Toys

Overview

Join Active Minds as we trace the evolution of toys, from ancient handmade dolls to modern high-tech creations. We will explore how toys reflect culture, technology, and childhood through time, while connecting them to the broader history of play.

Key Lecture Points

• Toys, objects used primarily for entertainment, are a core component of a child’s development. Play is an essential part of growing up, and toys provide structure, challenge, and inspiration for play.
• There is archaeological evidence of toys dating back thousands of years.  Balls, dolls, swords and miniature animal figurines made of stone, wood and clay have been discovered in early places of human civilization around the world.
• The toy industry as we know it today arose out of two phenomena.  First, the European Enlightenment introduced an aspiration to preserve and foster young people in early life: childhood.  Additionally, the industrial revolution and emerging consumerism mass produced the toys that would provide for the entertainment and education of those children. In 2024, the US toy market was the largest in the world, valued at over $42 billion.
• One common theme of modern toymaking and sales is multimedia licensing.  Some of the early successes arose from children’s literature including Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit and A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh.  With the advent of radio, movies and television, the toys would be created for and marketed on those media, from Little Orphan Annie to Barbie and G.I. Joe.
• Another factor in the making of toys is the advent of plastics.  WWII applications of plastics introduced molding and coloring to plastic mass manufacture and toy makers and marketers took note.  Thereafter, plastic toys, from hula hoops to Legos became a central (but not singular) part of the international toy market.
• President Trump’s tariff policies of 2025 have introduced instability to the American toy industry.  As the holiday toy purchasing season approaches, economists and toy manufacturers are monitoring the effect that tariffs will have upon the industry.

Discussion Questions

• How has the development of toys over the last century reflected changes in American culture?
• How have economic conditions shaped the toy industry?
• What were your favorite toys to play with as a kid? Do you remember what you liked about them?
• Do you have children in your life? What do they like to play with?
• What do you think about “gendered toys”? Should there be “girl toys” and “boy toys”? Why or why not?

More to Explore

• The Strong National Museum of Play's National Toy Hall of Fame Click here
• The Toy Retailer Association's Toy Vault Click here

Books For Further Reading

• Brown, Brian “Box”. The He-Man Effect: How American Toymakers Sold You Your Childhood. First Second, 2023. 272 pages. A graphic novel about how marketing targeted children in the 1980s.
• Roberts, Kate and Adam Scher. Toys of the ‘50s, ‘60s and 70s. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 224. A book about iconic toys and how they reflect the cultural shifts of each decade.
• Wulffson, Don and Laurie Keller. Toys! Amazing Stories behind Some Great Inventions. Square Fish, 2024. 208 pages. Targeted at younger readers, this funny book is a history of the inventiveness behind some of history’s greatest toys.