Pull toy:Fisher Price Plucky Pinocchio (No. 494)

Nothing advances a toddler's mastery of ambulation like the simple pull toy on wheels, and if the toy makes music or crazy noises, so much the better. Generations of toy makers have known that little ones appreciate a stroll with a friendly wheeled figure of an animal, vehicle, and or person. Some of the earliest manufactured pull toys appeared in the 19th century when factories like the Gong Bell Company offered cast-iron and sheet-metal toys--with bells, of course. In the 20th century, companies like Holgate, Playskool, and Fisher-Price (maker of the pull toy pictured here) made pull toys of woods painted in bright colors or covered in chromolithographic images of bunnies, ducks, horses, dogs, and other toddler-friendly animals.