What were/are your favorite toys? [Archive]

Evo

Nov27-04, 11:43 PM

Moonbear got me to thinking about the toys I played with when I was little. What were some of your favorite toys when you were growing up?

Here are some that I played with the most.

Superball, colorforms, lincoln logs, etch a sketch, spirograph, creepy crawlers, erector set, lego, barbie, Mr potato head (back when you used a REAL potato) cootie, scrabble, monopoly, play doh, thingmaker set, silly putty, slinky, The Game of Life. My absolute favorite was my Flinstone playset, it was the entire town of Bedrock, it was in mint condition until I gave it to my kids to play with and they destroyed it. :cry:

I forgot Water Wiggle.

Moonbear

Nov27-04, 11:52 PM

One of my favorites is what I just got my nephew (one of the many things I just got him...I'm vying for favorite auntie)...weebles! They weeble and they wobble, but they don't fall down!

I was feeling very nostalgic in the toy store today. Some of the best toys are still made. Cooties and Don't Break the Ice. I liked Operation. Creepy Crawlers was definitely a favorite, especially since everyone else thought it was gross that I wanted to make bugs! Oh, heck, yeah, that whole list Evo put up (um, except Mr Potato Head was a plastic potato by then). Oh, and Toss Across. I loved board games, but didn't get to play much...the only one I had to play those with was my sister (my parents weren't exactly the get involved and play games together as a family type), and since I always won, she would start to cheat. It wasn't much fun then. I had a science lab kit that came complete with a preserved frog that my parents wouldn't let me dissect :frown: I was just dying to get to cut it up and find out what was inside. You can't believe how happy I was when I finally got to 7th grade and they let us dissect a frog in science class! I think I was the ONLY one who was looking forward to it. :biggrin:

Math Is Hard

Nov27-04, 11:53 PM

Janitor

Nov27-04, 11:54 PM

I too had a spirograph. I also snuck my brother's Erector Set out of his closet now and then.

Do plastic models count as toys? I glued together and painted several 1/32nd scale models of World War II fighter aircraft. But the most satisifying of all may have been the moon bus model from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Janitor

Nov27-04, 11:56 PM

The Slinky was great fun too, until that danged Jack S. across the street took it and ruined it by stretching out the wires so that it no longer acted right. I think he was the one who tore the leg off of my Gumby too. :cry:

Evo

Nov27-04, 11:58 PM

Do plastic models count as toys? I glued together and painted several 1/32nd scale models of World War II fighter aircraft. But the most satisifying of all may have been the moon bus model from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.How could I forget? I used to spend countless hours sanding, gluing and painting model airplanes and cars. I even had a couple displayed at school. My brother got jealous and after I brought them home he and his friend heated up ice picks and poked holes all over them and then told me they were hit by enemy fire. :frown:

fourier jr

Nov28-04, 12:02 AM

spirograph, big wheels, lego

no nintendo or atari, but some of my friends had that stuff

Math Is Hard

Nov28-04, 12:03 AM

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 12:05 AM

Wow, most of the above less the yucky girly stuff. :biggrin:

I also had this really cool cannon that fired plastic projectiles at a wall that blew up [spring action] when hit. That and toy dart guns were favorites. I really got hooked on walkie-talkies as well.

And, don't sink my battleship!!!

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:07 AM

How could I forget? I used to spend countless hours sanding, gluing and painting model airplanes and cars. I even had a couple displayed at school. My bother got jealous and after I brought them home he and his friend heated up ice picks and poked holes all over them and then told me they were hit by enemy fire. :frown:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: That made me laugh so HARD!!! That's the sort of thing I'd do to my sister's toys...well, not quite...I didn't do anything to permanently damage them, but she'd find her favorite stuffed toy (that I really liked too...a purple rabbit with a big buck tooth that looked so goofy you couldn't help but love it) bound and gagged, or with aluminum foil braces on its tooth. She had some sappy name for it, like cottontail, I can't even remember, because I called it Fang, and then even my parents would call it Fang...that rabbit was never the same again. :rofl:

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:08 AM

That is just SO messed up! :mad:
I hope you got revenge. :devil:No, my mother always condoned everything he did saying he was "just a boy". He destroyed everything I owned, when he wasn't knocking me unconscious, breaking my arm, knocking my teeth out and shooting me with pellet & beebee guns that is. I don't talk to him.

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 12:11 AM

Math Is Hard

Nov28-04, 12:11 AM

No, my mother always condoned everything he did saying he was "just a boy". He destroyed everything I owned, when he wasn't knocking me unconscious, breaking my arm, knocking my teeth out and shooting me with pellet & beebee guns that is. I don't talk to him.

GOOD LORD!! I thank my lucky stars that I didn't get any siblings until I went off to college.

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:11 AM

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: That made me laugh so HARD!!! That's the sort of thing I'd do to my sister's toys...well, not quite...I didn't do anything to permanently damage them, but she'd find her favorite stuffed toy (that I really liked too...a purple rabbit with a big buck tooth that looked so goofy you couldn't help but love it) bound and gagged, or with aluminum foil braces on its tooth. She had some sappy name for it, like cottontail, I can't even remember, because I called it Fang, and then even my parents would call it Fang...that rabbit was never the same again. :rofl: :rofl: Now that's FUNNY!!!!! :rofl:

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 12:13 AM

told me they were hit by enemy fire.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I'm sorry Evo but that's hilarious.

