when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
$Zero
hotwheels (and the endless loop-to-loop track)?
slinky?
barrel of monkeys?
board games?
erector set?
trucks?
dolls?
the easy bake oven?
those little green army guys?
electronic marvels?
etch-a-sketch?
bicycle?
bat and ball and mitt?
plastic pool table?
model cars?
train set?
what?
-$Zero...
(until the poets lie like the journalists).
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.writing/msg/fd63adedf9fc083d
Ultraviolet
take your heart away:
> when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
<>
Barbies, puzzles, roller skates, coloring books, and SUPER SPIROGRAPH!
(Not the Stupid Spirograph they have out now either, but the real one
with pins that you could poke an eye out with.)
Pies de Arcilla
$Zero wrote:
> when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
Legos. I won a Lego building contest in Amsterdam as a child. When I
got a toy to give to charity this year, it was a big set of Legos to
build a ferris wheel, a crane, or a drawbridge.
Bill Penrose
> erector set?
At least, the English equivalent available in Canada at the time, a
Meccano set. Little teeny screws that I finally learned to manipulate.
My dad got a bigger kick out of it than I did, building great towers
and a trolley that ran the length of our apartment, all with my
involvement, of course ("Tighten this screw." "Add another strut on
this corner, like this one.")
I expect I got my mechanical ability from that. When I was 16 and went
away for the summer with the Navy, my dad was cleaning the basement
and threw it out. He never thought I might have kids of my own some
day.
Dangerous Bill
Sylvia
> when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
<...>
More games than toys, I guess, but...
Outside: stickball, baseball, Ringalario, Red Rover, stoop ball,
bicycling in packs, a soap box derby or three, flippin' baseball cards,
sledding on the local "Suicide Hill", flying kites, handball, snow
forts, swingin' high and then flyin' off the swing, building dams along
the curb of the big hill and then breaking the first one and watchin'
the water crash through the rest, bocche ball, horseshooze, and general
scampering about in games we made up as we went along.
Inside: lotsa board games, card games, building sets (Lincoln Logs and
some I can't remember wot they were called), complex jigsaw puzzles,
word game books, ping pong, darts, chemistry set, electronics set,
constructin' trackside scenery for our Lionel trains (man, I can
*still* smell that oil), building kites.
MOST SOUGHT AFTER TOY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
An empty appliance box 'cause it could be *anything* you wanted it to be.
--
Sylvia <--- Supreme Ruler of MW & a Petite Peep
"Two foot tall, yet rules them all! Less is more!"
Alan Hope
><>
I was also a Spirograph geek, so I was stricken with envy when I saw
this post on Boing Boing:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/08/scrambler-ride-as-dr.html
where an artist has transformed a fairground ride into a giant
Spirograph.
I want one, but I didn't get one. I got a capuccino gizmo thingy, and
a CD of Alfred Deller, and a book by Orhan Pamuk, and socks and
jammies. Maybe next year.
--
AH
http://grapes2dot0.blogspot.com
boots
>when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
Erector set, chemistry set, butcher knife, little girl next door.
Geez that's sounds scary.
I made up the part about the chemistry set (it sucked) and the butcher
knife.
Being a writer can be liberating, kind of like being one of those
salesmen who yeah, has heard the word "truth", but has no idea what it
means.
--
just write it
Ultraviolet
<usenet....@gmail.com> has to take your heart away:
<>
> I was also a Spirograph geek, so I was stricken with envy when I
> saw this post on Boing Boing:
> http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/08/scrambler-ride-as-dr.html
> where an artist has transformed a fairground ride into a giant
> Spirograph.
OMG, that's awesome!
Beamer
I was a very Big Fan of Legos as well. I never won a contest with my
creations, though. My wife went into a cleaning mode about 5 years ago
and threw out was left of my collection, a huge plastic container
full. We now have a 18 month old grandson that is gonna miss out on a
great collection of them little plastic pieces of fun. Ah Life.
Beamer
Beamer
Your Dad and My Mom. Man when I think of the early edition comic books
and models of Frankenstein and the wolf man and the creature and My
model cars and , Sniff, ...
