Random Toy Generator

One press draws a real toy with how you play with it and a fact about it.

Beach ballA large, light ball you blow up for games on the beach and in the water.

How it works

Need a random toy to draw, write about or act out? Press the button for one real toy under its plain name, from the yo-yo to the zoetrope, with how you play with it and one checked fact.

Read the full guide

Pick a kind of toy

After your first press, a list under the button reads Any kind. Choose Dolls and figures, Building and making, Wheels and riding, Outdoor toys, Puzzles and games, Sound and picture toys, or Old toys from around the world. Each press then draws from that kind only.

Play a guessing game

Read the name to yourself and act out playing with the toy until someone guesses it. Then read the line aloud. The yo-yo has been played with since 440 BC, and snakes and ladders began in ancient India.

Tips

Drawing today? Choose Old toys from around the world and draw the toy from its line alone, before you look it up.

Questions and answers

Why are there no brand names?

The list uses plain names only, such as flying disc and puzzle cube, so no maker, brand or character from a show appears on a card.

How old is the yo-yo?

Very old. It is an ancient toy, recorded since 440 BC. In the 18th century it was also called a bandalore.

Does this tell me which toy to buy?

No. It names kinds of toy to draw, write about or play with. It gives no price, shop or age rating.

Where do the facts come from?

We wrote each line and checked it on October 1, 2026 against the toy's own Wikipedia article, starting from Wikipedia's list of toys.

All 111 toys

Dolls and figures 19

Dollhouse A toy house in miniature to fill with dolls. Its story goes back about four hundred years in Europe.
Finger puppet A small puppet that fits over one or two fingers. One hand can work several at once.
Hand puppet A puppet worn like a glove and moved by the hand inside its body and head.
Jumping jack A flat wooden figure whose arms and legs jump up and down when you pull its string.
Kokeshi A simple wooden Japanese doll with no arms or legs, first made in the Tohoku region.
Marionette A puppet worked from above by strings or wires.
Nesting dolls Wooden dolls of shrinking size, each hidden inside the next. Also called matryoshka, from Russia.
Nutcracker doll A wooden figure, most often a toy soldier, made to crack nuts in its jaws. A German tradition.
Okiagari-koboshi A Japanese papier-mâché doll that swings back upright when it is knocked over.
Paper doll A figure cut from paper or thin card, dressed in paper clothes held on by folding tabs.
Peg wooden doll A simple wooden doll turned on a lathe, first made in the Val Gardena in the Alps. Also a Dutch doll.

Show all 111 toys (100 more)

Dolls and figures, continued

Puppet A figure brought to life by a person called a puppeteer. Puppet shows go back to ancient Greece.
Rag doll A doll made from scraps of cloth, with a soft body and simple features.
Roly-poly toy An egg-shaped toy with a round bottom that stands itself back up when you push it over.
Rubber duck A toy duck for bath time, usually yellow. Rubber ducks were invented in the late 19th century.
Sock monkey A stuffed monkey sewn from socks, with long limbs and a long tail. A folk toy of the US and Canada.
Stuffed toy A toy sewn from cloth and filled with soft stuffing, most often shaped like an animal.
Teddy bear A stuffed toy bear to cuddle, named after US president Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s.
Wind-up toy A toy that moves by itself after you wind up its clockwork motor.

Building and making 10

Cat's cradle A game of making string shapes between your fingers and passing them from player to player.
Coloring book A book of line drawings to fill in with crayons, pencils or paint.
Flip book A small book of pictures that change a little on each page, so they move when you flick through.
Interlocking plastic bricks Plastic bricks with studs on top that grip the hollow underside of the next brick.
Marble run A track of ramps and turns that marbles roll down. Also called a ball run.
Model railway A railway built small, with trains, track and scenery. The first were carpet railways in the 1840s.
Modeling clay A soft material that hands can shape into models again and again.
Paper plane A toy glider folded from one sheet of paper and thrown like a dart.
Toy block Wooden, plastic or foam pieces in simple shapes for building. Some show letters of the alphabet.
Toy theater A miniature paper theater, printed on card and built at home. It dates from the early 1800s in Europe.