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:16 AM

SEA MONKEYS!!!
and mr. potato head (of course!), lite brite, magic rocks, erector set, inchworm, barrel of monkeys, legos, and hot wheels and matchbox cars (I wish I still had those - they'd be worth some money now).Ooooh, those are great ones too!!

Ivan, slot cars were so much fun! I am remembering so many more toys now! Balsa wood wind up planes!!!!! Do they still make those?

MIH, you were an only child until college?

I remember my youger sister's Transformers. Those were cool.

I forgot paper dolls.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:18 AM

Oh wow, I just remember my electric slot cars. I got my uncle's old set at about age ten. Now those were cool!!! I also liked to play with the rubber-band powered balsa wood airplanes. Then again, torturing my brother and sisters was equally fun. :devil:

Oh, that reminds me...I had a toy, I don't even know what it was called, it had these little dragster cars that were the same on both sides (top and bottom), you'd line up 4 of them, and race them down the track. At each end of the track, there was a battery operated contraption that pulled the car in from the bottom and shot it out the top to go the other way, along with a lap counter on one side. So, you could race your cars. I remember the sound the cars made as the whooshed through that turn that flipped them in the other direction (That's why they were the same top and bottom). I just loved that toy.

Oh, and does anyone remember kerbangers? Two hard balls at the end of strings that you clack together until your mom screams for you to stop because you've given her a headache. They were really popular when I was a kid, and the trick was to get them to clack both up and down and see how many times in a row you could keep it going.

And I can never forget the old classic...hula hoops!

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:20 AM

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I'm sorry Evo but that's hilarious.Yeah, he was very clever at covering his tracks. :grumpy: Like when he drew a nasty scar across the face of my Patty Play Pal doll with a Magic Marker and told me she had been in a car wreck. :frown:

tribdog

Nov28-04, 12:23 AM

one toy I didn't have when I was young but got recently is the "Airzooka" everybody needs one of these neatest toy I've ever seen.
I hated weebles. (last name's Whipple) Whipple's wobble but they don't fall down~jerks
magnets and magnifying glasses
whipple balls, i mean, wiffle balls
all the electronic handheld games-football,racing,baseball, basketball.
He-Man, skeletor, Masters of the Universe
Uncle Wiggly
skateboards
KISS dolls
chinese checkers suck
Sno-Cone machine
Green Machine
playing doctor with the neighbor girl-Cammy D.~sigh.
tape recorder

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 12:23 AM

kerbangers knocked out a lot of teeth. Those were really dangerous.

I know the cars that you mention...crud...I can't think of the name. Those were cool.

What was that water thingy called? You hooked up the hose and it darted all around. It was for summer water play.

...and Slip and Slides!!!

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:24 AM

Yeah, he was very clever at covering his tracks. :grumpy: Like when he drew a nasty scar across the face of my Patty Play Pal doll with a Magic Marker and told me she had been in a car wreck. :frown:

Sounds like that kid in Toy Story 2...what's his name? Sam? The evil one that destroyed all his sister's dolls. That one, though, does sound like a typical boy. I just magic markered make-up onto my dolls ( :rolleyes: how girly of me!)

Janitor

Nov28-04, 12:24 AM

...Oh, and does anyone remember kerbangers? Two hard balls at the end of strings that you clack together until your mom screams for you to stop because you've given her a headache. They were really popular when I was a kid, and the trick was to get them to clack both up and down and see how many times in a row you could keep it going...

Around these parts, they were known as 'Clackers.' Lawyers put a sudden stop to them. The resin balls were capable of fragmenting and lodging a chip in a kid's eye.

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 12:26 AM

Yeah, he was very clever at covering his tracks. :grumpy: Like when he drew a nasty scar across the face of my Patty Play Pal doll with a Magic Marker and told me she had been in a car wreck. :frown:

Okay now I'm really sorry but I really like your brother!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:26 AM

Oh, and does anyone remember kerbangers? Two hard balls at the end of strings that you clack together until your mom screams for you to stop because you've given her a headache. They were really popular when I was a kid, and the trick was to get them to clack both up and down and see how many times in a row you could keep it going.I used to call them clackers. :biggrin:

And I can never forget the old classic...hula hoops!I was never coordinated enough to keep one going for long. I couldn't do anything with my Duncan Yo-Yo's either. :redface:

There was a toy with a plastic ring that went around your ankle that had a plastic string with a ball at the end that you were supposed to swing around and jump over...couldn't do that either. :blushing:

Math Is Hard

Nov28-04, 12:27 AM

Uncle Wiggly

I don't know if "playing with Uncle Wiggly" counts as a toy. :rofl:

tribdog

Nov28-04, 12:29 AM

Oh, that reminds me...I had a toy, I
Oh, and does anyone remember kerbangers? Two hard balls at the end of strings that you clack together until your mom screams for you to stop because you've given her a headache. They were really popular when I was a kid, and the trick was to get them to clack both up and down and see how many times in a row you could keep it going.
!
We called them klackers. Or wrist busters.
I never should have seen those Australian Aborigines throwing something that looked a lot like my klackers. The first time I went hunting with my klackers I spun them over my head and smacked myself in the forehead. The second time I tried to throw them around my brother's legs as he ran away. smacked him in the elbow. didn't get to throw them a third time.

