Articles on Toys | Topics: toys, toy
by Zagir Gregory
Depending on how old your grandma and grandpa are, there are some toys they may still have sitting around in the basement or the attic that used to be the toast of the town! Here is a collection of them. Let's see if you remember some of them yourself!
• Do you remember the Rubik's Cube? The innocent looking oversized die that so easily gets confused and then requires the patience of a saint and a printed out version of the puzzle's solution to put it back together was a hit in the 1980's. You could not walk through a bus without seeing a number of school kids and adolescents working the cube.
• Do you remember the Slinky? Who doesn't? All this toy is made of is coiled wire. Sure, nowadays the design has been applied to plastic, wood, and any other material that can be tightly coiled. Nonetheless, this unlikely maverick of the toy world has entertained aficionados since 1945! Who would have thought it at the time?
• Speaking of Slinky, do you remember the amazing slinky dog? The wire coil permitted the wooden pooch to sit and move!
• Do you remember Monopoly? Of course you do, you probably even have a version of it in your cupboard. Yet, do you have the original 1935 version that got the money grubbing craze started? It is hard to believe that this game has been around this long. Yes it is true, even though there have been many duplications and also many vanity editions to this classic original, there is only one 1935 version.
• Do you remember He-Man, the Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Transformers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? These were the entire craze in decades gone by and used to adorn lunch boxes, school backpacks, and other children's accessories around the globe.
| Historical Quote |
Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage,
And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age:
Pleased with this bauble still, as that before;
‘Till tired he sleeps, and life’s poor play is o’er.
| —Alexander Pope (1688–1744) |
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• Do you remember the Jack in the Box? This toy is so old that it is hard to figure out just when this little gadget hit the market. Since that time, however, it has undergone an amazing number of metamorphosis and anything from dogs, cats, clowns, and bears have come out of the box.
• Do you remember "Ole Million Face" which was created by gifted cartoonist Carey Orr in 1925? This puzzle game allowed for a vast number of combinations and was a favorite for the decades to come. In the 1940's this toy was dusted off and reintroduced as "Changing Charlie," yet the original is one that probably great-grandma and great-grandpa will remember!
• Do you remember the Etch a Sketch of the 1960s? Even though some have become bigger and fancier, the basic design is the same: one knob controls the movement from left to right, while the other one will permit for movement from top to bottom. This toy has kept countless children occupied in the backseats of cars while traveling down the highway for the family's vacation getaway.
• Do you remember "Lost in Space?" This series has not only spawned numerous reruns on cable television, but it also begat numerous toys. There is the "Lost in Space" wind-up robots, the battle robots, which were Will's creation, and also, Dr. Smith's rocket launcher robots.
With so many retro toys, it is no surprise that many will grow nostalgic and willingly pay out large sums of money to once again hold the toys that used to spell childhood happiness and hold childhood memories. Some toys have survived in their original forms and now, as they did then, continue to excite children. Others have been adapted, modernized, and simply made to fit the latest trends. It is hard to imagine that so many of these retro toys have been trendsetters in their own days! So what about your attic, basement, or closet? Do you have boxes stashed away? Are you holding on to some toy from your own childhood that is earmarked for the next generation that might not even have been born yet? Do not throw out these toys but keep saving them for the future generations. They will enjoy playing with your old toys as much as you probably enjoyed playing with your own parents' toys, and they will love to hear the stories you have to tell about the times when you played with them.
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