Pullalong toy
Category
Toys
Date
Unknown
Materials
wood and string
Measurements
1830 mm (Length); 50 mm (Diameter largest reel); 23 mm (Diameter smallest reel)
Collection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 672290
Summary
A wooden pull along crocodile type toy, consisting of thirty wooden reels of several different sizes strung together by string. The length of string is threaded through each reel allowing it to be pulled along. There are six reels stained coloured red, twenty two coloured green and two coloured black. On the string is half a reel stained red to be used as a handle.
Provenance
Part of a large collection of handmade toys and puzzles donated to the Museum of Childhood in 2019 by Nigel Briggs. They were made by John Doble, father of the donor's wife Hanne. He had worked with Nancy Catford (of the Nursery Schools Association), the designer of the toys, during the Second World War. Together they produced paper patterns that people could use at home as templates for thin ply patterns which could in turn be used to make their own wooden toys. Other toys were made from dowels and empty cotton reels.