Herbert Learning Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games - KS2

Transcription

1 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games - KS2 a teaching resource

2 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Contents 01 Outreach Learning Session - Victorian Outdoor Toy and Games 02 Curriculum connections and Learning Outcomes 03 Resources Teachers Notes Image Bank Supporting Documents Rich and Poor Victorian Children Children should be Seen and not Heard Outdoor Games Make your own Peg Doll Make your own Paper Windmill 04 Glossary 05 Useful links

3 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. Learning Outcomes Through attending this session your children will build on the following skills: An increase in historical awareness and improved enquiry skills. An improved understanding of how people lived in other times and how those times were different to today. Increased understanding of the experiences of Victorian Children. Improved knowledge of changes in Victorian Britain and their impact on society. Raised awareness of the social diversity of Victorian Britain. Opportunities to speak independently when asking questions. 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.

4 Curriculum Connections and Learning Outcomes 02 Choosing content for a particular purpose and writing in an inventive way Discovering the uses of materials Find out what materials Victorian toys were made from. Why did they use these materials? Visit the Herbert or book an outreach session to learn about life in Victorian times. Improved historical enquiry through a range of sources Compare what Victorian childhood was like to the life of a child today. How has it changed? Why is it different? Higher knowledge of life during Victorian times and the experiences of people from the past Further understanding of the difference between the past and life today Understanding of social issues from the past and the experiences of Victorian people Write a diary pretending you are a Victorian child. What would your day be like and what do you think you would be doing? Look into the life of rich and poor families in Victorian times and discuss why some families had more money than others. Why were people separated into different social classes and how were they different? Literacy Citizenship Science Think about what life was like for children in the working classes. How would you feel if you had to go to work instead of school? What was it like not to have clean clothes or nice toys to play with? What happened to children who were orphaned? ICT History Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games Design and Technology Get the class to write down questions they would like to ask a Victorian child and then have them swap their questions with a classmate. Can they find the answers to each others questions online, in books or at a museum? What toys and games from this pack do we still play with today? Have any of the toys or games changed over time? Make your own handmade toys using the activity pages in this resource pack. Improved skills for craft and design using appropriate materials Increased skills for finding relevant information off the Internet

5 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Teacher s Notes 03 Why was it called the Victorian times? The Victorian times are named after the reigning queen of that time, Queen Victoria. What we call the Victorian times started in 1837, when Queen Victoria took to the throne at the age of 18 and lasted until 1901 when she died. She has been the longest reigning monarch to date, staying on the throne for 64 years up to her death, but Queen Elizabeth II, our current queen, is catching up with her. The Victorian times saw a lot of changes in Britain, including the invention of the railway. Industries grew and so did the population, which doubled in size. This meant that a lot of people got very rich from the success of factories, coal mining and transport, but the increased population meant that the poor suffered greatly and were living in terrible conditions. Children in Victorian Times In the Victorian times all children, regardless of status or wealth, were expected to be well behaved, respectful and quiet - especially when in the presence of adults. Lifestyles in Victorian Britain varied dramatically according to status and wealth. Poorer families struggled to educate their children and often had to send them out to work in factories or coal mines at ages as young as 5 years old. Richer families treated their children like royalty, pampering them with expensive toys, gifts and fine clothing. Playing Outdoors Playing outside has always been popular with children. In the Victorian times it was safer to play on the streets because cars had not been invented so the roads were much quieter. Also, toys were very expensive, so even rich children had to create games to play with their friends outside, such as Blind Man s Bluff, Hide and Seek and Tag. Poorer children had no choice but to play outside because they did not have the luxury of a nursery or playroom that rich children would have in their homes. There were toys made especially for outdoor play in the Victorian times including the skipping rope, skittles and the hoop and stick. These and others can be looked at more closely in the Image Bank section of this resource pack.

6 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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. A middle class child would make do with imaginary tea and mostly have dolls and stuffed animals as her guests. Upper class girls from very rich families could afford to have big tea parties in their garden, inviting dozens of friends to join them for real cakes, sandwiches and tea.of course no tea party would be complete without the occasional toy guest. See the next image to look at a Victorian toy doll.

7 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Imagebank 03 Victorian Doll Dolls were very expensive in the Victorian times, but they were extremely popular because Queen Victoria was known to have a huge collection of them 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 of high quality and they had been hand painted by a skilled toy maker. Today dolls are mostly made in factories from cheaper materials such as plastic, but this had not been invented during the Victorian times. It was mostly upper class girls who could afford them, but middle class girls would have 1 or 2 also. They had to be very careful with them because the china could break easily, so they were mostly kept indoors.

8 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Imagebank 03 Leather Football The Victorians encouraged team sports because they thought it would build confidence and working together with your friends. They came up with the first official rules for cricket, tennis, rugby and football and founded the Football Association (FA) IN Footballs were originally made from pig s bladders that had been blown up by the mouth with air, but in 1851 at the Great Exhibition in London, a man called Richard Lincoln displayed 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.