Wheels and riding 14

Balance bike A bicycle with no pedals. The rider pushes along with both feet and learns to balance.
Hobby horse A stick with a horse's head on one end. A child holds it and plays at riding.
Kick scooter A board on wheels with a handlebar. The rider pushes off the ground with one leg.
Rocking horse A toy horse on curved rockers that a child sits on and rocks back and forth.
Roller skates Boots with wheels on the bottom, for rolling over hard ground like a skater on ice.
Skateboard A board, usually of maple plywood, on four wheels. The rider pushes with one foot.
Sled A vehicle that slides over snow or ice on a smooth underside or on runners.
Slot car A small powered car guided by a pin in a slot in its track, raced against other cars.
Soapbox car A car with no motor that races downhill, powered only by gravity.
Spring rider A seat on a big metal spring, often shaped like an animal, that rocks and bounces. From the 1960s.
Toy car A miniature copy of an automobile, small enough to push along the floor.
Toy wagon A small open wagon that seats one child and is pulled along by a handle at the front.
Tricycle A cycle with three wheels. Children like it because it stands steadier than a bicycle.
Wooden toy train Wooden trains that run in grooves on a wooden track and couple with hooks or small magnets.

Outdoor toys 20

Beach ball A large, light ball you blow up for games on the beach and in the water.
Bouncy ball A small ball of springy rubber that bounces high off hard ground.
Flying disc A plastic disc with a lip, thrown and caught. Its curved shape gives it lift as it spins.
Footbag A small round bag of pellets or sand, kicked from foot to foot to keep it off the ground.
Jump rope A rope swung over the head and under the feet as you jump. People skipped rope in ancient China.
Jungle gym A frame of bars or ropes to climb, hang and sit on. The British call it a climbing frame.
Kite A light craft on a string that the wind lifts into the air. It is named after a hovering bird.
Marbles Small balls of glass, clay or steel, rolled and shot in games and collected for their colors.
Piñata A decorated container filled with candy, broken open at a party. It is best known from Mexico.
Pinwheel A wheel of paper or plastic curls pinned to a stick. It spins when you blow on it or the wind does.
Playground slide A smooth slope to climb up to and slide down. It is a simple machine, the inclined plane.
Pogo stick A pole with a handle, footrests and a spring, for bouncing along while standing up.
Sandbox A low, wide box or pit of soft sand to dig and build in. British children call it a sandpit.
Seesaw A long board balanced in the middle: one end goes up as the other goes down. Also a teeter-totter.
Soap bubbles Thin films of soapy water around air, shining with shifting colors until they pop.
Stilts Two poles with footrests for walking tall above the ground.
Swing A seat hung from chains or ropes that carries you back and forth through the air.
Toy balloon A small balloon of rubber or shiny plastic, filled with air or helium, for parties and play.
Toy hoop A hoop twirled around the waist, arms or neck. Children have played with hoops since at least 500 BC.
Trampoline A sheet of strong fabric stretched on springs inside a steel frame, for bouncing.

Puzzles and games 17

Ball-in-a-maze puzzle A maze you tilt to steer a small ball to the goal. A famous early one was patented in 1889.
Bead maze A wooden base with looping wires. Small children push big beads along the tracks.
Burr puzzle A puzzle of notched sticks that lock together into one solid shape, usually made of wood.
Concentration A card game: the cards lie face down and each turn flips two, looking for a matching pair.
Dominoes Rectangular tiles with spots on two square ends, matched end to end. A usual set has 28 tiles.
Jacks A game of tossing and catching small objects. The oldest sets were ankle bones of sheep.
Jigsaw puzzle A picture cut into interlocking pieces to fit back together. In the 1700s they were painted on wood.
Ludo A board game for two to four players who race four tokens home by the roll of one die.
Peg solitaire A board game for one player, moving pegs on a board with holes. First seen in France in 1697.
Pick-up sticks Drop a bundle of sticks in a pile, then lift them out one at a time without moving the rest.
Puzzle cube A cube of small blocks in layers that turn. Twist the scrambled colors back into place.
Ring toss A game of tossing rings to land them over a peg.
Snakes and ladders A board game where ladders carry you up and snakes send you down. It began in ancient India.
Tangram A puzzle of seven flat shapes, called tans, that fit together to make pictures. Said to be from China.
Tic-tac-toe A paper-and-pencil game for two: take turns marking Xs and Os on a three-by-three grid.
Tiddlywinks A game of flicking small discs called winks into a pot by pressing their edges with a bigger disc.
Tower of Hanoi Three rods and a stack of disks, biggest at the bottom. The puzzle is to move the stack to another rod.