I'm allright, ...
But those comics would be worth a small fortune right now. Then My
wife , whose mom threw away about 12 first edition Barbie Dolls ....
Parents!
Beamer
Sylvia
> Ultraviolet goes:
<...>
> >Barbies, puzzles, roller skates, coloring books, and SUPER SPIROGRAPH!
>
> >(Not the Stupid Spirograph they have out now either, but the real one
.
> I was also a Spirograph geek, so I was stricken with envy when I saw
> this post on Boing Boing:
> http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/08/scrambler-ride-as-dr.html
> where an artist has transformed a fairground ride into a giant
> Spirograph.
Cool! I forgot about Spirograph!
<considering>
I wonder what ya'd get from the Wild Mouse?
> I want one, but I didn't get one. I got a capuccino gizmo thingy, and
> a CD of Alfred Deller, and a book by Orhan Pamuk, and socks
<blink!>
Me? I'm still tryin' to figure out whose Sock I'm suppose to be. Please
inform. Thenk you.
> and jammies. Maybe next year.
<annoyed>
Stop tryin' to change the subject.
--
Sylvia (oh, and MERRY CHRISTMAS, Mr. Hope! )
--
Sylvia <--- Supreme Ruler of MW & a Petite Peep
"All power corrupts. Absolute power is kinda neat though."
Sylvia
<...>
> Barbies, puzzles, roller skates, coloring books, and SUPER SPIROGRAPH!
>
> (Not the Stupid Spirograph they have out now either, but the real one
> with pins that you could poke an eye out with.)
Gawd! *No* pins? How lame!
I loved the Spirographs. Those little plastic gear thingys keep showin'
up every once in awhile in the MW Castle and I think, "What the heck is
this? Oh, yeah!"
I considered drawin' somethin' decently with an Etch-A-Sketch to be a
personal challenge. In Central Park they used to have them Spin Art
thingys--they were kinda sorta partially enclosed electric potter's
wheels that held heavy weight paper on card stock. Ya'd set it spinnin'
and drip various colo(u)rs of paint on the petite "canvas", resultin'
in... well, usually in a mess, but you could get some interestin'
results, too.
http://bouncearoundkids.com/bak_site/Portals/0/BAK_Graphics/Spinart1.jpg
Oh, HEY! Remember the CREEPY CRAWLERS? With Plastigoop? Those
ThingMakers were totally cool! I'll bet Mattel's legal department won't
let them sell 'em to kids anymore.
How rude.
--
Sylvia
"Buried deep within every man is a treasure. Unfortunately
to get to it you have to make a big "X" on his back and then
dig it out and he screams and tries to get away."
-- Mr. Archer, http://lawyerworldland.blogspot.com
Sylvia
<...>
>SUPER SPIROGRAPH!
>
> (Not the Stupid Spirograph they have out now either, but the real one
> with pins that you could poke an eye out with.)
<annoyed>
What's with that, anyway? How about the old idea of simply givin' kids
age-appropriate toys?
But, noooooooooo! Now the *whole* class has to suffer!
<selecting third-favorite crayon>
Let's make a list. What really neat, fun toys did we survive?
Format: Toy -- "Dangerous" part(s) -- Potential Eye Injury.
1. Spirograph(s) (the *real* ones).
The Deadly Pins.
Poke yer eye out.
2. "Creepy Crawlers" and other ThingMakers.
Deadly Exposed Hot Metal.
Burn yer eye out.
3. Two foot long battleship wot fiercely launched pointy plastic
missiles and, oddly enough, little plastic barrels.
Deadly Pointy Projectiles.
Poke yer eye out.
4. Chemistry set.
Deadly Masgnesium ribbon (oooooh!).
Burn yer retina out.
5. Mr. Potato Head (the *real* one)
Deadly, Pointy Potato Peep features.
Poke yer eye out with a potato eye.
--
Sylvia <--- had a challenging childhood
Sylvia
> Oh, HEY! Remember the CREEPY CRAWLERS? With Plastigoop?
