of china (a
type of porcelain).
These tea sets often looked a lot like
tea sets used by adults.
Little girls would have tea parties
with their friends and their other toys
where they could use their tea sets.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Victorian Doll
Dolls were very expensive in the
Victorian times, but they were
popular because Queen Victoria had
a huge collection of dolls that she
had been collecting since she was a
little girl.
Dolls were expensive because:
- Their face, hands and sometimes
feet were made from china.
- They had real human hair that had
to be carefully sewn onto the head.
- Their clothes were made from nice
fabrics.
- They had been hand painted by a
skilled toy maker.
Today dolls are cheaper to make in
factories using plastic.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Leather Football
The Victorians played team sports to
build confidence and working
together with your friends.
Footballs were originally made from
pig’s bladders that had been blown
up by the mouth with air, but in 1851
a man called Richard Lincoln created
a round ball made from leather, like
the one you can see in this picture.
These were very expensive to make
so poor children still had to use a
pig’s bladder if they wanted a game
of football, which they could get
from the local butcher’s shop.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Tea Set
Marbles were a popular toy during the
Victorian times and were enjoyed by
both rich and poor girls and boys.
There are lots of games that can be
played with marbles. One includes
drawing a circle on the ground and
the players have to try and knock
each others marbles out of the circle
by flicking their own marbles at them.
This game is called Ringer.
Codd Bottle
Codd style bottles have a glass marble trapped inside. The marble helped
to keep drinks like cola and lemonade fizzy.
Poor children in the Victorian times would collect the codd bottles and
smash them so they could get the marble from inside.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Yo-yo
The earliest known yo-yo dates back
to 500BC and is made up of a piece
of string attached to a round spool,
usually made from wood.
This was a toy played with by boys in
the Victorian times.
With a lot of practice different tricks
and moves can be done.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Diablo
The diabolo is a toy that uses two
sticks, attached to a long piece
of string to throw and move the
wooden spool around.
The aim of the game is to throw the
spool up in the air and then try to
catch it again in the middle of the
string.
It became popular in Britain just
before the Victorian times started.
It would mostly have been played
with by boys.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Whip and Top
The whip and top is a wooden cone
shaped object and a stick with a
piece of string or leather attached to
it.
The aim of the game is to wrap the
string, known as the whip, around
the wooden top and then pull it
away quickly to make it spin around.
You can use the whip to keep the top
spinning for longer by whipping it.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Skipping Rope
Like today the skipping rope was a
popular toy played with by young
girls.
In the Victorian times, girls from rich
families had fancy skipping ropes
with carved handles made from
expensive wood.
Poorer children would make do with
an old washing line or piece of rope
without the handles.
Sometimes they had handles made
from old bobbins from the textile
factories, like the one you can see in
this picture.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Skittles
The Victorians enjoyed playing
games that were challenging., like
skittles.
Skittles were popular because
they helped to develop hand-eye
coordination.
Children would play against each
other to try and knock down the
skittles. The person who knocks
down the most wins.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Quoits
This is a game that involves
throwing rings over wooden poles.
Each pole is worth a certain amount
of points.
The winner of the game is the person
who scores the most points.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Hobby Horse
Toy horses were popular in the Victorian
times.
Before the car was invented horses were
used a lot for travelling around.
Rich Victorian children would have had a
rocking horse in their nursery room, but
they were very expensive.
Hobby horses were cheaper to make.
Sometimes the bottom of the pole had a
small wheel attached to make it more fun
to ride around on.
These were popular toys for having races
around the garden or streets with friends.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Imagebank 03
Hoop and Stick
This was a popular children’s game
played outdoors, where a large hoop
is rolled along the ground using a
stick to move it along.
The aim of the game was to keep the
hoop rolling for as long as possible.
Richer children could afford shop
bought hoop and sticks that were
made from metal.
Poorer children could use a wooden
hoop and stick, or even a bicycle rim.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
Rich and poor children
The kind of lifestyle a Victorian child had depended on how much money
their family had. The Victorians were seperated into 3 main groups:
- Upper Class = very rich
- Middle Class = fairly rich
- Working Class = poor
Upper Class
This group of people had a lot of money and included very important
people, such as Lords, Ladies and Dukes. They could afford large houses and
employed lots of servants. Their children enjoyed the best food, education,
clothes and toys. Boys were often sent away to boarding schools, while the
girls were taught at home.
Middle Class
The middle classes had enough money to live comfortably but they could
not afford all the luxuries that the upper classes had. This group of people
included teachers, shopkeepers and farmers who would live in nice houses
and have between 1 and 5 servants. Their children would go to a local school
that had to be paid for or would be taught at home by their mother. They
had nice clothes, good food, toys and a small holiday in the summer to the
seaside.
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Working Class
Children from working class families had very little because their
parents were too poor. Any money they had was spent on food and
their house. Children would wear second hand clothes that were in bad
condition and went to work instead of school. Shoes were so expensive
that many children ran around with bare feet. A lot of children became
orphans and ended up living on the streets (see the above picture).
Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
girls and boys
Using the pictures of toys from the image bank put them into 3 groups. One for girls, one for boys and one for both in the boxes below.
Write down the name of the toys you think would be played with by girls, boys or both. Why do you think some toys were played with by boys and others
by girls?
Girls
Doll
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Boys
Yo-yo
Both
Marbles
Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
materials matter
Using the pictures of toys from the image bank put them into 3 groups. One for wood, one for china and one for other in the boxes below.
Write down the name of the toys you think are made from wood, china or other materials. Why do you think these materials were used?
Wood
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China
Other
Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
Outdoor games
Over the next 3 pages you will find examples of traditional
Victorian outdoor games. Try these games out with your class for
them to experience life as a Victorian child.
