purposeful toy

This simple toy is a popular attraction for children at the farm. Their are two of them side by side and the children love to race each other moving their man to the top of the string. By alternately pulling down on the two handles they can cause the man to climb. As it turns out, the same motion is required to milk a cow and our ancestors used these toys to train their young children in the motion. Later, as the kids got older, they already had the muscle memory required to milk the cow and only needed to refine their technique.

You would think that they knew what they were doing.