9 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Imagebank 03 Tea Set Marbles were a popular toy during the Victorian times and were enjoyed by both rich and poor girls and boys. Richer children could afford to have marbles made from real marble (which is where their name comes from), but poorer children would have marbles made from glass or clay. 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 are easily spotted by the glass marble that is trapped inside. The marble acted as a seal at the top of the bottle to keep drinks like cola and lemonade fizzy. Poorer children in the Victorian times who could not afford to buy new marbles would collect the codd bottles and smash them so they could get the marble from inside.

10 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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. Although not a very popular toy in the Victorian times some boys would have played with them. It was not until the 1920s that the toy became very popular. With a lot of practice different tricks and moves can be done.

11 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Imagebank 03 Diabolo The diabolo is now mostly called the diablo (de-ab-low). It 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. With a lot of practice different tricks can be done, such as spinning around between throwing the spool up in the air and then catching it again. It was first created in China during the 12th century, but became popular in Britain in the early 1800s, just before the Victorian times started. It would mostly have been played with by boys.

12 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Imagebank 03 Whip and Top The whip and top is made up of 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. It was very popular for children to put coloured chalk onto the bottom on the top so that it would draw colourful circles on the ground when it was spinning around. A popular way to play with this toy was to draw a circle on the ground and then try to keep your top spinning inside of the circle.

13 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Imagebank 03 Skipping Rope Like today the skipping rope is 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, but if they were lucky they had handles made from old bobbins from the textile factories, like the one you can see in this picture.

14 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Imagebank 03 Skittles The Victorians enjoyed playing games that were challenging and also meant they had to take a chance. With skittles you can never be certain you re going to do well until the ball hits the skittles at the end. Skittles was also popular because it 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.

15 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Imagebank 03 Quoits This is a game that involves throwing a rope ring over poles that are a set distance away from the player. Each pole has a different amount of points awarded to it. The winner of the game is the person who scores the most points. The first official rules for quoits were put together in There were different versions of this game around including ringtoss and hoopla, all of which were popular with men, women and children of all ages.

16 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Imagebank 03 Hobby Horse Toy horses were popular in the Victorian times because the Victorians were familiar with horses. 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 these were very expensive. Hobby horses were cheaper to make because they simply had a wooden pole for the body and a small horse shaped head on the top. Sometimes the bottom of the pole had a small wheel attached to make it more fun to ride around on. They could easily be made at home, usually by Dads, brothers or uncles. The more money a family had the nicer the hobby horse would be. These were popular toys for having races around the garden or streets with friends.

17 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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. This was popular with children from all classes. 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. There were a number of games that children could play using the hoop and stick, including toll. This involved the hoop being rolled between a row of stones on either side of the hoop. The stones would be about 3 inches apart and you had to try and move the hoop between the two rows without touching them.

18 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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 In Victorian Britain people knew what class they belonged to. Upper and middle class people were very proud of their money and liked to show off how rich they were. Poor people in the working classes has little hope of moving up in the world because life was so hard for them. 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, the highest quality education, expensive clothes and the finest toys. Boys were often sent away to boarding schools, while the girls were taught at home by a female governess. 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. 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 paying the bills for their house. Children would mostly 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. The poorest families had very bad health, which meant that a lot of children became orphans and had to go to workhouses or live on the streets (see the above picture).

19 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Supporting Documents 03 children should be seen and not heard The Industrial Revolution of the Victorian times meant that the world was becoming a place led by machines and new technology. The towns and cities were noisy, busy places that lots of people had moved to from the countryside in the hope of finding new and better jobs. Adults wanted to be reminded of simpler, happier times from their childhoods, so when they saw children outside playing with their friends it made them smile. They even had pictures of children playing in their paintings, on posters and labels for things sold in shops. The Victorians believed that images of happy, playful children would help to sell things in shops because it reminded everyone of how fun life could be. However, the Victorians had very strict rules when it came to children and most people thought that children should be seen and not heard. Below are some images Victorian advertisements that show children playing, reading and generally looking happy but quiet.

20 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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.

21 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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.

22 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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.

23 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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 because they were made from china (a type of porcelain), had real human hair attached to their heads, nice fabric for their clothes and were carefully hand painted by a skilled toy maker. 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.

24 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Supporting Documents 03 Make your own peg doll

25 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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. Windmills are machines that turn wind into power by the turning of the sails that you can see on the outside of the windmill. When this happened different machines and tools inside the windmills would turn, grind, press and crush together. Windmills had been around long before the Victorian times, and were used near farms for turning wheat into flour or pumping up water from rivers. Victorian children would have been familiar with these, even if they didn t live anywhere near them, so they were the ideal inspiration for making paper toys. Plus they 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.

26 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Supporting Documents 03 Make your own peg doll Template for Paper Windmill

27 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Glossary 04 Victorian: Refers to anyone or anything that belonged to the time of Queen Victoria s reign over Britain between 1837 and 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.

28 Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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 Museum of Childhood Books: Kate Greenaway s Book of Games by Kate Greenaway Victorian Toys by Mandy Ross Victorian Children by Brenda Williams