Scientific Knowledge and Educational Board Games. From Domestic Experiments to Popular Science (1790-1850)

The second half of the 18th century saw a veritable explosion of marketable items aimed at children and their families. That was particularly true in Britain, where, by the Georgian Age, towns and streets had become populated with shops selling books, toys, dolls, puzzles, and games for young boys and girls. The Wallises' catalogue is a paradigmatic example. The aim of this paper is to analyse their hitherto little-studied science-themed board games. Examining the choice of topics, the way they were translated into images, and the explanations given to the players will allow us to delineate the way the Wallises elaborated and narrated scientific knowledge to their public. I will show, first, that the Wallises' science-themed board games internalised the pedagogical theories of the time and brought into play many of the practices used in the education of children; second, that learning science was seen as an effective way to avoid vices and instil virtues; and third, that the Wallises' science-themed games are a unique and valuable window on the shift from so-called domestic (or familiar) science (typical of the games printed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries) to popular science (as in the games published between 1830 and 1850).