Sound and picture toys 16

Baby rattle A toy that rattles when a baby shakes it. Babies have had rattles since ancient times.
Jack-in-the-box A box with a crank. Turn it, a tune plays, and a figure pops out when the lid flies open.
Kaleidoscope A tube of mirrors with bits of colored glass at one end. Turn it and the pattern changes.
Kazoo A small instrument you hum into. A thin skin inside buzzes and changes your voice.
Moo box A can that moos like a cow when you turn it upside down.
Music box A box that plays a tune when pins on a turning cylinder pluck the teeth of a steel comb.
Party horn A paper tube that unrolls and toots when you blow into it.
Praxinoscope A spinning drum of pictures seen in a ring of mirrors. It was invented in France in 1877.
Shadow puppets Flat cut-out figures held between a light and a screen to tell a story in shadows.
Slide whistle A whistle with a piston inside. Slide it while you blow and the note swoops up or down.
Squeaky toy A soft, hollow toy of rubber or vinyl that squeaks when you squeeze it.
Thaumatrope A disk with a picture on each side. Twirl its strings and the two blend into one. Introduced in 1825.
Toy piano A small piano. Most make their notes with round metal rods in place of strings.
Whirly tube A ribbed plastic tube swung in a circle. The faster it goes, the higher the note.
Xylophone A row of wooden bars, each tuned to a note, played by striking them with mallets.
Zoetrope A spinning cylinder that shows a strip of drawings one after another, so they seem to move.

Old toys from around the world 15

Bamboo-copter A little rotor on a stick that flies up when you spin the stick fast. It began in China around 320 AD.
Battledore and shuttlecock An old game of batting a feathered shuttlecock back and forth with small rackets. Badminton grew from it.
Cup-and-ball A wooden handle with a cup and a ball on a string. Swing the ball up and catch it. In France, bilboquet.
Diabolo A spool shaped like two cups, spun and tossed on a string between two sticks. From the Chinese yo-yo.
Dreidel A four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side, played with at Hanukkah.
Gonggi A Korean playground game of tossing and catching five small pebbles or plastic stones.
Hanetsuki A Japanese New Year game like badminton with no net, played with a wooden paddle called a hagoita.
Hoop and stick A large hoop rolled along the ground with a stick and kept upright. Played since ancient times.
Jacob's ladder A folk toy of wooden blocks on ribbons. Hold one end and the blocks seem to tumble down.
Jianzi A Chinese game of keeping a weighted shuttlecock in the air without using your hands.
Kendama A Japanese cup-and-ball with a spike and cups to land the ball on.
Poi Weights on cords swung in circles and patterns. Poi began with the Māori people of New Zealand.
Spinning top A toy with a squat body and a sharp point that balances on its tip while it spins.
Tippe top A top that flips over as it spins and ends up spinning on its stem.
Yo-yo Two disks joined by an axle that runs up and down a string. An ancient toy, recorded since 440 BC.

How this list was compiled: We chose these toys and wrote every line ourselves. The list started from Wikipedia's List of toys, and each line was checked on 2026-10-01 against the toy's own English Wikipedia article (saved per item): a script then confirmed that the words each line rests on stand in the article. A line says how the toy is played with and, where the article says so, where or when it began; a history the article does not give is left out. The sorting into seven kinds is ours. Every toy is listed under a plain name: no maker, brand or character is named, and a toy known only by a company's name was left out or given its plain name (flying disc, footbag, toy hoop, puzzle cube). Licence: own work