Toys yo-yo in popularity over ages

POPULAR: 'Aggie' marble.PHOTO/WHANGANUI REGIONAL MUSEUM COLLECTION REF: 1969.201

Fidget spinners have swept Whanganui and the rest of the nation, leaving many a mystified parent in their wake.

While originally marketed as a device to increase focus and release pent up energy, they have now entered the mainstream and form part of a long line of schoolyard fads through the ages.

Among the earliest known toys are small marbles made of clay and stone.

They have been found in the ashes of Pompeii and in Egyptian tombs. Marbles have remained popular as a toy format, especially once their mass production started in the late 1800s in the United States. Decorative glass spheres are now standard, as are steel, ceramic and agate versions.

In the Whanganui Regional Museum we have a number of marbles, including a large 'aggie'.

The term 'aggie' describes a marble made of agate, or from a material with a similar finish.

The marble in our collection is made from a material coated in clay and then fired to resemble stone, and is about 3.5cm in diameter.

Yo-yos were used as early as 500 BC, but they did not find mainstream success until the late 1920s.

It was then that a young Filipino immigrant to the US named Pedro Flores saw an opportunity to expand the popularity of one of his favourite childhood toys from the Philippines.

He founded the Yo-Yo Manufacturing Company in 1928 and within two years his factory was making up to 300,000 yo-yos a day.

The toys have had ups and downs in popularity ever since, and international yo-yo competitions still attract large numbers of hopeful contenders.

A familiar and perhaps annoying sound to anyone who grew up in the 1990s was the buzz of chatter rings.

These are a uniquely New Zealand toy, made of a circle of thick wire threaded with several beads or metal nuts.

The chatter ring is activated by swiping the beads with one hand to get them spinning, and then keeping the 'chatter' going by turning the ring at a regular speed.

In 1996 alone around 50,000 rings were purchased around the country.

Fidget spinners share their type of movement with another popular toy - the spinning top.

Archaeologists have discovered one top in Iraq dated to around 6000 years ago.

Modern tops are generally made of wood, metal or plastic. In the early 2000s the popularity of the 'Beyblade' cartoon series saw resurgence in playground use of the spinning top.

Characters in the enormously popular show battled one another using their Beyblades, or plastic spinners.

This played out in real life too as children launched multiple tops into a miniature arena at once, with the last blade spinning being pronounced the winner.

These are just a few of many playground fads that have come and gone over the years. Perhaps in the future you may turn up to the museum and see fidget spinners too, proudly displayed as an icon of childhood in 2017.

-Riah King-Wall is the Programmes Officer at the Whanganui Regional Museum.