Sure, a 14-time Grammy award-winning, perennially chart-topping, record-breaking someone like singer-songwriter Taylor Swift may make seismic waves when she goes on tour.
But does her Eras Tour have a blanket fort?
For that, you'll have to go to the Strong National Toy Hall of Fame's Eras Tour.
Each week from now through the end of August, the museum showcases a different generation of toys from time immemorial through the modern ages.
And yes, it begins with a whimsical blanket fort.
"A blanket can be a cape. It can be a cave. It can be a secret base. You can be invisible,” said Rory Cushman, the museum's lead public programs coordinator. “If you're scared, you hide underneath. It’s safety. It’s security, but it's also so much fun.”
For the first week, the blanket is joined by marbles, puppets, kites and sticks — all Toy Hall-of-Famers with a reputation for being “timeless.”
“Some of the earliest forms of play come from these things that people might not necessarily think are a toy,” Cushman said. “It's how we made them into toys ourselves, that's why they're timeless.”
Take marbles, for example. According to Brittanica, marble games — sometimes using pebbles or fruit pits — date back to “antiquity” and have appeared in ancient Roman as well as North American Indian artifacts.
And there’s research that the origins of puppets date back to 403 B.C. in ancient China during the Warring States Period, and the artform of puppet dramas later began during the Han Dynasty.
“Archaeological sites turn up things like marbles and jacks from way, way back,” said Chris Bensch, chief curator at the museum. “So those kinds of things from hieroglyphics and drawings on Egyptian walls prove that people have been playing for a long time.”
Bensch said celebrating toys that originated in ancient times — like the stick — or invented during the Industrial Age — like the cardboard box — onward to current times allows people to form a deeper appreciation for play, and the many forms it takes.
“Play is really core to who we are and how we develop. And it's something that we may not always articulate,” he said. “Kids' play always reflects the world around them. So kids, since Roman times, they were playing transportation toys, and those were horses and chariots because that's what they knew — or horses and carts in the medieval era.”
Play can teach us about the human condition across cultures and throughout history, he said.
For Cushman, the Toy ‘Eras Tour’ is also an opportunity to seize this moment in cultural history.
“There is a singer that some of us are familiar with who may have had some thoughts related to how we got here,” Cushman said. “A singer ... who we just like a little bit, but that's about it.”
The exhibit is open through the week of Aug. 26. Details from the museum are below:
- June 29 to July 7: Timeless Toys Era — Toys from ancient history, like marbles, sticks, kites, puppets, and blankets.
- July 8 to 14: Spin & Tumble Era — Toys that originated in the Middle Ages, like dominoes, sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, jacks, the top, and dollhouses.
- July 15 to 21: Puzzle Era — Toys that emerged from the Enlightenment period, featuring paper airplanes, rocking horses, alphabet blocks, and bubbles.
- July 22 to 28: Mechanical Powers Era — Explore toys of the Industrial Revolution, featuring the jack-in-the-box, the cardboard box, the bicycle, Lionel trains, and the rubber duck.
- July 29 to Aug. 4: Classics Toys Era — Modern age of play with classic toys that emerged more than 100 years ago, showcasing Tinkertoys, Crayola crayons, baseball cards, Lincoln Logs, the teddy bear, and the baby doll.
- Aug. 5 to 11: Roaring & Soaring Toys Era — Toys from the early 1900s, like Scrabble, the Radio Flyer wagon, Erector Set, and Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy.
- Aug. 12 to 18: Television Toys Era — Toys from the 1940s and 1950s. Highlights include Candy Land, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky, LEGO, and Tonka trucks.
- Aug. 19 to 25: Groovy Toys Eras — Toys from the 1960s and '70s. This week highlights the Rubik’s cube, Etch-a-sketch, the hula hoop, Lite-Brite, Frisbee, and G.I. Joe.
- Aug. 26 to Sept. 2: Totally Rad Toys Era — Toys from the 1980s and '90s. This week highlights Uno, Cabbage Patch Kids, the Super Soaker, Jenga, and American Girl Dolls.
