Yesterday, as a reward for sitting still for haircuts, I bought both my boys a new Lego set. I watched, amazed, as my 4 year old perfectly assembled his little Batman, Cat Woman and motorcycle set. I honestly had no idea that he knew how to read the directions and build those things.
It got me thinking about the Legos we had as kids… Remember how they came in big tubs, and you just built whatever you wanted? Now they’re these intricate sets that can be like 300 bucks a pop! My husband and I both muse on how we wish we had those big sets of Legos from our childhoods.
Which toy do you wish you still had from your childhood?
Were you a Lego kid? GI Joe? Shrinky Dinks? Cap guns?
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The Lego Galazy Explorer, one of the first mini figure kits from 1979. I loved putting that together. Most of the parts are still at my parents’ house.
What I’d really like, however, is the Lego Millenium Falcon.
My beloved Jurassic Park T-Rex, which was cruelly stolen at the park when my mum let kids play with my toys and didn’t keep an eye on them. I still miss Trax
Sit n’ Spin and Hippity Hop
When I was really little I had this stuffed Little Miss Piggy toy that I totally loved. I guess I just stopped playing with it, so my parents decided to donate it in one of the big spring cleaning type things we do. I was like totally devastated as only a child could be. I got over it, but it was this running family joke, about how my parents scarred me for life (not really) by giving away my Little Miss Piggy. Then when I went away to college my parents gave me a present and it was the exact same kind of Little Miss Piggy stuffed toy. They’d got it off of ebay or something. It was so awesome.
So I guess the childhood toy I wish I had, I got back.
I was pretty big into the Old West, cowboys & indians stuff, so I liked building with Lincoln Logs.
But I really wish I’d kept my baseball card collection. Speaking of which, check out Josh Wilker’s blog all about baseball cards from his youth and the memories they unearth. http://cardboardgods.net/
The Fischer Price Little People, at the time cylindrical legless/armless choking hazards. I loved them and had a whole town of them.
How about the Weebles? I think those were recalled for choking too.
They don’t fall down either. I had them too but I wondered if they could swim and flushed them down the toilet and I am told I was upset when they did not come back.
Haha!
I remember the Weebles! But somehow I’m remembering them being a little bit too big to fit into a small child’s mouth.
They were definitely much smaller then they are now but some were fatter then others. The Little People were much more of a chocking hazard but I loved them.
I’ve never been without a video game console attached to the TV in my living room once in the last 30 years.
Intellevision>Nintendo 1>Sega Genesis>Playstation 1>Playstation 2>XBox360 AND Playstation 3
Some toys just keep getting better. Funny story too…when I was 9 I begged my uncle to teach me to program computers so I could create video games around my favorite movies (Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, etc)
He felt it would be a waste of time since “there would never be any real money in video games”
Oops! Haha.
My first computer: a Commodore 64, that I programmed in some primitive form of BASIC. The good old days of goto.
Geez, this article reminded me how many toys I had growing up! I can recall a bunch off the top of my head that I really liked. Barbies, My Little Ponies., this circus set that had a train carivan I could cart around and had all these different circus animals with moveable joints.
But one year I woke up Christmas Morning and there was a Dollhouse next to the tree. I could spend hours setting up the rooms and playing “house” with my little figuerines. When I was older I found out that my Mom had spent a number of late nights building it herself for me. I still have it and maybe one day I will get to pass it on to the next generation.
I have 2: the giant Tupperware container of about 20 different Lego sets jumbled together, and my old Playmobil dollhouse with moving pottery wheel. Mainly because you had to assemble the dollhouse yourself, and I’ve always been a fan of building things.
I also kinda miss my brother’s old Matchbox cars. Some of them were actually made of metal, and had hoods or doors that really opened.