Back to Victorian children

Victorian children had fewer toys than you have today.

Poor Children

Poor families made their own, such as cloth-peg dolls and paper windmills. Children would save their pocket money to buy marbles, a spinning top, skipping ropes, kites or cheap wooden toys.

Rich Children

Girls played with dolls and tea sets whilst boys played with toy soldiers and marbles.

During Victorian times, people became fascinated by toys that made pictures move. One of the earliest and simplest of these was the thaumatrope. This is a disc with a picture on either side that is attached to two pieces of string or a stick. When you spin the disc quickly, the two pictures appear to combine into one.

Rich children had rocking horses with real horse hair manes, and dolls houses full of beautifully-carved miniature furniture. Other popular toys for rich children included china or wax dolls for the girls and clockwork train sets for the boys.

More information:

Victorian Toys
Images , some are interactive! Click on etoys

Victorian Toyshop