Tsk tsk tsk. These poor children today. They’re so deprived. Their playthings click and whir and toot and talk but they lack character and charisma. The bells and whistles of all these fancy schmancy digital thingamajigs don’t necessarily make playtime any better.
I’m an '80s baby, loud and proud, so yep, I’m gonna say it: when we were kids (you knew I was gonna take it there) and even when our parents were kids, the toys were just better. Remember Baby Skates? Lite-Brite? And a moment of silence for my poor Rubik's cube’s stickers, which were so mangled from all my strategic peeling and repositioning that the edges refused to lay flat and basically told on me. Ah, the memories.
Think back real hard. (Some of us harder than others.) What were the dolls, the games, the weirdo whatchamacallits that gave you so much entertainment pleasure? And more importantly, do your kids have them in their toy boxes?
Roller skates. Bummer to you folks who never learned how to skate (or ride a bike!) and have denied yourself the experience of dancing around a rink or gliding across a city sidewalk with the uncertainty of four wheels wobbling underfoot. I still fit in the same pair of Roller Derbies that my mama bought me back in the fifth grade, and I whipped them out to teach The Girl how to roll bounce.
Easy Bake Oven. Was there ever a greater thrill than shoving that little circular silver pan into the center of that little plastic appliance and then pressing your nose against the side to intently watch your handiwork rise? The cakes were far from gourmet, the cookies tasted like tiny hockey pucks, and the ingredients in the macaroni and cheese may just now be fully digesting through your system, but the joy of being a bona fide cook made the Easy Bake Oven the hottest commodity in your kitchen — next to the Snoopy snowball maker, of course.
Sidewalk chalk. So simple, so versatile, so freakin’ utilitarian. You could use it to draw a picture or whip up an impromptu game of hopscotch all without leaving the 40-foot proximity your mother invisible-choke-chained you to. Those thick sticks were portable enough to stuff in your pockets and came in shareable packs that made the artistry and — admit it — experimental vandalism easy to share with your pals.
Walkie talkies. Teen Girl is the only one of her friends without a cellphone. It’s not that she hasn’t hinted, suggested, asked, and even pleaded for one. Little does she know, Christmas will be the big day. But before the miracle of modern technology enabled us to reach out and touch someone from half a world away, we got a kick out of 10-4ing and rogering on walkie talkies. My cousin and I would take them into the woods behind my grandmother’s house and pretend like we were extra members of the A-Team or, if there was a car nearby that could stand in for the General Lee, Dukes of Hazzard. Yee haw.
Barbie Dream House. Back before I had a social agenda and railed against everything that that plastic, big-chested, tiny-waisted doll represented, I was just a girl who loved styling Barbie’s hair and fantasizing my way through little skits and storylines. Now, it should be said that I never actually had a Dream House. My guess was it was too expensive for my single mom’s birthday and Christmas budget but I don’t mind telling you I flat-out lusted after them — and lived vicariously through Girl Child when she got one. That was one day I didn’t mind being invited into her room to play.
Super Soaker. Now that I’m strapped into a jacket and I’ve tucked my flip-flops away, I have an even greater appreciation for the blasting cool from a jet stream of water. To be fair, I grew up with regular ol’ water guns. You know the little plastic kind that you filled up in the bathroom sink and secured with that little white tab? But once the Super Soaker was released with its pure backyard assault genius, it became a must for ... well, everybody.
What would you add to the list of the best toys of all time and, even more importantly, do your kids have them?
Image via Jim, the Photographer/Flickr
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I used to have these big clunky sandals and you pulled out the knob and wheels popped out and they became skates! Also the metal skates that you put on over your shoes.
My kids play with sidewalk chalk all the time.
Connect Four, Barbie (I was youngest and only girl so I was a tad spoiled) - my Barbies had the Corvette, the mansion, the McDonald's, the pool with the slide and a ton of clothes. Yet they were always naked and bald after some failed hair experiment (like putting it in a pink sponge roller, sitter her under a lamp and forgetting about her.) Cabbage Patch kids - still have those to this day and I'm 32. Will definitely be passing them on to my girls. Hula hoops. I had a crap load of toys, but most of my favs were things that I re-purposed (like the little tables they used to put in pizza boxes or old ice cream tubs). We'd have an insect circus and "train" crickets to walk across 2 trees on a piece of string. Or read. Dang I miss being a kid.
i remember light bright! so fun!! my favorite when i was little was those baby dolls you fill with water. i think they were called water babies. i also loved art stuff. i would always get for my brithday or christmas a big pack of those beads with string!! :) i had a few barbies. but i was really big on those. and i loved bike riding!! me and my friends would ride bikes for hours and hours!! i pass on alot of those things to my kids! my older 2 loves to ride bikes, play on their swing set, they LOVE chalk! oh and another thing i loved more than anything was my skip it!!
My boys have had most of that list in the past 2 years. Everything but rollar skates and the barbie dream house. Walmart target and toys r us sell rollar skates. The easy bake oven takes to long for them they don't have any patience.
DD has an Easy Bake Oven, Sidewalk Chalk and 2 light brights lol DS1 has Sidewalk Chalk and a Light Bright Cube..... I miss some of the stuff from my childhood, but some you can still get updated versions of for your kids. :)
I LOVED my Lite Brite and Rainbow Bright dolls. I had Rainbow and a whole bunch of Twinks. (I think that's what they were called). My Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls were also my constant companions and my mom still has them. My bike was my freedom ( after I was 12 and able to go more than 3 or 4 blocks from home). That was it for toys that I really loved. I grew up in house sourrounded by old growth woods and they were my real toybox, picking berries and catching tadpoles then frogs in the summer and riding down the hill to the creek on my sled in the winter. I was actually just thinking about this very subject yesterday and feeling a little sorry for my kids because times are so different.
I had a massive paper doll collection. Polly Pockets! I had a barbie mini van that opened up and had a grill on the back hatch. Barbie house that was as tall as I was. Chatty Kathy doll. there are numerous toys I had as a child that I wish they still had. Water Baby anyone? lol
My kids have those stuff except barbie stuff and easy bake oven...but she has asked for an easy bake oven for christmas so Im sure santa will bring one. as for the barbie stuff i dont trust her to have any yet because all the barbie type dolls i have gotten her she has ruined by cutting the hair. but maybe santa will bring one this christmas and she can try again to keep it nice.