Toys displayed throughout Okotoks’ museum will have older visitors reminiscing and younger ones awestruck over the next six weeks.
The Okotoks Museum and Archives is featuring a variety of popular indoor and outdoor toys and games dating as far back as the mid-1800s in its exhibit Canada at Play.
The traveling exhibit from the Royal Ontario Museum will be on show until Dec. 23.
“Even though it originated in Ontario the theme is nationwide,” said Kathy Coutts, Okotoks museum specialist. “Whether you grew up in Ontario or southern Alberta, some of the toys we played with were the same.”
Children’s toys are often on display this time of year. The staff has been displaying the museum’s collection of old-fashioned games, toys and relatable artifacts from back in the day prior to Christmas for the last 15 years.
This year, they were looking for something different.
“We thought we should introduce something new so that it’s not the same Christmas exhibit every year,” said Coutts. “Even though it’s not really Christmas related, when I think of toys I think of Christmas.”
Some toys remain constant over the decades including dolls, farm sets and toboggans, said Coutts.
“The things they played with really hasn’t changed that much,” she said. “The kaleidoscope might be plastic now as opposed to wood or tin.”
The exhibit features a variety of toys including a sled from the 1890s, women’s skates from the mid 1800s, an Eaton’s Beauty Doll and a handmade Inuit doll made from bone.
“It’s quite remarkable that these toys lasted 120 years despite being well loved and well used,” said Coutts. “Nowadays they get worn out.”
Coutts said the exhibit has already brought back memories for some visitors.
For instance, a woman from England remembered her mom having a stereoscope similar to the one on display and two people remembered playing a table hockey game, similar to the one displayed, in the 1950s, said Coutts.
“I think it appeals to all ages,” she said. “It appeals to those who may have played with some of the toys and it also appeal to the younger generation. It will educate them that people had to make their own fun. The toys were simpler, often unstructured.”
The Canada at Play exhibit arrived with three cases of toys as part of an education program kit for children.
“Often in museums it’s ‘Look but don’t touch,’” said Coutts. “With toys that’s really hard to do. Toys are irresistible. It’s hard to show a stereoscope without getting to look at it.”
Children and adults will be encouraged to play with a dancing puppet, kaleidoscope, Jacob’s Ladder, spinning top and wooden block puzzle.
Even Coutts couldn’t help but get excited when she saw the assortment of toys.
“When they arrived it was just like Christmas,” she said. “I wanted to play.”
Jaime-Brett Sine, the museum’s education program specialist, said there are already 600 students scheduled to see the exhibit and play with the toys and games.
“It’s going to be exciting for the kids,” he said. “It gives them a certain appreciation for the toys they have.”
Coutts said this particular exhibit will be a treat for the school groups, offering more artifacts than normal for them to explore.
“I do try to get them a chance to touch or hold artifacts,” she said. “It’s going to be so exciting for the kids.”
The Okotoks Museum and Archives will continue to display its own toys and games in a room in the second level, with all items predating electricity.
Members of the public are invited to enjoy classic board games from Operation to checkers each Saturday afternoon until Dec. 19.
