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Recently I heard a discussion with regard to educational toys that are not electronic for children. Does anyone remember erector sets, tinker toys and lincon logs? Do any of these still exist or have they been consigned to the non-existant toy hall of fame?
Can you still find chemistry sets in any stores, or have they been banned by the government as being too dangerous?
Ah for the good old days when toys consisted of cardboard boxes , and everyone played Cowboys and Indians (excuse, me I meant Native Americans) with cap guns.
of course i remember. You can still find Lincoln Logs at stores like Toys R Us. Erector sets are now made of plastic.-Too many sharp steel edges and parts on the original. Tinker toys were the best, i don't know if those are still available or if Legos have replaced them.
Tinker toys are now plastic as well. Still a great toy.
Does anyone remember those metal Xmas trees. You know the ones where you shin a revolving lite on it? Had one growing up as a kid. Well, now they go for 3500.00 dollars if you were smart enough to keep one. Saw that on the tv the other day. They are making a come back. Too funny!
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I had Lincoln Logs and tinker toys as a kid, but also these plastic red bricks that you could build stuff with, softer plastic then legos. I loved them! Also had a Mr. Potato Head. My sister had an erector set. Also had a dump truck that I loved, it had a little lever that you pushed and it dumped. It was red. My sons favorite toys were his legos and connex.
Sure,,,I remember all of those. The erector set was my favorite, and I don't remember swallowing any of the nuts and bolts, or even cutting myself on the metal parts, but I sure made some neat stuff with it!!
My daughter sez that my grandson wants Lincoln Logs, so I'm glad they still make that. Those were great toys!!
See you aboard,
Ken
One of toys I'm happy to see around is LEGO. I remember endless hours of imaginative fun making things. However, even "themed" lego sets now take a bit away from the imagination, I think. What I had as a kid was the plain box with a bunch of pieces in it. It was up to you to use your imagination and make whatever you could think of.
Lego's...while I know they are good for hand eye coordination and help foster the imagination and creativty of the youth who play with them, I hate them! I cannot tell you how often I have gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to get a drink or answer nature's call that my feet have been assaulted by the sharp pointy corners of this abominable toy.
Speaking of toys that are not electronic though, I just ordered two Plasma Cars. They are very cool, they're made for kids but grown-ups under 220 pounds can play with them too. They can go up to 6 mph just by moving the steering wheel back and forth. I can't wait to get them, we'll have a blast!
Paul can rest assured knowing they still make his beloved Lincoln Logs and Erector and Chemistry Sets can be found at any Walmart...however he'll have to venture into "No Man's Land" (the children's toy department eek!) to get them.
Some of those old non-electronic toys are still the most popular. Lego, logs, tinker toys, Mr. Potato Head - we have 'em all in our daycare!
Does anybody remember playing Mr. Potato Head with a REAL potato?
I also had a much-coveted Chatty Cathy who talked, and a Beany & Cecil doll. I also fondly remember a game of Mouse Trap. Those were the days.
P.S. my son is 17 and still loves his Lego!
I believe that chemistry sets are no longer sold; can't be sure.
As I recall the ones we had were made by AC Gilbert ( I think they made HO guage trains as well). This was the '50's in upstate New York west of Albany. With the ingredients they contained, we made primative gunpowder and of course lit it off.
I also recall being able to go to the pharmancy and buy chemicals such as copper sulfate and, believe it or not, liquid mercury ! Once, a friend and I bought some mercury, who knows why, and spent some time just letting it roll around our hands....and nothing happened - we didn't grow a third eye or anything ! Not saying that we shouldn't be careful, but I wonder if we sometimes over react...
Another thing we had were sets like Fort Apache which was a plastic western fort, (walls, towers on the corners, a gate that worked) complete with a tin house and plastic soldiers and Indians. Also had a similar army base (modern), and a ranch.
Now it's Xboxes and Ipods....and I want a new photo printer !
Well, I stand corrected ! You can still get chemistry sets. Googled the term and by golly, there they were....a couple of bucks more than they were 50 years ago, but non the less......wonder if they still make 1/2 A gas engines.....?
I had those toys, even as a girl. I also remember the Easy Bake Oven. I thought that was the neatest thing in the world to be able to actually bake a cake in that little oven. They were still around when my daughter was little and I bought her one also. Great memories.
Happy Cruising....Buddy
PS Did anyone collect marbles? I remember getting them in cereal boxes and I had a fabulous collection. I would play marbles with all the boys in my neighborhood and I would win them all from them. I liked the "cat eyes" the most.
Speaking of putting toys together, when our daughter was about 8 or 9, she received a Barbie Twon House for Christmas. It was a three story affair, with an elevator, and a ton of other stuff that you had to fit together.
Naturally after awhile she asked me to put it together for her so she could play with it.
Imagine my surprise when I opened up the box, and the instructions were in German ! ..and it wasn't like today where you have instructions in English as well as other languages on the same document; this was all in German !
Well, thanks to 2 years of German in high school, one in college, good diagrams, and my good old Langenscheits (sp?) English/German dictionary, we got it together albeit not a quickly as we might have.
We have spoken of that often over the years - a good and humerous Christmas memory.
Hi, I am perfectly aware of who he was and what he did. My comment was an allusion to the movie "rat race" (hilarious) where they notice something called the barbie museum and think it's a "barbie museum" It turns out to be a "Barbie" museum run by neo nazis....etc....you get the picture.
I sense you might have been offended by the mere mention of Barbie's name. I do not mean to offend anyone or make light of what he did, just the similarity of the name to the doll, that all ! (poet)
banker
(you may want to "blockbuster" the movie rat race and you'll see my reference in context)
Sid..you are the man !!!!! you probably recall on the back of comic books you could order 189 plastic figures of either the American revolution or the civil war complete with battle field weapons and conduct an entire war in the back yard of your house !!!
My big brother and I once emptied our parents house so that we could assemble his Lionel train set. Our plan was to put everything back before our parents got home at 5 pm and of course they surprised us by coming home at 4 pm..after we put all the furniture back they made us take all of our bedroom furniture out of our room and sleep on sleeping bags for 2 nights
ah the fun of growing up in upstate new york in the 50's
I was totally unaware of the movie reference, and now realize what you meant. I wasn't offended, just wondered why someone would make that connection - and now I know ! May have to dust of the DVR player (hope I remember still how to use it) and get the movie to view.
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Lincon Logs???
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
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