A box of toys: marbles, trains and skateboards
Toys are things that children play with. Here are some toys: an action figure, a board game, a cuddly toy, a doll’s house, marbles, rollerblades, a skateboard and a train set. People have played board games for thousands of years. In Ancient Egypt people played a game called senet. We use the past simple to talk about toys when we were younger: I had a train set. I played with it every day. Some useful phrases: beat means to win against somebody, have a go means to try, and make up means to invent a rule or a game. When we ride a skateboard or rollerblades, we always wear a helmet.
| Toy | What we do with it |
|---|---|
| action figure | play stories |
| board game | play with friends and family |
| doll’s house | arrange tiny furniture |
| marbles | roll them and hit other marbles |
| train set | build tracks |
| skateboard | ride it, with a helmet |
When I was little, I had a train set. I played with it every day.
I had a doll’s house. I made up stories about the family.
I loved marbles. I beat my cousin every week.
Can I have a go with your marbles?
Of course! Come to my house.
Toy museum. The child sets up a ‘museum’ of old toys, or draws them. For each toy the child says: This is my old ... I had it when I was ... I played with it every day. I liked it because ... The grown-up asks one question about each toy.