Barrel of Monkeys facts for kids

Barrel of Monkeys is a fun toy game that first came out in 1965. It was invented by Leonard Marks and Milton Dinhofer in 1961. Later, Herman Kesler helped sell it to Lakeside Toys. Today, the game is made by the Milton Bradley Company, which is part of Hasbro.

The game usually comes with a toy barrel that can be blue, yellow, red, purple, orange, gray, or green. Inside the barrel, you'll find 12 monkeys. Their color usually matches the barrel.

The rules are simple:

• Dump the monkeys onto a table.
• Pick up one monkey by an arm.
• Hook its other arm through a second monkey's arm.
• Keep adding monkeys to make a long chain!
• Your turn ends if you drop a monkey.

The game also has rules for playing by yourself or with friends.

Time magazine thought Barrel of Monkeys was pretty cool. In 2011, they put it at number 53 on their list of the "All-Time 100 Greatest Toys."

Monkeys in Science

Did you know these toy monkeys can help us understand science? Scientists have used them to show how tiny parts of nature, like proteins or even viruses, can connect.

Each monkey can link up with another in many different ways. These links can be strong and stable. When you connect monkeys in a repeating pattern, you can build cool shapes. For example, you can make a spiral shape called a helix.

By choosing different ways to link the monkeys, you can create many kinds of structures. This is similar to how real molecules connect to form complex shapes in living things. The monkeys give you a hands-on way to see how these shapes are built!

In some places, especially in South Asian countries, Barrel of Monkeys is also known as Bandar Keela.

Monkeys in Movies and TV

Barrel of Monkeys has appeared in several popular shows and movies:

• In the Toy Story animated films, a set of Barrel of Monkeys toys belongs to the character Andy. In these movies, toys come to life when humans aren't around!
• In May 2012, students from Dartmouth College built the longest chain of monkeys ever. They connected 5,990 monkeys to raise money for a good cause!
• The game show Family Game Night featured the game. Families would play by arranging chains of monkeys from shortest to longest to win prizes.
• The posters and logos for the 1995 movie 12 Monkeys and the 2015 TV series based on it use images that look like the Barrel of Monkeys game.
• In the movie Iron Man 3, Tony Stark compares a tricky air rescue to playing Barrel of Monkeys.