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Classic Toys For Christmas?
waterwheel asks: "Christmas is coming, and it's time to start planning our online shopping list for future Slashdot readers. This year I'm having a look at some of the more classic toys - and am finding that not only are some of the classic toys still around - but they are still educational and fun. Two good examples of this are the Rubik's Cube and the time honored gyroscope. The cube has been around for about 20 years, the gyroscope it seems for almost a 100. Both will be under the tree this year. Both of these toys are able to compete with video games - a true test of staying power. This begs the question - what other classic toys do you remember from your youth that are still fun enough that kids will play with them today?"
Now I know what's under the Christmas tree! Not to hurt your feelings, but I really do like the video games. When you're not looking, I'll just move the stickers on the Rubik's Cube.
Oh, and mom hates it when you use "begs the question" on Slashdot. It just starts a whole "that's not the meaning" discussion that no one cares about.
Nuff Said
..which just shows that the human brain is ill-adapted for thinking and was probably designed for cooling the blood-T P
What other classic toys do you remember from your youth that are still fun enough that kids will play with them today?
Firearms.
Indy Media Watch-Proctologist of the Internet
This game entertained me well into High School for no apparent reason. There's really no skill to it, but trash talk and rematches kept it going for hours on end.
Not the plastic tipped ones either...
Give the kid the box. He'll make a fort and have hours of fun, and you get yours too.
"Would you, could you, with a goat?" Dr Seuss
Nah, LEGO!
Then your 8 year old can step on sharp blocks in the middle of the night just like you used to!
Trolling is a art,
Girls
Oh wait, I'm on slashdot... nevermind.
It's not a classic, but the Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 is a fun toy for younger children, and surprisingly for a lot of older girls (13-18) as well. Just straddle the broom's comfortable girth, activate the magic vibrating switch, and away you go for blissful sessions (about 15-35 minutes, varies) of fantasy fun!
im buying my kids handguns.
Can't..... resist..... desire... too... strong
When i was a kid all i got for christmas was a lump of coal and a kick up the arse. Then for dinner our mother and our father would kill us with a breadknife and dance on our graves singing Hallelujah.
You tell that to kids today and they won't believe you
Lawn Darts
What other classic toys do you remember from your youth that are still fun enough that kids will play with them today?
Coal. You insensitive clod.
Tech, life, family, faith: Give me a visit
Well hello lego nazi, what else do you do for kicks.
what other classic toys do you remember from your youth that are still fun enough that kids will play with them today?
Power outlets, broken glass and matches.
Dude, the clear pieces were awesome because of that. I could always see where the pieces were, but my parents couldn't. "OW!"
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
Stratego was also good because it didn't seem to cultivate the hatred among my friends that Risk did. We've ended marathon Risk games in fistfights, comparing each other to Hitler and Stalin. We may take it a little too seriously.
--trb
Wow, Burgermeister Meisterburger reads Slashdot!
Isn't everyone forgetting the greatest toy ever? The one always advertised during Ren and Stimpy cartoons? Log!!! It's log! It's log! It's big it's heavy it's wood! It's log! It's log! It's better than bad, it's good!
Dear diary: Today I stuffed some dolls full of dead rats I put in the blender.
Dude...this is Slashdot. You're a dork just for knowing about this place. Not only that, but you've registered, posted many comments, and obtained excellent karma. You too are a dork, just learn to accept it and you will lead a happier life.
I got mine in 3rd grade.
I solved in my 2nd year of university.
Perservere, you will eventually get it!
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
So many hours of happy tinkering. I liked the circuit to give your victim an electric shock. I still remember my dad's reaction...
And now, I'm sat here designing an RF T/R switch for an MRI scanner. Maybe it did teach me something.
Guess Santa always passed by your house, huh?
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
You can still buy just a big tub of assorted bricks and pieces.
