Erector Set
Now this is Christmas! Take a look at these golden–oldie toys, some of which are still as popular today as they were decades ago. I remember many of these as a kid growing up in the 60’s, a few of which were actually fads at the time.
I spent many days and nights building countless magical and colorful (and rickety!) contraptions with Tinkertoys. A true classic, popular to this day. Too bad they’re now made of plastic. The old wooden ones were the way to go. Wood just is so much warmer and has such a nice tactile feel. I sure broke a lot of them though! Lincoln Logs were great too, just a little more limited to building…err…buildings!
While I’m on the subject of “building” types of toys, I loved Erector Sets, which I had no idea were no longer produced. Boy did my fingers get sore from all the wrenching and screwing the pieces together into yet another wild contraption. (Hey, I’ve used the word “contraption” twice in this post. Cool!) This was a terrific toy. Probably too much work for kids nowadays, though. Too bad.
For some reason, I missed out on the Lego phenomenon, but they’re an awesome building toy, probably the best all around. (My son’s getting a set of these!)
Hula hoops were a fad in elementary school. Everyone had one. Even parents got into the act (and still do)! But the hula hoops “thing” burned out fast. Within a year or two, they were gone, to be resurrected in other decades.
Tonka Truck
What young boy of the 60’s didn’t have a Tonka truck? Mine was a dumptruck. Awesome! (My son’s getting one of these too!)
For young kids, Mister Potato Head is a must. A potato…with goofy re–arrangeable facial features–what’s not to like?
Everyone had a Frisbee then. Everybody has ’em now!
Marbles were really popular in grade school. But we played by trying to hit the other guy’s marble by throwing yours at it, not by shooting ’em out of a circle, like they did in the “olden” days. And “steelies” (ball bearings in real life) were awesome. If you had a regular marble, it required multiple “hits” to get the other guy’s “steely”. But even then, the coolest marbles that I ever saw were from my dad’s old collection. Such intricate designs and swirls! They had really changed, for the worse, even by the 60’s.
Viewmasters were very popular as a kid. With these, you could take a tour of a faraway place, without even going there. Pretty tame stuff now, but it was all we had then. We had no video games, computers, or internet, just pictures. And I don’t think we missed much! (We did have to walk to school in the snow, barefoot, backwards, uphill both ways though! I kid you not! 
)
Etch–A–Sketch, a classic. I’ve seen some fantastic things drawn with them. I never figured out how they did it, since you have to re–trace your lines all the time. And really, one shake and it’s gone. Why would you want to draw a super picture on an Etch–A–Sketch?
Radio Flyer a.k.a. Little Red Wagon
Every boy (and many girls) had a red wagon, great for hauling your “stuff”. (I never called them “Radio Flyers”, though. Maybe I had a knock–off?) And every kid had a bike, just like now. They were just cheaper (and a lot heavier) then. They did have very cool, and comfortable, “banana” seats, though.
Ah, Yo-Yo’s. What a fad they were in grade school. There were tons of different types, shapes, and colors. I had a blue “Duncan Imperial” that I loved. Everyone tried to do tricks. I became quite good at “Around–the–World”, but not much else!
Slinky’s always seemed to be a “one–trick pony” to me. You see one slinky go down stairs, you’ve seen ’em all, IMHO.
Play–Doh…what kid didn’t do something obscene with it? I mean, you had to do some sort of poo–related riff at each play session, or your “kid I.D. badge” was taken away…or something.
Silly Putty
Wow…Silly Putty. Awesome stuff, but really, about a “two–trick pony”. You could bounce it, you could pound it down onto newpaper comics and copy the resulting mirror image onto other things (note paper, walls, etc. The walls bit didn’t go well with Mom, as I remember. Heh!) But really, once you did that, what else could you do with it? (Okay, you could do some of the same things as Play–Doh could, but it was far inferior to Play–Doh for those.) But it was still indispensible stuff as a kid.
One of my fondest memories as a kid, even into high school, was doing jigsaw puzzles with my mom, on rainy days, in front of the TV. Especially if you were watching “The Wizard of Oz”, with a fire in the fireplace. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Jigsaw Puzzles
Man, I was a coloring fiend when I was a kid. Crayola Crayons…bless ’em. Probably the most imaginative “toy” (although not really a toy) for kids of all ages. Indispensible for learning your colors, drawing stuff for the folks to put on the ’fridge, you name it. I took pride in my coloring and filled up huge numbers of coloring books, especially Batman coloring books. Everybody! Da–da Da–da Da–da Da–da BATMAN! Uh, sorry. I got a little carried away, there.
Hmmmm, Candy Land. Not my favorite. Kind of insipid, if you ask me. But Monopoly, now we’re talking. Great, classic game. But it has to be the original, none of those weird new versions. If I’m going to jail, I want to “Go directly to jail. Do not collect $200!” I want all the original street names, the “community chest” cards, the whole deal, okay?
Wood Blocks
And finally, the ultimate young kid’s toys…wood blocks and teddy bears. A kid wouldn’t be a kid without these! My eight–month–old son has a bear, and will very soon get some blocks. I wouldn’t want him kicked out of the kids club!!
What are your favorites?
Filed by matteo at 11:53 pm under Life and Living
