Toys!: Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions

This is a pretty good way to get kids interested in science and explain how inventions evolve, as well as just to get their interest. Each little chapter (each on a different invention or type of invention) runs through things in chronological order, then adds some trivia in a bulleted list at the end. I will say that while Amazon lists it as appropriate for grades 3-7, I would agree with the blurbs that place it starting more at the 4th grade level. Third grade students could probably understand it with some support and would really enjoy pieces of it, but a lot of the vocabulary is more appropriate for many 4th or 5th/6th grade levels. I actually read excerpts to my 2nd/3rd grade students and they really enjoyed it, but I had to change some words and skip some pieces to help them understand.

The first story I found was on Wind-ups/Automatons and the story of Karel Grod making one fly around a city and return to him. Further research indicated this is highly likely to be made up - also, doing that TODAY would be impossible with a wind-up item - the mechanism would be too heavy and it would not adjust to compensate for wind changes (so even if it did fly, it would get lost). Having enough wind-up power to fly for more than a minute just isn't possible - other automatons sit on the floor so the weight doesn't matter and the spring that powers them can be as strong (and long lasting) as possibleThat makes me doubt literally all of the stories in the entire book unfortunately

I'm a Raggedy Ann fan, so reading the story behind the doll was very interesting. Several other stories behind classic toys were also fun to read.

I had to read a non-fiction book for school due on 1/19/16 and was assigned on 11/23/15 . So I am a huge procrastinator and I waited until 3 days before the due date. I finished it easily and it was very interesting so I recommend this book.

Having met the James family who created the Slinky, it was great to have that toy begining the book. I knew that it would be spot on accurate. Very informative and entertaining though I think students need to read it in small chunks. Do to all the facts and history, it is a bit overwhelming to take in in larger doses.

I am a teacher and one of our Science modules is called Ideas and Inventions. I have used this book in my classroom for read-aloud time during this unit. The stories are interesting and to-the-point. The students are as interested in the various Toy origin stories as I am.I love discussing with them the humble origins that many of the most memorable toys of the last 100 years come from. You don't have to be a genius or wealthy to have a great, original idea.

This book gives a quick history of some very popular toys. Good for children and adults. A child does not have to read the whole book but may choose chapters about toys that he/she knows and loves.

Fun book full of interesting stories about toys/games and how they were invented.

Interesting read

Great! Loads of informaion!