Figure 1.--This boy in a photograph taken in the 1900s wears a sailor tunic with ruffles. Notice the nice set of wooden building blocks. He plays with building blocks rather than the alphabet blocks for younger children.

One of the all time favorites for boys and girls have to blocks or sometimes referred tom as building blocks. They were probably more popular for boys. but both boys and girls enjoyed playing with them. Commonly they had letters and numbers on them and helped younger children lear their alphabet. Blocks in a variety of shapes were made for older children to build more sophisticated structures. Blocks were made of wood although modern ones are now made in plastic. I'm not sure just when they first appeared, probably the early-19th century.

Chronology

I'm not sure just when children's block first appeared. I think they were an estanlished child's toy by the mid-19th century. So it may well have been the early 19th century, although this needs to be confirmed. Certainly by the turn of the century, blocks were available in many different styles, appealing to a wide range of children.

Photograpy

We do not see a lot of photograpic evidence of blocks about the turn of the 20th century. This is bevause that most photographs, except for the wealthy, were taken in photographic studios. While children could bring favorite play things to the studio, this might normally be a larger toy which the child identified with rather than blocks. As amateur photigraphy became possible at the turn of the century, less formal photographs with blocks become more common.

Popularity

One of the all time favorites for boys and girls have to blocks or sometimes referred to as building blocks.

Gender

Blocks were probably more popular for boys. but both boys and girls enjoyed playing with them.

Types

We have noted various types of children blocks. Commonly they had letters and numbers on them and helped younger children learn their alphabet. These blocks were best known with letters on each face of the cube. Not all blocks came with letters, but this was the most common. Of course the standard was relativeky small square cubic blocks. Blocks in a variety of shapes, however, were made for older children to build more sophisticated structures. I seem to recall blocks with groves to aid in construction. Quite elaborate block sets complete with even Grecian coluns were available by the turn of the 20th century. We also note very large sized blocks in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Material

Blocks were originally made of wood. As late as the 1940s, these are the only ones I recall. A German reader recalls blocks in an artifical stone material. Modern blocks are now made in plastic, but I still recall the wooden ones. The wooden ones I had as a small child were large wooden b;ocks, grives so they could be fitted togrther. Notice the nice set of wooden blocks that the boy here had. There were many different shapes incliding columns. I don't recall any thing like that in the 40s. After World War II plastics became available. Platic blocs like Legos became very popular.

Individual Experinmces

Even in our modern day, with computers and electronic toys, blocks continue to be popular. As the children were generally quite young, there are relatively few personal accounts. HBC hopes to eventually find some observations by parents.

Germany boy (1940s)

A German reader writes, "During my childhood, 1945 to 1950, 10 to 15 years old, I also played with building blocks. The materiel was an artificial stone material, bricks, piles, arches, roofs, in white, red and blue.The smallest bricks were about 12 mm * 6 mm * 3 mm, the largest ones about 108 mm (8 times the basic size) * 12 mm * 12 mm. I got them from one of my uncles who played/construction with them in his youth, about 1910s. The company is Anker Steinbaukasten. Their blocks were developed over 125 years ago. Their site is available in both German and English. There are also photos of buildings a child was able to build. I remember building towers of about 1 m in height, buildings/castles of all kinds, or city walls with small towers and doors in between about 2 m of length. I liked it very much and was very proud of my constructions."

Welsh boy (2007)

Reuters carried this account about a Welsh boy in 2007. "For a five-year-old boy obsessed with his toyworld fantasies, Iwan Lloyd Roberts could hardly believe his real-life good luck at the British Toy Fair. The young Welshman was invited down on Wednesday to London from his hometown in Pwllheli, North Wales to meet the head of the Canadian company which makes his favorite building blocks. Mega Brands Chief Executive Marc Bertrand, whose Mega Bloks products include build-your-own castles and pirate ships gave Roberts a few new things, a special award and most importantly promised his ideas would be heard at headquarters. The young aspiring toy designer's eyes lit up when he was introduced to Bertrand. "You're the master," Roberts said. "I will never forget this day all my life, even if I live to ten million." Mega Brands invited Roberts and his parents to visit them on the opening day of the British Toy Fair after his mother wrote the company describing her son's love of its toys. Roberts has managed to acquire the full Mega Bloks product line available in the UK and his collection is so big that his father has built him a special cupboard. "He must be our biggest fan," Bertrand said. Mega Brands presented the young boy with its first ever "creative genius" award to recognize his "great promise as a toy designer for the future." After hearing of the fantasy worlds Roberts had created around his toys, Bertrand asked the boy to apply his mind to dreaming up ideas for the company. "Maybe we'll make one of your designs," the CEO said. Roberts said the first thing he had in mind was "a big spider on its own island." Given the time it takes to develop new products, Bertrand said the boy may have to wait until Christmas 2008 before his ideas come to fruition. In the meantime, Roberts' mother, Elin, is simply delighted that her boy has found a reason to take school seriously. "He wants to know why he has to go to school, and I've been telling him eventually he'll have to get a job," she said. "So he wanted to know if there's a job he could get sitting in an office, playing Mega Bloks all day. And that's how it all started."

Created: March 19, 2000
Last updated: 4:20 AM 1/26/2007