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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games - KS2
a teaching resource
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
www.theherbert.org/learning
Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 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
Children should be Seen and not Heard
Outdoor Games
Make your own Peg Doll
Make your own Paper Windmill
04
Glossary
05
Useful links
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
www.theherbert.org/learning
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’.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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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.
Herbert Learning
Curriculum Connections and Learning Outcomes 02
Improved historical enquiry
through a range of sources
Discovering the uses of materials
Find out what materials Victorian
toys were made from. Why did
they use these materials?
Choosing content for a
particular purpose and
writing in an inventive
way
Write a diary pretending you are a
Victorian child. What would your
day be like and what do you think
you would be doing?
Visit the Herbert or
book an outreach
session to learn
about life in
Victorian times.
Science
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
What toys and games from this pack
do we still play with today? Have any
of the toys or games changed over
time?
History
Literacy
Victorian Outdoor
Toys and Games
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?
Understanding of social issues from
the past and the experiences of
Victorian people
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?
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Design and
Technology
Citizenship
ICT
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?
Increased skills for finding relevant
information off the Internet
Make your own handmade toys
using the activity pages in this
resource pack.
Improved skills for craft and
design using appropriate
materials
Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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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.
Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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 1863.
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
www.theherbert.org/learning
Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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 1881. 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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
www.theherbert.org/learning
Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
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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
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).
Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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)
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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.
Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Supporting Documents 03
Make your own peg doll
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
Victorian Outdoor Toys and Games: KS2 Supporting Documents 03
Make your own peg doll
Template for Paper Windmill
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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 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.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Coventry
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Herbert Learning
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
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
www.theherbert.org/learning