Arithmetic School, a Toy by Playskool: Museum Object and Cultural History
Arithmetic School, a Toy by Playskool: date made: ca 1962. maker: Playskool. Object Name: toy.
The object in the museum catalogue
In the early 1960s, the Chicago firm of Playskool introduced this educational toy for children three to six years old, seeking to give them an early familiarity with numbers. It has two rows of relatively large rotating wooden rectangular blocks, each with a row of square rotating wooden blocks below. The larger blocks have problems in simple addition written on them, the smaller ones answers. The problems and correct answers are written in the same color of paint. The blocks move on metal rods that are attached at top and bottom to a frame. The frame is supported at the back by a collapsible metal stand. The frame is painted with a pattern of bricks on the side and a roof at the top.
A contemporary advertisement indicates that the toy cost $3.19.
Jordan Marsh Company , [Advertisement], The Boston Globe, November 4, 1962, p. E5.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: ca 1962
- maker: Playskool
- Object Name: toy
- Physical Description: wood (frame, blocks material)
- Physical Description: metal (rods, support material)
- Measurements: overall: 27.5 cm x 35.8 cm x 13.3 cm; 10 13/16 in x 14 3/32 in x 5 1/4 in
- place made: United States: Illinois, Chicago
- Subject: Mathematics
- ID Number: 2005.0055.03
- catalog number: 2005.0055.03
- accession number: 2005.0055
- Credit Line: Gift of Sherman L. and Marjorie A. Naidorf
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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