Simple adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing is taught with this calculator stick to Norwegian children. 'Regnestok' is Norwegian (and Danish) for sliderule. One side of the stick is for adding/subtracting and the other side for multiplying/dividing. User manual on the backside of the carbon box.
The Educated Monkey
'Consul'
Educational toy (1916) originally made by Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. The toy can multiply and divide in the range: 1x1 to 12x12. Multiply: move the feet onto the numbers and read the product between the two fingers. Divide in reverse order. Put the fingers on a number and the right foot on an other and read the result at the left foot. The simulation for Windows is pure fun! Download Monkey Simulation.
Learning to add, subtract and
reading the clock
Simple educational wooden aid with a small abacus, turnable coloured digits and a clock with plastic hands. Most little children do like this toy more than the sophisticated high-tech calculators like Dataman, Little Professor and Rekenwonder.
Rotating and Magnetic Math Toy
Magnetic rings can be turned forward and backwards to make all kinds of sums. The clicking rings stick firmly together due to the strong magnetism. Useful also as a tough Rubic's math puzzle with the object to make all sums correct.
Early Mechanical Toy Calculator
When microchips were still expensive and so were handheld electronic calculators, Fisher Price came out with a mechanical toy calculator (made in China) to teach small children to subtract and add. The toy gave them the feeling of 'less' and 'more'. To make less the minus switch had to be pulled down and to get more the plus switch was triggered. 'Less' means that a marble fell down into the mechanism where 'more' could be made by 'launching' a fallen marble into a visible semi-circular path with high speed from left to right back into the 'display'. Very funny as the video clip below will show.
Wooden Marble Calculator
The amazing Digital Wooden Marble Calculator made by Matthias Wandel (Canada). The contraption shows a flipflop-based calculating engine for adding small numbers.
