The Moving Toy Gallery

The toys on display here all move. Moving toys range from push and pull toys to clockwork and battery-operated toys. Optical toys are a kind of moving toy that create special effects using pictures.

Pushes and Pulls

Toys on display in the Moving Toys gallery (click image for larger version)

The toys in this section of the gallery just use a simple push or pull. Most push and pull toys are made for outdoor use, such as bikes and scooter and ride on horses. On display you'll find a hop picker's cart dating from the beginning of the 20 century, beach buggy designed by artist, Gerrit Thomas Rietveld and a child-size Rolls Royce. You'll find toys that use natural forces to move such as a steam engine and spirit-burning boats that were known as putt-putt boats because of the noise they make.

Playing with iron filings in the Moving Toys gallery (click image for larger version)

There is lots to try out in this area, from rocking horses you can ride to a table full of magnetic filings to draw hair and beards on funny faces.

Springs and Cogs

This section of the gallery holds our clockwork collection of early mechanical toys known as 'automata'. On display you'll find monkey musicians that date from 1870-1880, an organ grinder, that plays a tune and a small performing monkey that dances. There are examples from famous makers such as Fernand Martin, E. P. Lehmann and Bing. You can play with our life-size Robbie the robot, just link the cogs together and watch him come alive. Or watch and listen to our giant wave machine, made by Peter Markey, that will show you how cams work.

Circuits and Motors

Toy cars on display in the Moving Toys gallery (click image for larger version)

In this section you can see Hornby trains and a Hogwarts Express as well as robots and other batter-powered creatures. You can watch trains race round the Hornby train track or watch a show on the 'Movie Camera', an automaton made by contemporary artist Paul Spooner.

Look See

This display shows our optical toys collection. Optical toys create special visual effects by either making pictures move or by tricking your eyes into thinking they do.

You'll see fantascopes dating from about 1830 which use mirrors to reflect images on a spinning disc, a zoetrope from 1870, which if you look carefully through the slits of the spinning drum you'll see an animated clip. Or you can try and make your own moving strip in the gallery on our play Zoetrope or put on a peepshow for your friends.