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Washington • How many toys do you have? Twenty? Fifty? A hundred?

Whatever you answered, the Smithsonian Institution can top that. Our "nation's attic," as the museum is sometimes called, has more than 4,000 toys! They include a 19th-century tricycle, one of the very first teddy bears (from 1903), several dollhouses and a toy you might find in your own house: a Barbie. (The Smithsonian's is an original, however, and worth quite a lot.)

Only a few of these toys are on display at any one time, however, and they are usually sprinkled among various exhibits. So when the Smithsonian does launch a toys-only show, it's a special event for the young and the young at heart.

"Childhood & Toys," a small exhibit that opened this month at the National Museum of American History on the Mall, is one such event. The exhibit, which will be on display for just six weeks, focuses on cast-iron and tinplate toys dating from the 1870s to the 1950s.

Museum workers culled through their 1,400 cast-iron and tinplate toys looking for those that fit into one of three categories: work, transportation and the circus. They settled on 33 toys: firetrucks, boats, planes, horse-drawn wagons, acrobats, clowns and a Ferris wheel. Reprints of ads showing how the toys were marketed to children are also on display.

"These toys were meant to entertain, educate and delight children," said Bill Yeingst, who heads the Smithsonian's Division of Home and Community Life. "This is how children were prepared for their future . . . roles" in life.

Tinplate toys, made from thin sheets of metal, became popular in the 1850s in Europe as a cheap alternative to wooden toys. Within a few years, American toymakers were creating them, too.

They also adapted a process known as iron casting - which was used for making farm tools and military and household items - for toys. A carved wooden model was used to make a mold into which hot liquid iron was poured. When cool, the "cast iron" pieces were put together and painted, usually by hand.

Cast-iron toys were not only affordable, they also were almost unbreakable. This made them a hit with parents as well as kids. The toy market was flooded with cast-iron horseless carriages - cars, in today's language - and trucks, sewing machines and laundry wringers, trains and banks. Cast-iron planes and boats were not far behind.

World War II doomed cast-iron and tinplate toys. Metals and manufacturing plants were needed for the war effort, not for toys. By the time the war ended in 1945, new materials and production methods had come along.

Yeingst said he doesn't have a favorite among the 33 antique toys on display at the Smithsonian. "It's like asking someone about their favorite child," he said. "I love them all."

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IF YOU GO

The National Museum of American History is on the Mall in Washington. For visiting hours, a parent can check americanhistory.si.edu/visit/hours. The "Toys & Childhood" exhibit, which is free, closes Jan. 3.