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:30 AM

Okay now I'm really sorry but I really like your brother!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:I can see the two of you getting along great. He was also a motorcycle enthusiast. He actualy made up to me starting when I was 16 and he is an absolute riot, although I still have a bit of a grudge about the first 16 years. :devil:

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:30 AM

Around these parts, they were known as 'Clackers.' Lawyers put a sudden stop to them. The resin balls were capable of fragmenting and lodging a chip in a kid's eye.

Stupid lawyers, ruin the fun for everyone. :mad: I never heard of anyone breaking one of the balls; we did hit ourselves with them a lot, but you learned quickly to hold them at arm's length.

Janitor

Nov28-04, 12:31 AM

I had a metal gyroscope for a while. Wind a string up around the shaft and pull hard on it to spin it up, and for as much as a minute or so it would stand on end. (Not to be confused with a top, which was cool in its own right.)

Which reminds me--a neighbor kid had Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. Pull on your robot's strings and make it knock the head off of the other robot.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:31 AM

I don't know if "playing with Uncle Wiggly" counts as a toy. :rofl:

Sounds more like an adult toy than one for kids to play with. :biggrin:

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 12:31 AM

but you learned quickly to hold them at arm's length.

oh. :uhh:

tribdog

Nov28-04, 12:32 AM

I loved my duncan butterfly yo-yo. For about 2 hours, then it was so tangled up that the only think it was good for was hunting with, Aborigine style.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:34 AM

I loved my duncan butterfly yo-yo. For about 2 hours, then it was so tangled up that the only think it was good for was hunting with, Aborigine style.

I never really got the knack for yo-yos. I managed to make them go up and down, but not much more. Mine lived in the bottom of the closet...probably the only toy that was actually in the closet where it was supposed to be.

tribdog

Nov28-04, 12:34 AM

best toy: empty refridgerator box

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:36 AM

Paddle balls. Those wooden paddles with the rubber band stapled to it and attached to a small rubber ball on the other end.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:36 AM

best toy: empty refridgerator box

Or a few blankets thrown over the kitchen chairs to make a fortress! Or better yet, throw the blankets over the lawn chairs and launch a water balloon attack from behind the fortress.

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:37 AM

best toy: empty refridgerator boxWe used to cut doors and windows into them to make forts.

Do kids now days do any of this stuff or do they just sit glued to their video games all day?

Whatever happened to the good old days when children were given dangerous toys to play with. Talk about weeding out the weak and clumsy. :rolleyes:

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:38 AM

Paddle balls. Those wooden paddles with the rubber band stapled to it and attached to a small rubber ball on the other end.

If they outlawed kerbangers, or clackers, surely that contraption ought to be banned with it! I really used to bonk myself in the head with that one. I learned it's much easier if you cut the elastic shorter and restaple it to the board. Whoever came up with that idea was a genius though...take a small piece of wood, staple an elastic and rubber ball to it, and make a fortune!

tribdog

Nov28-04, 12:38 AM

blanket forts it the kitchen are awesome. I might make one right now.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:41 AM

blanket forts it the kitchen are awesome. I might make one right now.

Those were also good places for playing "If I show you mine, you show me yours." :rofl:

tribdog

Nov28-04, 12:44 AM

that settles it. I'm building a fort. coming over?

tribdog

Nov28-04, 12:45 AM

Mouse Trap

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:46 AM

We can have a sleep over and make blanket forts. I'll bring my easy bake oven and cook.

Moonbear, I'm shocked. :surprised

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:47 AM

that settles it. I'm building a fort. coming over?

:rofl: There's definitely more than one way to read that sentence. :rofl:

Not to change the subject too much, but am I the only one who would find a fort in the kitchen romantic?

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:47 AM

mousetrap was fun.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:49 AM

We can have a sleep over and make blanket forts. I'll bring my easy bake oven and cook.

Moonbear, I'm shocked. :surprised

I got my start studying anatomy early. Went well with the doctor kit.

Oh, yes, Easy Bake Ovens!!! My sister had an Easy Bake Microwave...I don't think it cooked those little pans of mystery batter any faster than my oven though.

Math Is Hard

Nov28-04, 12:49 AM

mousetrap was fun.
I found that using live mice added to the thrill and challenge of the game. The cats rather liked it, too.

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:50 AM

Not to change the subject too much, but am I the only one who would find a fort in the kitchen romantic?I think it would be great. We used to make tents over the bed. I wouldn't mind one of those. :approve:

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:50 AM

I found that using live mice added to the thrill and challenge of the game. The cats rather liked it, too.

That's just pure evil! :rofl: I liked that game too.

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 12:55 AM

Wheelo wheelo
a wonderful wonderful toy...

Evo

Nov28-04, 12:56 AM

I got my start studying anatomy early. Went well with the doctor kit. I used to have play doctor kits. I loved giving people injections. :biggrin:

I always wanted a chemistry set, but my mother was afraid I would blow up the house. :frown:

I remember when they first came out with those play baby bottles where the milk would look like it disappeared. (I have always been easily amused).

BTW, I loved weebles, I named my dog Weeble.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:59 AM

BTW, I loved weebles, I named my dog Weeble.

