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| Guns, grenades and toy soldiers: museum explores children's war games | Guns, grenades and toy soldiers: museum explores children's war games |
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| For a time in the 60s it was the toy every American boy had to have – the stupendous Johnny 7 One Man Army gun, which combined grenades and anti-tank weaponry and automatic firing with your more basic cap pistol. And more, all in one! | For a time in the 60s it was the toy every American boy had to have – the stupendous Johnny 7 One Man Army gun, which combined grenades and anti-tank weaponry and automatic firing with your more basic cap pistol. And more, all in one! |
| You can't easily get one these days, but you can get a UK government-sanctioned enemy fighter figure, complete with pump action shotgun, combined assault rifle and sidearm pistol. All the items are part of a thought-provoking exhibition opening at the V&A's Museum of Childhood on Saturday, which explores the role of warfare in children's play from 1800 to now. | You can't easily get one these days, but you can get a UK government-sanctioned enemy fighter figure, complete with pump action shotgun, combined assault rifle and sidearm pistol. All the items are part of a thought-provoking exhibition opening at the V&A's Museum of Childhood on Saturday, which explores the role of warfare in children's play from 1800 to now. |
| Co-curator Ieuan Hopkins admits they were not short of potential exhibits. "The first thing we did was go through the museum's collections and the amount of material we had relating to war was incredible, it was quite a surprise. War has always been a part of children's lives." | Co-curator Ieuan Hopkins admits they were not short of potential exhibits. "The first thing we did was go through the museum's collections and the amount of material we had relating to war was incredible, it was quite a surprise. War has always been a part of children's lives." |
| More than 100 objects will go on display in a show meant for adults and children. It is meant to provoke debate. "We've been careful not to come down on one side of 'are war toys good or bad?'" says co-curator Sarah Wood. "We are showing that these, mostly mass-produced, toys exist and we are putting them in context – how they have been used and how they've been perceived. We want to generate discussion and let the public have the argument." | More than 100 objects will go on display in a show meant for adults and children. It is meant to provoke debate. "We've been careful not to come down on one side of 'are war toys good or bad?'" says co-curator Sarah Wood. "We are showing that these, mostly mass-produced, toys exist and we are putting them in context – how they have been used and how they've been perceived. We want to generate discussion and let the public have the argument." |
| Wood concedes that some parents may not want to come, although she hopes they will. "To have an adverse reaction is just as good as embracing it, I'd like people to come and see it and make up their own minds." | Wood concedes that some parents may not want to come, although she hopes they will. "To have an adverse reaction is just as good as embracing it, I'd like people to come and see it and make up their own minds." |
| The exhibition explores numerous issues. It shows how toys have been used as tools of propaganda – a 1942 "Get Those Japs" dartboard being one of the cruder examples – and how they have been used to instil a sense of militarism and nationalism in children. | The exhibition explores numerous issues. It shows how toys have been used as tools of propaganda – a 1942 "Get Those Japs" dartboard being one of the cruder examples – and how they have been used to instil a sense of militarism and nationalism in children. |
| It also suggests there is not much parents can do to stop children playing war games even if they refuse to buy toy weapons. "Kids don't need mass-produced objects to play war," says Hopkins. "They'll go in the woods and get sticks, anything will do." | It also suggests there is not much parents can do to stop children playing war games even if they refuse to buy toy weapons. "Kids don't need mass-produced objects to play war," says Hopkins. "They'll go in the woods and get sticks, anything will do." |
| As an example of this a gun cabinet can be found in the first section, examining the more imaginative and physical ways kids play with war. | |
| In it sits a relatively benign space gun alongside the Johnny 7 OMA gun and then simple sticks that Hopkins' four-year-old son foraged. He also made an impressive Lego gun in the cabinet. "I didn't help," Hopkins insisted. "I asked questions, so the orange button does fire and the yellow is off, the green one at the back turns a light on – it does lots of things." | In it sits a relatively benign space gun alongside the Johnny 7 OMA gun and then simple sticks that Hopkins' four-year-old son foraged. He also made an impressive Lego gun in the cabinet. "I didn't help," Hopkins insisted. "I asked questions, so the orange button does fire and the yellow is off, the green one at the back turns a light on – it does lots of things." |
| Nearby is "a friendly, safe shooting range" that allows observation with binoculars and a periscope as the shooting. | Nearby is "a friendly, safe shooting range" that allows observation with binoculars and a periscope as the shooting. |
| The show alludes to changing attitudes in schools, where a zero tolerance for any kind of weapon play has relaxed into allowing things as long as they are part of an imaginative, creative process and are not mimicry. | The show alludes to changing attitudes in schools, where a zero tolerance for any kind of weapon play has relaxed into allowing things as long as they are part of an imaginative, creative process and are not mimicry. |
| The exhibition also asks if it is just boys who play at war – no, would seem to be the answer although HG Wells has his opinions on the matter with his 1915 war gaming book on display. Its full title is Little Wars: A Game for Boys from Twelve Years of Age to One Hundred and Fifty and For that More Intelligent Sort of Girl who Likes Boys' Games and Books.There are many beautiful things on display and surprises. Who, in 1959, would have bought a Corgi nuclear missile carrier for their child? | The exhibition also asks if it is just boys who play at war – no, would seem to be the answer although HG Wells has his opinions on the matter with his 1915 war gaming book on display. Its full title is Little Wars: A Game for Boys from Twelve Years of Age to One Hundred and Fifty and For that More Intelligent Sort of Girl who Likes Boys' Games and Books.There are many beautiful things on display and surprises. Who, in 1959, would have bought a Corgi nuclear missile carrier for their child? |
| There are loans from the Imperial War Museum and the Spielzeugmuseum in Nuremberg, items from the V&A's collection as well as eBay, which is where most of the figures for a spectacular diorama were bought, creating one big battle involving everyone – aliens, knights, Power Rangers, superheroes, Daleks … the lot. | There are loans from the Imperial War Museum and the Spielzeugmuseum in Nuremberg, items from the V&A's collection as well as eBay, which is where most of the figures for a spectacular diorama were bought, creating one big battle involving everyone – aliens, knights, Power Rangers, superheroes, Daleks … the lot. |
| It may be war but the exhibition is unquestionably fun and it will encourage younger visitors to dress up and answer questions such as: rifle, ray gun or water pistol? And, importantly, what would you save? Death Star or tin fort? Wood says the answers may surprise. "I thought it was no-brainer, everyone would say Death Star, but we did a workshop with some teenagers and they all went for the tin fort. They liked the fact it was old." | It may be war but the exhibition is unquestionably fun and it will encourage younger visitors to dress up and answer questions such as: rifle, ray gun or water pistol? And, importantly, what would you save? Death Star or tin fort? Wood says the answers may surprise. "I thought it was no-brainer, everyone would say Death Star, but we did a workshop with some teenagers and they all went for the tin fort. They liked the fact it was old." |
| • War Games is at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, London from 25 May to 9 March 2014. | • War Games is at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, London from 25 May to 9 March 2014. |