Teachers looking for simple objects with which to explore physics could do a lot worse than return to the toys of their youth. Toys can capture students' attention, and many toys will behave in ways that can be used to explain forces, motion, electricity etc.

The Royal Society Partnership Scheme provides funding for group investigative project work in primary and secondary schools. We report here how the scheme was used to introduce a class of 10 to 11 year-old students to the excitement and discipline of hands-on investigative work with equipment that they would normally meet only in a secondary…