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Low Tech Toys?
hypertex asks: "Remember those cardboard tubes you used to look through and see all patterns the crystals produced? I've been looking for a kaleidoscope (for my 3-yr old) and no brick and mortar retailer seems to carry them. Even finding an knowledgeable employee was difficult. Walmart, Toys R Us, Kay Bee, Discovery and Disney stores are just a few to 'just say no' or 'it's too low tech' How can something so simple fade into obscurity? What else is gone?" What are some of the toys that have such a universal appeal that they should never be removed from the shelves? What toys surprised you when they fell into obscurity and what items have shocked you by their ability to stay on the shelves?
This Christmas I am Passing on My fathers erector sets. YEs Connex Is out there But Nothing compares to the steel Case, Steeel Parts, And Open moters for fun and education. Not to mention It develops an attion span longer than your next kill In a video game.
I have been searching for some old-fashion toys recently myself, for old-time's sake. I have noticed that the big department chains don't even carry those anymore. In fact, they have little beside the highly advertised hot items.
Then I paid a visit to my local dollar stores. Although I haven't being able to find the particular items I was looking for, I did found quiet a few other old-time favorites that I though have gone extinct.
On a side note, you can easily make a kaleidoscope with easy-to-find items... a paper towel tube, 3 reflective serfaces, and some beads coloured paper, and you get yourself a nice new toy. May even be a lot making it with your kids instead of just buying them.
...was always enough for me.
... they must be old-fashioned, they don't seem to have a website) and the like. Unfortunately, they have higher prices.
;-) But the best toys are the ones that "made it" -- my kids play with my old Brio train set, which is a wonder of simplicity, and free.
Yeah, my kids didn't believe me either.
Part of the fun of having kids is getting to regress. I love these old unstructured toys that don't break and don't trap you into ding the same thing over and over ad nauseum. Unfortunately I think many have fallen victim to higher labor costs and the demand for greater margins.
We've emphasized low tech toys (no batteries is ideal) and it hasn't been to hard too find them, especially as these toys have enjoyed a sort of yuppie renaissance. The main problem I have is with the expanding use of plastic and declining quality of the toys, like Lincoln Logs just aren't the same now.
So the higher end toy stores like Zany Brainy and Imaginarium (regional?) have a higher proportion of sturdy, imagination-driven toys like blocks and alphabet jigsaw puzzles (I like the Lights, Camera, Interaction! line available everywhere, even our Borders bookstore
Of course, you can always take refuge in the internet.... Hey, anyone know why they discontinued Weeble Wobbles?
Awsome staying power for what is essentially a spring...
I've always had an urge to get a giant one and let it walk down a step pyramid or similar structure...
It's not that I'm Anti-American - I'm Pro-Freedom
When I was younger (I'm 16 right now), we had a box or two of Lincoln Logs. I loved building elaborate stuff with them, then taking a makeshift "cannon" out of a bunch of crap around the house, and then finding the best point to take out the Lincoln Logs. Just be sure to use the wooden ones, since the plastic ones don't have the imperfections and don't make cool noises when they fall down.
Legos are always fun. Don't get the crappy sets that take forever to put together and then you don't want to take it apart when you're finished. Just get the small little boxes and build up a collection again. I've still got somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 Legos! The programmable robot thingy (I'm working on setting it up in Linux with C or Java) is good fun, especially when it scares the cat!
Slashdot is a waste of time. I enjoy wasting time.
Do they still have the Sears and J.C. Penny's Holiday Catalogs? I remember STUDYING those damn things for hours and days; circling and intialing the things that peaked my interest. I never did get that train I wanted even though I circled it every year.
Some Toy's of yester year. Even the ones that are still around aren't really the same. Actually, can you just buy lego blocks anymore?
* Erector Set's
* Lego Blocks
* Match Box Cars and the race tracks.
* Marbles (golly, I liked marbles)
* Tonka Trucks
* Adventure People
* My first ball glove (not my older brother's hand-me-down)
* Domino Rally
How about just plain old Legos? It is becoming increasingly hard to find a simple bucket of regular colored *non-themed* Legos. Instead we have the commercialized Star Wars and Harry Potter Lego sets all over the place. Sure, you can still use those sets to build whatever you want (especially after you mix them and lose a lot of the pieces like I did when I was little), but when I eventually have kids I would still like to be able to hand them a plain set of colored block and have them go out it with their own imagination, rather than have them be influenced by what the latest movie craze is...