Google Generation Can Still Appreciate Folk Toys During Junior Historian Jamboree on March 17 at Butterworth Center

MEDIA NOTE: This program is full and no more registrations are being accepted, but media is invited. The highlight of this half-day occurs at 12:45 p.m. at Butterworth Center library as described below.

MOLINE, IL (March 11, 2008) You won’t find a cornhusk doll or a buzz-saw in you local department store, but at this year’s Junior Historian Jamboree on March 17, kids of the Google Generation will be mesmerized by folk toys. The program is hosted in partnership with the Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House and the Rock Island Historical Society.

Roald Tweet, an avid collector of folk toys and retired professor at Augustana College is just as fascinated with toys as any 10-year-old. Mr. Tweet will present a program at 12:45 p.m. in the Butterworth Center library and share his folk toys collection with students. Prior to Mr. Tweet’s presentation students will partake in the following workshops led by local historians and retired teachers including: “Games and Pastimes” session, there are three other sessions including “What’s My Line,” “Puzzle,” and “Photographs: Our Eye to the Past.”

About Folk Toys and the Program
Folk toys by definition are toys that are hand-made. Before toys were manufactured widely, homemade playthings were common. Supplies to make such toys were very practical. For instance, pioneer children would make dolls from rags or dried corn husks. The pieces in the game of jacks get their strange shape from their origins as sheep bones. A set of “pick-up-sticks” could easily be made by simply collecting pieces of straw, twigs and sticks. Marbles weren’t always glass. Children would make them from clay they dug up.

Today, children still marvel at how simple it is to make their own toys. The process of creating a toy concept and then actually building it opens the door to imagination and innovation for children. During the “Games and Pastimes” workshop earlier in the day at the Carriage House, students will create their own “buzzsaw” from string and a button, learn string games, an play a variety of old-fashioned games including jacks, marbles and pick up sticks.

Some folk toys are more complex with moving parts engineered from tension of rubber bands. An example would be basic wooden engine made from a thread spool and a rubber band that is wound.
Background on the Junior Historian Jamboree
The Junior Historian Jamboree is sponsored by Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House and the Rock Island County Historical Society. The half-day day program includes a series of four fun and interactive workshops and lunch. The Junior Historian Jamboree program is open to teachers and their 4th grade students. The students will learn about local history in a historic setting, learn what historical resources are available, and how to use primary and secondary resources.