I just like saying weeble. I never just called them weebles though, I always called them weeble wobbles.

Oh, and I had one of those Fisher Price barns, that when you opened the door, it would go, "moooooo."

Evo

Nov28-04, 01:01 AM

When I was little, we used to build scooters. Nail a few boards together, take a roller skate apart and nail the two halves to the front and rear bottom of the base. Kids nowdays have no idea what it means to lose the key to your roller skates.

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 01:01 AM

What did the bull say when asked why the cows all fell over but not him.

"We-bulls wobble but we don't fall down."

Evo

Nov28-04, 01:03 AM

Anyone have one of those toy submarines that were powered with baking soda?

Monster Bubble was cool too.

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 01:06 AM

Uncle Miltons Ant Farm anyone? Not a toy but a favorite. I was really into the S. Ca, large, red ants. Potato bug ant wars were also great fun!

Math Is Hard

Nov28-04, 01:06 AM

hmmm.. I wonder if M-80s count as toys? I did use them to blow up green plastic army men, so maybe..

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 01:07 AM

Anyone have one of those toy submarines that were powered with baking soda?

OMG yes!!! That really takes me back.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 01:08 AM

hmmm.. I wonder if M-80s count as toys? I did use them to blow up green plastic army men, so maybe..

Are you sure you were a girl? :tongue2:

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 01:09 AM

I wonder if M-80s count as toys?

Back then they were. And wrist rockets too. I did some really bad things... :devil:

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 01:11 AM

Uncle Miltons Ant Farm anyone? Not a toy but a favorite. I was really into the S. Ca, large, red ants. Potato bug ant wars were also great fun!

I caught my first boyfriend in Kindergarten when I helped him catch bugs for his bug jar (he had a very elaborate looking plastic one, not just a mayonaisse jar with some holes poked in the lid). :approve:
(Yeah, I guess I started pretty young).

Evo

Nov28-04, 01:12 AM

What did the bull say when asked why the cows all fell over but not him.

"We-bulls wobble but we don't fall down." :rofl:

I had an ant farm!! Do they sell those anymore?

Math Is Hard

Nov28-04, 01:12 AM

Are you sure you were a girl? :tongue2:
LOL! :rofl: Just a southern redneck girl. Fireworks could be bought about 10 minutes away just north of the state line.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 01:13 AM

:rofl:

I had an ant farm!! Do they sell those anymore?

They DO!!! I saw them in the store today too...Uncle Milton's Ant Farm, so even the same brand! I decided I need to be patient and wait another few years before my nephew will appreciate that as a gift.

Evo

Nov28-04, 01:15 AM

Slingshots were fun.

Who here (as a child) had a

- microscope

-telescope

-invisible man or woman model that they built

Math Is Hard

Nov28-04, 01:16 AM

:rofl:

I had an ant farm!! Do they sell those anymore?
Wait til next summer, Evo, and I'll send you all the ants you want!

Janitor

Nov28-04, 01:20 AM

...

-invisible man or woman model that they built

I had an invisible dog. A boxer, I think the breed was. The outer skin was clear plastic. I obsessed over what color to paint the various organs. :biggrin:

You know, some websites use a flaming pie (?) icon to indicate an ultra-hot thread.

Evo

Nov28-04, 01:20 AM

Wait til next summer, Evo, and I'll send you all the ants you want!Don't forget skunks will take care of that problem!

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 01:23 AM

Slingshots were fun.

Who here (as a child) had a

- microscope

-telescope

-invisible man or woman model that they built

I had a microscope. Didn't understand the concept of stuff needing to be really thin to let enough light through to see it. It was an old one, one my dad had from when he was a kid, with a mirror instead of a lamp. I should ask my mom if she still has it around somewhere...it would be cool to display in my office now.

Evo

Nov28-04, 01:26 AM

Thinking about my childhood reminded me of "fizzies", fruit flavored carbonated tablets that you dropped into a glass of water to make a drink.

I don't remember the invisible dog. :frown: I would have liked one.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 01:29 AM

Thinking about my childhood reminded me of "fizzies", fruit flavored carbonated tablets that you dropped into a glass of water to make a drink.

Sounds like Alka Seltzer. :rofl: I was in the Pop Rocks generation.

Evo

Nov28-04, 01:36 AM

Sounds like Alka Seltzer. :rofl: I was in the Pop Rocks generation.You kids missed out on some neat stuff. :biggrin:

omicron

Nov28-04, 01:53 AM

Slingshots were fun.

Who here (as a child) had a

- microscope

-telescope

-invisible man or woman model that they built
When I was 10, my aunt bought me an "edu science" set. It came with a microscope and a telescope. The telescope was powerful enough to see craters on the moon. But both aren't that powerful though.

check

Nov28-04, 02:02 AM

play doh when I was about 6 or younger, but I was all about lego up until 6th grade. lol
Lego is THE BEST toy ever.

Tsu

Nov28-04, 02:37 AM

Fizzies were AWESOME! :biggrin: So were Pixie Stix.

Anyone mention Operation yet?

Jacks, jump rope, bike, skateboard, any surfboard I could get my hands on.

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 10:13 AM

I caught my first boyfriend in Kindergarten when I helped him catch bugs for his bug jar (he had a very elaborate looking plastic one, not just a mayonaisse jar with some holes poked in the lid). :approve:
(Yeah, I guess I started pretty young).