:)
As far as the little pre-make sets go, they are kind of irritating, but the kids love them. They always beg for the little 10 piece sets, they think the star wars ones are really cool. The funny thing is, 2 days after they get a new set, it end up being all mixed up with the other sets, and they use them all together to build some totally fantastic spaceships. It's kind of funny to see a spaceship occupied by two Darth Vaders with Luke wearing a baseball cap between them.
But speaking about classic toys, has anybody seen an erector set lately? The one with all the flat perforated metal pieces and gazzilion litle tiny bolts?
AccountKiller
The plural of sheep is lego in Europe? You guys are wierd.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Ball.
Caution: Happy Fun Ball may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.
Happy Fun Ball Contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.
Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.
HFB
Always remember to remove one of the 2-corner (as opposed to 3-corner) pieces and put it in backwards. And the scramble the cube so they don't catch it. Kids love when you do that!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Get a wrist-rocket style slingshot. This is the type
that has a wrist brace to allow for more power.
To go with it, get some marbles (cheap) and some
3/8" steel balls (better, and lead-free).
A machete is fun.
A hatchet (hand axe) is fun.
A blowgun is fun.
A crossbow is fun. You can get a compact one
that will take normal-sized darts.
See a pattern here? If the consumer product safety
commision or law enforcement would get nervous,
you've identified a fun toy.
Plutonium. Generally they find the most toxic substances possible to put in kids' toys. Just in case.
Fix Your Own TV - RiddledTV.com Avoid the Landfill
It's a tradition!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
packaged sets are awesome. They had some when i was a kid (the 80s, but I'm kinda jealous of what they have nowadays. Me and my younger brother would always build what the instructions said the first time we played it, and then it would just all end up in one big box to be used for our own creations at a later date. But those instructions are important, they help prepare childern for the future. They gotta be able to follow picture instructions to assemble their IKEA furniture in college.
For some reason, applying vaseline to my toys to "improve the 'feel'" sounds vaguely wrong, let alone my kids' toys...
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
I'm an ant, you insensitive clod!
mbbac
Best. Troll. Ever.
I tip my hat to you, sir!
"Just once, I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets." -- The Brigadier, Dr. Who
Kids today are far too coddled. They need to play in weed-infested vacant lots where they can get a chance to play with rusty pieces of metal, weathered 2x4s with nails in them, and construction debris.
I remember dog crap playing a big part in street play in my childhood. No one picked up after their dogs back then, nor leashed them. Dog crap could be hurled at other kids, or rubbed into item which were then handed, all innocent-like, to other kids. At the Fourth of July, toys loaded with both fireworks and dog crap were a source of excitement and an incentive to great speed and agility.
To heck with your Gameboy Advances and LEGO Star Wars Episode VII sets. An old washing machine can with a little imagination serve as a time machine, and a discarded refrigerator makes a SWELL gas chamber for the final scene in Cops n' Robbers games and that actually kind of works for real!
Stefan
no no no you'll never solve it like that, you have to do alternate corners... no not so fast, okay, now spin the middle side 'topwise'
I collect them in 55 gallon drums in my backyard!
"No beer until you finish your tequila!" -Leela's Dad
Toys represent everything that's wrong with modern western civilization. They enforce the notion that there is a difference between "work" and "play".
I guess the producers at EA read Slashdot after all...
I had a die-cast metal gyroscope when I was a kid. One day I wound 15 feet of fishing line onto it, tied the end to a door knob and ran accross the room. I no sooner had put it on the floor when it started making this freakish humm - before I could reflect on the drawbacks of overclocking my Gyroscope it shattered and the spokes shot off in all directions - including two into my lower legs drawing blood. Some stuck into a pine bench accross the room, and some into the wall. Awesome - I'll never forget that. I think it must have been like starting the first nuclear chain reaction... "how high can we rev this sucker?"
you do realize you just posted your sister's photo, name, job and location to thousands of desperate single geeks? is this some kind of subconscious retribution for her getting you shocked?