Art
Joseph Biel's Little Circus is a handmade toy that brought the wonder of the big top into American homes. For families without money for ticket prices, homemade circuses offered free entertainment—a parent's gift of imagination and play.
Art · Full story
You crouch down to peer through the small opening. Inside, painted figures frozen mid-leap catch the light—a acrobat arched over a horse, a ringmaster frozen mid-gesture. Spin it gently and the whole world turns. For a child in a tenement apartment, this tiny stage held all the excitement of a real circus.
Reflect
What toy or game did you make, or did someone make for you, that meant more than something store-bought?