Once you've played doctor, jacks just never seemed as interesting.

I got my first kiss from a pretty girl while under the pig at nursery school; from Donna Butler. [I can't believe I still remember her name. It must have been love]. :!!)

Cod

Nov28-04, 10:33 AM

GI Joe was by far my favorite toys. I had so many different guys as well as numerous vehicles. Great times!

meowxorz

Nov28-04, 12:40 PM

My absolute favorite was my Flinstone playset, it was the entire town of Bedrock, it was in mint condition until I gave it to my kids to play with and they destroyed it. :cry:

Haha... I remember that thing! It had the big plastic mat that had all the roads and grass, and you put the plastic "rock" houses in the lots... and yeah.

I don't remember destroying it, though. Lies! It's all lies!

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 12:47 PM

Haha... I remember that thing! It had the big plastic mat that had all the roads and grass, and you put the plastic "rock" houses in the lots... and yeah.

I don't remember destroying it, though. Lies! It's all lies!

Just blame it on your little sister. :biggrin:

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 12:48 PM

Hi Evo's daughter!!! I was out of town when you first popped in.

We all love your mom.

Ivan Seeking

Nov28-04, 12:53 PM

...and some of the stories that we have heard about you are just too much to believe! You have a lot to explain.

:biggrin:

meowxorz

Nov28-04, 01:02 PM

Eeeh.... well, I guess I'll have to address each anecdote as it arises. But for now I'll just go with "innocent until proven guilty."

Gokul43201

Nov28-04, 02:23 PM

One of my favorites was a game called Run Yourself Ragged (http://www.inthe80s.com/toys/runyourselfragged0.shtml). I just looked it up and apparently, it's now sold as "Screwball Scramble".

Evo

Nov28-04, 02:24 PM

Eeeh.... well, I guess I'll have to address each anecdote as it arises. But for now I'll just go with "innocent until proven guilty."All I know is that I can only find a few pieces. The mat vanished. :cry:

tribdog

Nov28-04, 02:41 PM

Remind me not to go to sleep in the middle of a conversation. You guys added 4 pages to this thread rather quickly. Here's a good make it yourself toy. Long cardboard tube carpeting comes on, inner tube, nails, walnuts. You want an amazing slingshot here it is.
Ivan, you kissed Donna Butler under the pig too? Actually my first was Teresa Jones. We were forced to kiss behind the school and I went the rest of my life with feelings for her. 4th grade-kiss, 6th grade dance, senior prom, sex after graduation about once a year for the first 5 years. It's probably a good thing she's a thousand miles away, she was trouble. I always remember her as the cute 4th grader, no matter how much she's changed. And I refuse to call her Jeff now.

Integral

Nov28-04, 04:39 PM

Slingshots were fun.

Who here (as a child) had a

- microscope

-telescope

-invisible man or woman model that they built
All of the above

My most anticipated toy was a Cap Gun for my birthday, since it was just a few days before the 4th of July, I was armed and ready!

There are lots of memories in this Thread!

Gokart & Forts! OMG

My best friend (our backyards were joined at a corner only, of course the field/orchard which we had to cut through to get back and forth was owned by the neighborhood witch, but that is another story!) Ok, now back to my friend! His dad was a logger/mechanic/inventor/drunk who had a shop stuffed full of amazing mechanical junk. Our go-carts started as EVO described boards with wheels (guess where we found some old soap box derby wheel!) we eventually went motorized with motors found in that wonderfully old shop!) Our neighborhood was a boys dream land, we lived at the top of a bluff, down one street was a steep hill with a 90 degree corner (or into the driveway and front door of a Ma and Pa Brady style shack).

Oh yeah, Forts!! as I said my Buddy's dad was collector of amazing junk, this included a pile of 10'-12' long edges of "peeler cores" a peeler core is what is left of a log that has been peeled into veneer for manufacture of plywood. So someone must have squared off a bunch of these leaving boards were flat on side and radiused on the other. We used this to make forts of all sizes and shapes, these were forts could hold off attacks of dirt clods, apples, and well the imagination was king.. God what fun we had.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I think my buddy should be considered for co-inventor of the skate board. The first I ever hear or saw of one was a 2x4 and an old pair of skates (the key was long gone!) This was somewhere between 1960 and '63. I was never able to master them but Everette Alan was a master.

Evo

Nov28-04, 05:19 PM

Gokart & Forts! OMG

EDIT: Oh yeah, I think my buddy should be considered for co-inventor of the skate board. The first I ever hear or saw of one was a 2x4 and an old pair of skates (the key was long gone!) This was somewhere between 1960 and '63. I was never able to master them but Everette Alan was a master.I have not seen a single kid in this neighborhood attempt to build anything, ever. I rarely even see a kid outside anymore.

Integral

Nov28-04, 05:31 PM

I have not seen a single kid in this neighborhood attempt to build anything, ever. I rarely even see a kid outside anymore.
Same here, I guess I just grew up in a different era. 99% of my childhood memories are outside. Few involve store bought toys.