Blind Man’s Bluff
One child is selected to be blindfolded so that he/she cannot see
and is placed in the middle of the room/playground.
All the other children gather around him/her and say the
following rhyme:
Children ask: “How many horses has your Father got?”.
The blindfolded child replies with: “Three!”
Children ask: “What colours are they?”
Blindfolded child: “Black, white and grey!”
Children: “Turn around three times and catch who you may!”
The blindfolded child is then turned around three times (the
teacher might be best to do this) and then he/she has to try and
catch one of the other children.
All the other children have to avoid being caught, but if they are
that child becomes the next person to be blindfolded.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
Outdoor games
Mulberry Bush
The children form into a ring and holding hands they run around
in a circle singing:
“Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush;
Here we go round the mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning.”
They then let go of each others hands and pretend to wash their
hands, standing in place this time singing:
“This is the way we wash our hands,
Wash our hands, wash our hands;
This is the way we wash our hands
On a cold and frosty morning.”
Repeat the first verse (mulberry bush), followed by (using
appropriate actions):
“This is the way we wash our face,
Wash our face, wash our face;
This is the way we wash our face
On a cold and frosty morning.”
Reapeat first verse. This can then be followed by any rhymes of
their own invention.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
Outdoor games
Tom Fiddler’s Ground
One part of the playground (or whatever area you are playing in)
is marked off as ‘Tom Fiddler’s Ground’ - it is usually best to draw
a line with chalk or mark it off with a rope. In this area one child is
selected to be Tom Fiddler. He/she is only allowed to stay in this
area and cannot cross the line at any time.
In Tom Fiddler’s ground objects should be scattered around that
the rest of the class must try and retrieve (small bean bags are
good for this).
The rest of the class have to try and cross over to Tom Fiddler’s
ground and collect the objects, whilst singing “Here I am on Tom
Fiddler’s ground, picking up gold and silver!”
The child who is playing Tom has to try and catch the ‘thief’, but
only when they are on his ground.
If ‘Tom’ manages to catch a ‘thief’ that child then becomes the
new Tom Fiddler and the game begins again.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
Make your own peg doll
Poorer children had very few toys, if any, and those that they did
have were often home made.
Little girls loved to have dolls to play with, just like today, but
Victorian dolls were very expensive. A peg doll was a good
alternative for a poor child because it used scrap materials that
they would have around their homes.
To make a peg doll you will need:
- A dolly peg
- scraps of material
- ribbon or wool
- scissors
- glue
- paint or thin line felt tip pens (for adding a face to the peg)
Instructions:
1. First paint or draw a face onto the top of your peg.
2. Using scraps of fabric, wraparound the bottom of the peg
(where the legs are) to make a skirt and secure in place using a
little bit of glue.
3. using a piece of thin ribbon or wool tie it around the top of the
skirt to make sure it is held in place.
4. Wrap wool around the top of the peg to make a top for your
doll.
5. Now she’s dressed use extra wool to make hair.
Extra: You can also make a boy peg doll by wrapping wool around
the individual prongs of the peg to make it look like trousers.
See the pictures on the next page for inspiration.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
Make your own peg doll
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Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
Make your own paper windmill
Poorer children had very few toys, if any, and those that they did
have were often home made.
Victorian children loved toys that had the power to move, which
these toys can when you blow on them or leave them outside in
the wind.
To make a paper windmill you will need:
- A4 card
- coloured paper/card
- split pin
- small bead (with a whole big enough to slid onto the split pin)
Instructions:
1. Role your A4 card into a tube, length ways around 2-3cm in
circumference.
2. First cut out the square template from the following page.
3. Cut down the dotted lines, making sure to leave the 1cm gap
from the centre dot.
4. Fold the dotted top corners down to the centre and hold in
place. You should have four corners gathered into the middle
and be able to see your windmill taking shape.
5. This next bit can be a bit tricky so you may need some help
from a friend. Carefully place the pin through the centre of the
windmill, making sure it keeps all four pieces of folded down
paper in place.
6. Now add your bead onto the back of the pin and stick into
your cardboard tube, folding down the ends on the pin to stop
it from coming out.
7. Your windmill is now complete and should easily spin around
when blown.
Extra: To extend this activity use recycled newspaper like the
Victorian working class children would have done or why not
enlarge th template and make a huge paper windmill.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Supporting Documents 03
Make your own peg doll
Template for Paper Windmill
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Glossary 04
Victorian: Refers to anyone or anything that
belonged to the time of Queen Victoria’s reign
over Britain between 1837 and 1901.
Industrial Revolution: This refers to the rapid
growth of industry during the 1800s.
Servant: The term used to describe anyone who
is employed to work in a household as a servant
of some kind.
Etiquette: This refers to the rules that people
must follow for good manners and behaviour
when interacting with other people.
Social Class: People are placed into groups of
upper class, middle class and lower or working
class. Whatever group people fall into is know
as their ‘social class’. This was of particular
importance in past times.
Great Exhibition: Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince
Albert, put together a very large exhibition In
London in 1851 for people from around the world
to display their new inventions that helped to
make the Industrial revolution such a ig success.
This was called the Great Exhibition.
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS1 Useful Links 05
If you are interested in finding out more
detailed information about the Victorian era
and Victorian toys and games take a look at
these links.
Websites:
• Information about Victorian Toys and Games
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/victorian_britian/toys_and_games/
• Museum of Childhood
http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/childrens_lives/entertainment/index.html
Books:
• Kate Greenaway’s Book of Games
by Kate Greenaway
• Victorian Toys
by Mandy Ross
• Victorian Children
by Brenda Williams
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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