Childrens Toys of the 1920's

Children's Toys of the 1920's

Popular boys toys of this period reflected the new and exciting cars, trucks and planes, while girls went for the traditional toys of dolls house and dolls. 


American toy manufacturers excelled in the production of mechanical toys. The greater part of the foreign toy competition was in the cheaper grades of play-things, with the Japanese toy-makers and Germany shipping large quantities of cheap toys for the American market. 

Much like today there was a huge variety of toys including Clockwork Toys, Planes, Trucks, Tractors, Buses, Power Boats, Trains, Steam Engines, Musical toys, Character toys, Circus toys, pedal cars, sports, war toys, and construction toys like Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys. These included tin toys, pressed metal and cast-iron toys, wooden toys and paper toys. There seemed to be a bigger variety of toys available for boys than girls. 

Classic vehicle toys for boys were made by companies likeBuddy L, Tootsie, Wyandotte, and Marx - while dolls for the girls were supplied by Effanbee and Schoenhut.

SCHOENHUT TOYS 1926 

For more than half a century, Santa Claus has made the Schoenhut factory in Philadelphia his headquarters. During all those years Schoenhut's American-made toys have been known as strong, durable toys that educate the child as well as amuse. The better stores all sell Schoenhut Toys. It will pay you to look for the name "Schoenhut" on the toys you buy for Christmas. 

This is the fifty-fourth year of continuous and increasing sales of these wonderful toy pianos. When buying a Toy Piano be sure the name "Schoenhut" appears on the front of the Piano; any other name appearing designates that it is not a "Schoenhut." Toy Pianos are far more than toys; they teach a love of music from the time a tot can strike a key. The keys in the keyboard are spaced accurately the same as in a big piano. Each "Schoenhut" Toy Piano is correctly tuned, and will never get out of tune. 

Due to the expense of store-bought toys many hobbyists created home-made toys from wood and metal. Age old favorites like spinning tops and kites were complemented by more sophisticated steam engines and pumps or model aeroplanes.


The 1920’s saw a movement away from war toys which had been popular up until that time. A major change in the toy industry came about with the introduction of modern mass production methods. For the first time the industry was able to produce toys cheaply and sell to a mass market. 

Toy production was relatively limited in volume until 1927 when polystyrene was invented. Because Polystyrene is a tough, durable kind of plastic that is ideally suited to toy design, it ushered in a new world of toy development. 

Although the modern style of Teddy Bear was developed about 1907 it was only in the 1920's that its popularity took off when companies like the Knickerbocker Toy Company mass produced them. The Knickerbocker Toy Company started in 1920 and still makes teddy bears today. In the 1920s, musical bears and mechanical bears increased in popularity world-wide. The two leading manufacturers of these novelty bears, Schuco and Bing, made bears that walked, danced, played ball, and even turned somersaults. 

Likewise the Yo-Yo. It had been in existence for centuries but really took off in popularity when promoted by entrepreneur Donald Duncan after he saw it demonstrated in Los Angeles. 

Meccano Ltd was a British toy company established in 1908 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England to manufacture and distribute the very popular Meccano kits and other model toys created by the company. During the 1920s and 1930s it became the largest toy manufacturing company in Britain, producing three of the most popular lines of toys of the twentieth century:Meccano kits, Hornby Model Railways and Dinky Toys. In 1925 Hornby produced the first electric train sets in the world.