I was lucky to be brought up in, as I already said, a kid wonderland. Not in the country, but not in a city, open land and even a nearby river for fishing and swimming. If I could do it over again I don't think I'd change a thing.

jcsd

Nov28-04, 05:37 PM

I only had a lump of coal to play with when I was a child :frown:

Integral

Nov28-04, 05:44 PM

I only had a lump of coal to play with when I was a child :frown:
In my neighborhood that would have become a projectile!

jcsd

Nov28-04, 05:46 PM

In my neighborhood that would have become a projectile!

I had to share it with my 12 brothers and sisters though
:cry:

Integral

Nov28-04, 05:54 PM

I had to share it with my 12 brothers and sisters though
:cry:
My older brother "shared" many apples and Cherries and other projectiles with me!
He threw, I dodged!

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 06:01 PM

I have not seen a single kid in this neighborhood attempt to build anything, ever. I rarely even see a kid outside anymore.

We didn't build stuff, but we had great fun using our imaginations. We could play 9 innings of baseball without a bat, ball, or glove. We used trees and shrubs as bases. Ocassionally there was a heated argument about whether a fly ball was a home run or pop fly. But, it was hard to take your ball and go home when there was no ball, so we had to just go on with the game.

I also had a lemonade stand with no stand and no lemonade. :biggrin: My neighbor and I were standing outside yelling, "Lemonade, 10 cents!" when some jogger stopped to buy some. :blushing: We had to admit we didn't have any, but we did get him a glass of water because we felt bad. :rofl:

Averagesupernova

Nov28-04, 06:28 PM

Those were also good places for playing "If I show you mine, you show me yours." :rofl:

I still try to play that game whenever I get a chance. :biggrin:

Not under some homemade fort in my kitchen though. But, :devil: I might mention this thread we have going sometime to a potential 'victim' and see what happens. :devil:

tribdog

Nov28-04, 06:57 PM

We didn't build stuff, but we had great fun using our imaginations. We could play 9 innings of baseball without a bat, ball, or glove.
Now that's just crazy.
I'm always the popular adult in the neighborhood cause I make a lot of stuff. I let the kids have it when I'm done, they don't realize that I'm making stuff for myself. Example: I made an extending boxing glove like you see in cartoons.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 07:53 PM

I still try to play that game whenever I get a chance. :biggrin:

Not under some homemade fort in my kitchen though. But, :devil: I might mention this thread we have going sometime to a potential 'victim' and see what happens. :devil:

Well, if you don't want to make a homemade one, I saw a "Color Your Own Fort" in the store today. It's basically blank cardboard with markers. :rofl: The sad thing is, parents will be spending the $10 on it when they could get a free refrigerator box from behind the appliance store. :confused:

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 07:54 PM

Now that's just crazy.
I'm always the popular adult in the neighborhood cause I make a lot of stuff. I let the kids have it when I'm done, they don't realize that I'm making stuff for myself. Example: I made an extending boxing glove like you see in cartoons.

Did I ever claim to be sane???? Huh, huh, did I? Muwahahahaha! :tongue2:

Les Sleeth

Nov28-04, 09:05 PM

I also had a lemonade stand with no stand and no lemonade. :biggrin: My neighbor and I were standing outside yelling, "Lemonade, 10 cents!" when some jogger stopped to buy some. :blushing: We had to admit we didn't have any, but we did get him a glass of water because we felt bad. :rofl:

Too funny. I was given a woodburning set when I was about 6. Included in it was flat pieces of wood with drawings on them you could follow and burn. Nobody explained woodburning to me, so one day I just took those pieces of wood with drawings on them and went around to the neighbors selling them. They, of course, were nice to a little kid and bought them.

That summer was most eventful, I'll never forget it. My favorite toys were all discovered or homemade. I was born in East St. Louis, and lived there in the early '50s in a very old neighborhood. On the way home from school earlier that year, my sister and I had found an abandoned house which was packed with things. A lot of it was in a huge pile on the living room floor for some weird reason. We'd climb through a back window and spend hours sifting through that pile, and exploring the rest of the house. Great fun.

My parents moved to an apartment above a cafe. My partner in crime (sis) and me discovered it had an attic. In the attic were little wax paper bags, thousands of them. We found we could fill them with water, and bomb kids who walked by our apartment on the way home from school. :devil:

Soon after that my dad gave me a bike. He called it a "hotrod" because it didn't have fenders or a chain guard or handlebar grips (good psychology for selling a kid on a used, cheap bike). He showed me how to attach a piece of cardboard with a clothespin to my wheel so the spokes sounded like a motor. Loved it!

Bored one day, a friend and myself went to the middle of an empty lot overgrown with weeds. The weeds were tall with thick stalks and produced milky bulbs, and had gotten so dense you could hide inside all the weeds. We discovered if you pulled them up, a big dirt clump stuck to the roots. We broke off the weed tops, and then used the bottoms like hand grenades, innocently lobbing them at cars driving by :surprised as we played "war." That led to my first (and only) childhood ride in a police car.

tribdog

Nov28-04, 09:40 PM

Les Sleeth

Nov28-04, 09:57 PM

East St. Louis? Early 50s? Wow, what a coincidence. I almost lived there. We bought a house and were in the process of moving all our stuff, it took two cross country trips. When we brought the second load we discovered that some kids had broken in and ransacked all of our precious belongings. My dad said forget living here we need to find a crime free neighborhood. So we moved to Arizona.

