A Toy Story

As Christmas nears, I'm sure everyone's kids and grandkids are making their lists.  No doubt, they have the old standbys, like dolls and bikes, on them.  And I'm sure technology is represented on a lot of their lists, too.  With that thought in mind, how do you think they'd feel about receiving a "Slinky" or a "Magic 8 Ball" instead?   I'm pretty sure their excitement wouldn't match mine the year I found those items under our tree!

I've been thinking about how far we've come in today's toy departments.  Who wants to join me on a Christmas shopping trip to a toy store of the 60's, 70's and 80's?  Let's go!

Today's kids have Ipods on which to hear their music.  We had "phonographs" or record players on which to play our 45's.  Kids today  may have cameras and smart phones with cameras in them.  We had the "ViewMaster", that "viewer" that allowed us to look at slides of vacation spots or the characters of our times, like "Quick Draw McGraw"or "Superman"... and  who can forget "ColorForms", those plastic shapes that "magnetically" stuck to a board?

Kids today can play games like "Candy Crush" or "Heads Up" on their phones and tablets.  We played board games like "Mouse Trap" and "Operation".  If we wanted to be really active, we had "Twister", the game that had us contorting into all kinds of positions, according to whatever came up on our spin of the wheel.

I always wanted an Easy Bake Oven until I found out from a neighbor girl, who received one for Christmas, that it took about two hours to bake a cake with that lightbulb!  (Patience has never been one of my virtues....nor is baking one of my talents.) I never mastered the Etch A Sketch either, that magnetic screen with the knobs,  but I thought they were silly anyway.  If you wanted to get really creative, there was always  Mr Potato Head, that goofy toy that had you inserting plastic face and body parts into a real potato. Good lord...

Recollections of toys from the past wouldn't be complete if the list didn't include Barbie Dolls and Chatty Cathy dolls.  They were both pretty innovative in their day because one had a very womanly shape and the other one blathered on, at the pull of a string.  Hmmm... Sexist stereotyping?  Maybe, but, as a little girl, I received a "Doctor's Kit" one Christmas so, maybe not.

Kids today seem a lot more sophisticated with their toy choices than we were.  But I think,  that without the toys of the past, there wouldn't have been the evolution into the toys we have today.  So kids of today... You're welcome!