Lookit! I found an old TV commercial for it!
http://spikepriggen.onlinestoragesolution.com/creepy_crawlers.mov
Ultraviolet
<syl...@cliffhangerREMOVE.com>:
<>
> Let's make a list. What really neat, fun toys did we survive?
<>
I had a crochet hook (poke yer eye out), Hula Hoop (throw yer back
out), eensy Lego pieces to make (?) lights on houses and cars (choke,
choke), a record player with a needle on it (poke finger and bleed to
death if hemophiliac), and heavy books, which you could throw at yer
brother and give him a concussion.
Luckily I didn't have a brother.
$Zero
> It's only words, but words are all "$Zero" <zeroi...@gmail.com> has to
> take your heart away:
>
> > when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
>
> <>
>
> Barbies, puzzles, roller skates, coloring books, and SUPER SPIROGRAPH!
my sister had that.
or maybe it was one of my gazillion cousins.
i don't remember how the thing actually worked, but i do recall all
the designs.
plastic geared wheel inside a bigger geared wheel with little holes to
place your pen into while you spun it over a piece of paper?
> (Not the Stupid Spirograph they have out now either, but the real one
> with pins that you could poke an eye out with.)
i don't remember any pins.
what was that toy with the two "glass" balls on the end of a long
string (that you held in the middle intiatially so that the balls
would rest next to eachother) and then flapped it up and down real
fats to make the balls click wildly back and forth at the top and
bottom?
kabongers or something like that?
i think it actually killed a few kids who somehow hit themselves in
the head in the wrong place.
they were eventually banned, IIRC.
...
OTOH, all of those small colorful marbles everyone had were only a
danger if you tried to swallow too many at once, i suppose.
remember steelies?
those were cool.
i forget what we did with them, i only remember that they were much
bigger than the marbles.
you had yourself a nice bag full of marbles, and a floor, and you were
entertained for quite awhile.
-$Zero...
when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.writing/msg/10932acbef83db9f
Alan Hope
>On Dec 24, 7:58?pm, Ultraviolet <viole...@newsguy.com> wrote:
>> It's only words, but words are all "$Zero" <zeroi...@gmail.com> has to
>> take your heart away:
>> > when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
>> <>
>> Barbies, puzzles, roller skates, coloring books, and SUPER SPIROGRAPH!
>my sister had that.
>or maybe it was one of my gazillion cousins.
>i don't remember how the thing actually worked, but i do recall all
>the designs.
>plastic geared wheel inside a bigger geared wheel with little holes to
>place your pen into while you spun it over a piece of paper?
>> (Not the Stupid Spirograph they have out now either, but the real one
>> with pins that you could poke an eye out with.)
>i don't remember any pins.
They held the guide wheel in place.
>what was that toy with the two "glass" balls on the end of a long
>string (that you held in the middle intiatially so that the balls
>would rest next to eachother) and then flapped it up and down real
>fats to make the balls click wildly back and forth at the top and
>bottom?
Clackers.
>kabongers or something like that?
>i think it actually killed a few kids who somehow hit themselves in
>the head in the wrong place.
No they didn't. Urban legend.
>they were eventually banned, IIRC.
No they weren't. There were calls for them to be banned, but they'd
long gone out of fashion before the grown-ups even became aware of
them.
>...
>OTOH, all of those small colorful marbles everyone had were only a
>danger if you tried to swallow too many at once, i suppose.
>remember steelies?
>those were cool.
Literally.
>i forget what we did with them, i only remember that they were much
>bigger than the marbles.
>you had yourself a nice bag full of marbles, and a floor, and you were
>entertained for quite awhile.
It's a long time since you had a nice bag full of marbles.