LOL! Hey look, my vote for funniest person is between you and Math is Hard, but kissing up won't help your case. If you can tell me five of the 2 cent candies all us kids regularly bought in those days I might believe your pathetic Okie migrant story. :tongue:

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 10:22 PM

LOL! Hey look, my vote for funniest person is between you and Math is Hard, but kissing up won't help your case. If you can tell me five of the 2 cent candies all us kids regularly bought in those days I might believe your pathetic Okie migrant story. :tongue:

Les, don't believe him, he's just trying to fix the election! He wasn't even a twinkle in his parents' eyes yet in the 50s! There are other much more deserving (cough, me) candidates in the race! :biggrin: (How can you not vote for someone with a smile like that?)

Math Is Hard

Nov28-04, 10:32 PM

LOL! Hey look, my vote for funniest person is between you and Math is Hard, but kissing up won't help your case. If you can tell me five of the 2 cent candies all us kids regularly bought in those days I might believe your pathetic Okie migrant story. :tongue:
golly, Les. I'm so honored. I can't believe someone as awesomely brilliant and amazing as you are would consider voting for little ol' me. :shy:

I never bought any 2 cent candies, but I used to buy Cherry Chan and Lemonheads for 10 cents a box. oh, yeah - and atomic fireballs (jawbreaker size) - those were so dang good!!! I still love 'em. Fire-flavored Jolly Ranchers, too!

tribdog

Nov28-04, 10:36 PM

LOL! Hey look, my vote for funniest person is between you and Math is Hard, but kissing up won't help your case. If you can tell me five of the 2 cent candies all us kids regularly bought in those days I might believe your pathetic Okie migrant story. :tongue:
Bazooka (or Double Bubble)
Pixie Stix
jawbreakers
and um
Twizzlers
and um
Sweet Mammoth Jerky?
edit:
oh yeah, you are smart and cute and a truely outstanding physics genius.

Les Sleeth

Nov28-04, 10:45 PM

Les, don't believe him, he's just trying to fix the election! He wasn't even a twinkle in his parents' eyes yet in the 50s! There are other much more deserving (cough, me) candidates in the race! :biggrin: (How can you not vote for someone with a smile like that?)

Good points, all. Hey, are you up for math guru? If so, please help me understand why they say there are three kinds of people . . . those who can add, and those who can't.

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 10:52 PM

Good points, all. Hey, are you up for math guru? If so, please help me understand why they say there are three kinds of people . . . those who can add, and those who can't.

Nope, my hair's too blonde to be nominated as a math guru. :rofl: What were the choices again? giggle

Janus

Nov28-04, 11:07 PM

Tinkertoys! ( I got a new set every christmas)

Chemistry set.

Major Matt Mason (Mattel's first man in space)
Bendable, posable (until the wire inside broke)

Fright factory (Plasti-goop)

Does anyone else remember those plastic toy guns that shot those rubber "bullets" that looked like the eraser off of a pencil? They were spring loaded and you poured the ammo into a chamber. You lost all the "bullets" pretty quickly, but then we discovered that pea seeds were just the right size. Oh the wars we would have in the hay loft!

Les Sleeth

Nov28-04, 11:19 PM

Bazooka (or Double Bubble)
Pixie Stix
jawbreakers
and um
Twizzlers
and um
Sweet Mammoth Jerky?
edit:
oh yeah, you are smart and cute and a truely outstanding physics genius.

Nice try, but . . . Bazooka isn't bad, and I have to give you jawbreakers even tho that's so generic it ain't falsifiable. However, the rest are bull**** vote-buyin' trash. If you'd said polka-dot candy stuck on paper, or tiny wax syrup-filled soda bottles, corn candy, or even Tootsie Roll Pops when they cost 2 cents, then maybe we'd have a deal. Add to that that you've just gotten me in deep poo-poo by calling me a physics genius and . . . congratulations Math is Hard!

Math Is Hard

Nov28-04, 11:28 PM

w00t! cool! I voted for you too Les. But, hey - how could I not?
polka-dot candy stuck on paper, or tiny wax syrup-filled soda bottles
can you still even get those anymore? wow! I'll never forget them - we used to get them as prizes at the school carnivals.
That reminds me, I actually found some bubble gum cigars last time I was in Texas. I never thought I would see those again!

Les Sleeth

Nov28-04, 11:41 PM

Does anyone else remember those plastic toy guns that shot those rubber "bullets" that looked like the eraser off of a pencil?

That almost sounds familiar. I remember something that allowed me to shoot something similar to bullets. I remember spitting on rubber suction-cup darts and shooting them at my dad's forehead, and my faithful BB gun, and the time I found a cattle prod when my great uncle died, and tried it out on my cousin . . . o:)

Moonbear

Nov28-04, 11:46 PM

w00t! cool! I voted for you too Les. But, hey - how could I not?

can you still even get those anymore? wow! I'll never forget them - we used to get them as prizes at the school carnivals.
That reminds me, I actually found some bubble gum cigars last time I was in Texas. I never thought I would see those again!

