A sad, solitary life is right. As a kindergartener (60s), I always wore "Mary Jane" shoes that buckled, so I didn't yet know how to tie shoelaces. We had a kindergarten project where we had to make construction paper shoes with yarn laces, to learn how to tie shoelaces. Though I was good in all other subjects I could not get the hang of this right away, and the teacher made me sit all alone in a room with this paper shoe to work on it, while the other kids had a music class in another room. What an awful memory. I've been told in recent years that a teacher could not get away with this today, because kids have rights. The teacher told my mom she should get me one of these wooden lacing shoes, which she did. It had little figurines inside, I suppose they were the Old Woman who lived in the shoe and her kids. I soon learned to tie shoes by using this teaching aid -- it really can't be called a toy.

Yes!! I LOVED this toy, and had wars with my younger sister about whether the Fisher Price little people (separate toy, but similar little figures) we also had should be called "Liv-in-a-shoes" (my vote, based on this toy) or "Goldilocks" (her vote, based in I have no idea what)