--
AH
http://grapes2dot0.blogspot.com
$Zero
> $Zero wrote:
> > when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
>
> Legos. I won a Lego building contest in Amsterdam as a child.
sounds cool.
did you get pictures?
those lego contests reminds me of those elaborate little domino mazes.
not to mention those house of cards thingers we used to make.
how annoying when you spent a good hour carefully placing level after
level, and you were almost all the way out of cards and some friend
opens the front the door, stopping over with great excitement to ask
if you want to go bike riding or whatever, making just enough wind to
flatten everything in half a second.
and you look at the pile of cards for a moment and say:
"yeah, ok, let's go bike riding."
> When I
> got a toy to give to charity this year, it was a big set of Legos to
> build a ferris wheel, a crane, or a drawbridge.
legos are great.
at one point, IIRC, they started making bigger hollow plastic legos
that were the size of cinderblocks. it would probably cost a small
fortune to make a ferris wheel from those babies, not to mention
having to get building permits and whatnot.
-$Zero...
when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.writing/msg/10932acbef83db9f
Publicly Anonomous Use
e50656...@e10g2000prf.googlegroups.com:
That would be the toy God gave me..
(smile),
Boogers..
Woof
"Publicly Anonomous Use" <Public_Email@No_Public_Email.254> wrote in message
news:Xns9A7DCD9B44...@66.250.146.128...
I go along with the little green army guys, but to that I added the Cowboys
and Indians and Planet of the Apes miniature figures. I used them all
together and assigned roles to each, making them superheroes or starship
travelers. The rooms of my starship were created by using the tracks from
my train set to divide up the coffee table.
I also played with the Evel Knievel (sp?) windup toy until my brother put a
hot firecracker inside, launched it, and watched it blow up in mid-air.
Heather/SereneBabe
Easy-bake oven.
Mica (the rock stuff, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mica) and pebbles
with glue, making cool houses out of them with mica windows.
It's strange. I can't think of many toy-toys that made an impression.
I mostly think of the playing I did -- making houses under big pine
trees, using pine cones as "food" and stuff like that.
And, yes, all of these 2007 posts are appearing because of me. It's
All About Me, in fact.
Bernie
Zero wrote:-
>> > when you were a kid, what were your favorite toys?
(Taking a long, long trip down Memory Lane for this.)
In the early to mid l930s -- (yes, during the Great Depression
when my father, like so many others, was on greatly reduced hours
and pay at the local newspaper office) -- store-bought toys were
very much in the "better days ahead" category. So, not to be
outdone, we made our own.
For special days like birthdays and Christmas, therefore, we
mostly clamoured for new paints, sheets of balsa wood and tools,
plus any extra toy soldiers and horses as could be afforded.
Nothing that might be useful was ever thrown away. There was a
special carton for our collection of match boxes, glue, wrapping
papers, foils, balls of string -- *anything*.
From the match boxes we constructed, then lovingly painted,
castles and fortresses (complete with stables) with which we
enacted many a ferocious war.
In season, we flew magnificent kites, "drove" speedy go-carts,
and hurtled down snow-covered slopes on trusty sleds.
In those days I didn't even realise I was a girl (meaning
"different" in more ways than one), until a certain Christmas
when I'd been praying for a train set with lots of tracks to
reach right around the parlour -- then woke to find beside my bed
an exquisitely dressed baby doll lying in its own miniature cot
with exquisitely made pillow-case, sheets and counterpane! I was
so disappointed that in my misery I slowly and deliberately
chewed off all its fingers and toes --OK, I was four years old,
dammit, and didn't realise until much later how much work and
loss of sleep it all took. (But I never got another doll after
that ;).
We played a lot of table games -- which reminds me of one
ingenious "toy"made by rolling a piece of silver foil (still
found in cigarette packets) into a tube around a ball bearing,
then gently squeezing the ends together and placing it into a
matchbox where it was rattled around until the foil was
"hammered" into a surprisingly strong casing -- which could then
be "toddled" down a suitable ramp on the dining table. (We had
races with them, gambling like fury on whose would win. Much
fun.)
There was so very much more, especially after our wonderful
pointer/foxhound-cross dog Prince came into our lives, (he was
the best soccer goal-keeper in town, for one thing), but I think
you get my drift?
Oh, and many thanks for the memories, Zero.
Bernie.