We used to have an ice cream shop in my hometown that had a candy shop attached with all those goodies! They closed a long time ago. :frown: I have seen the polka dot candy on paper in the grocery stores (it just isn't the same to buy it all wrapped up in sanitary plastic). I haven't seen the plastic soda bottles filled with syrup in ages, so I don't know if they are still made. I sometimes get a craving for those old candies. Yeah, sure, I could just take a spoonful of sugar from the sugar bowl, but it just isn't the same. :cry:

Nov29-04, 12:57 AM

Kids nowdays have no idea what it means to lose the key to your roller skates. Huh?
Slingshots were fun.

Who here (as a child) had a

- microscope

-telescope

-invisible man or woman model that they built
Yeah, I had a microscope and a telescope, looked at the moon every few nights.
Wow, those stories Evo told about her imp brother gave me the "Aww, how sad," feeling... :frown: though calling it Fang was really funny :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

BobG

Nov29-04, 10:33 AM

My favorite toys: shovels, water hoses, dirt, and sand.

Way back at the end of my friend's back yard (it tilted down away from house), where his parents wouldn't notice for awhile, we built an entire battlefield with trenches, bunkers, etc. Lasted until his dad mowed the yard.

Volcanoes in the sand box with a hose and spray nozzle buried under it. Put all the people on the side of the mountain and turn the water on. Eventually the water works it way through the top. Then you can build canals in the sand box along with roads and bridges.

Best was the underground fort in the corn field behind our houses. Someone found a big piece of plywood, so we dug a big hole in the middle of cornfield, threw the plywood over it, cut a trap door in the plywood, and buried the rest of the plywood in dirt. We then cut a maze through the corn field to get to it. Great fun until harvest time. Kids came flying out of there in total terror. The farmer wasn't all that happy about it, but at least it was better than discovering the hole by driving into it.

And dirt clods. Those don't hurt as bad as lumps of coal.

Best indoor toys: Lincoln logs, tinker toys, and erector sets. A super ball at a bowling alley is a pretty fun toy, as well, even if kind of short lived.

Evo

Nov29-04, 11:11 AM

We used to have an ice cream shop in my hometown that had a candy shop attached with all those goodies! They closed a long time ago. :frown: I have seen the polka dot candy on paper in the grocery stores (it just isn't the same to buy it all wrapped up in sanitary plastic). I haven't seen the plastic soda bottles filled with syrup in ages, so I don't know if they are still made. I sometimes get a craving for those old candies. Yeah, sure, I could just take a spoonful of sugar from the sugar bowl, but it just isn't the same. :cry:The Food Channel had featured a store that sells all of the old candy, I can't remember the name, but here's one I found that seems to have all the oldies. http://www.nostalgiccandy.com/store/index.php?action=category&start=0&id=1&subid=

Nov29-04, 12:38 PM

I still have a big box of legos. Although most of what we did was make things. In my not so long ago childhood we dug holes in the backyard until we were yelled at (digging a foundation for our house later kind of cured me of that one). We had a shed we turned into a fort no girls alowed. We made swords and staffs out of sticks as well as bow and arrows. These were very soon outlawed and we had to make them in secret :wink: (it happened when we accidently shot my sister. The bows actually evolved into something quite good. Microscopes were fun, dissecting bugs. :devil: then there were always trees to climb, rocks as well. Hey, I was just playing with a grappling hook and trees over thanksgiving as well as taking down a treehouse I built six years ago. It could still hold my weight but the tree was pulling away :cry:

singleton

Nov29-04, 03:27 PM

Well I think my childhood toys mostly had to do with building things :)

I loved lego, construx and mecano. I'd dig out old train sets of my fathers and set them up while they weren't around :D And I build -tons- of tree forts myself. I'd spend days hacking up very good wood and patchworking together a nail-ridden waiting-for-accident fort about 50 feet up in the trees.

God... looking back it scares me how I could have easily let go/slipped and fallen off from that height :cry:

When I was nine I bought my first computer. Yes--I bought it. We grew up poor and I had my first paper route at age six under the supervision of my parents :P (they convinced all customers to pay "office pay" so I wouldn't be troubled with collecting money). I began programming in QBASIC then and haven't stopped programming since :biggrin:

So most of my toys deal with "building" I guess. I'm still a big kid :biggrin:

Tom Mattson

Nov29-04, 03:57 PM

Two words: Star Wars (they're not dolls, goddammit, they're action figures!)

I think I was a kid at the absolute perfect time, because those toys were a lot of fun to play with. My brother and I must have made up about a million sequels to the trilogy just in our playroom.

Janus

Nov29-04, 06:44 PM

While not exactly toys:

The tree-house.( which at various times served as a fort, spaceship,the Bat-cave, etc.)

The raft.

We had a small pond out in our pasture, and one day when I was about 8 or 9 the neighbor kid and I decided to build a raft for floating on it. We had gathered up all the odds and ends of wood we could find and were nailing them together, when my dad walked by. He asked what we were doing and when we told him, He took one look at our handiwork and said "That's no way to build a raft, it will never support your weight."

He then proceded to build us a raft, dragged it to the pond with the tractor and got it into the water for us.

The thing is, my dad was a very busy man, he worked a regular 8 hr a day job and also ran an 80 acre farm with 20 head of cattle. When he stopped to ask us what we were doing, he was on his way to some farm chore or the other, yet he took a big chunk of his day to make us a raft, when he could have just put the kybosh on the whole thing.

We spent many a summer day poling our raft on that pond.