Boat

It is a happy moment when a child discovers, perhaps through trial and error, that some things float on water. Once he or she sorts out things that do float (balls, toy cars, leaves, twigs) from things that do not float (spoon, sippy cup, Dad's watch, uh-oh), the child looks for other things to play with in water--which is probably how the first toy boat came to be. Toy makers have been busy for centuries making toy boats that float. Many a father and grandfather crafted a toy sailboat for the nearby stream. In the later 19th and early 20th centuries, toy manufacturers offered tin boats with wind-up mechanisms that propelled the boat forward--until water rusted the gears. In the 1920s, toy makers rediscovered wooden boats, made water-going replicas of popular pleasure cruisers, and called them pond yachts. Liberty Playthings of Niagara Falls made this model in the 1930s.