When I was a kid, my favorite toy was my Super Nintendo. On weekends, I can remember hours playing until the sun came up… but secretly of course. I tucked a towel under the door so my parents couldn’t see the light emitted from the TV coming through the gap between the floor and the bottom of my bedroom door. I loved playing it so much I would draw characters from The Legend Of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Megaman, and many of the Mario characters in my notebooks at school. Before video games, I was big into toys that involved building stuff, like blocks, Legos, and Play Dough. My mom actually had a tall skinny can full of these things called Lincoln Logs that I really liked too. I’m not sure why they came in a can, maybe that was common in the 50s? Something all of these favorite toys have in common is that all of them have stood the test of time.
(right) I also have the newest incarnation of it, the Nintendo Switch.
Super Nintendo – The console itself has had many incarnations. It’s predecessor was the Nintendo, released in 1985 in the USA. My Super was the version that was popular in the 90s, when I was in Elementary and Middle School, and it exists today as the Nintendo Switch.
Legos – They started selling them in the USA in the 70s. They’ve come out with tons of versions and themes, and remain one of the more popular children’s toys today.
Play Dough – This “toy” or more of an arts and crafts medium for children, was first manufactured in 1956. My mom probably played with this too when she was little, and by the time I was in kindergarten, there were all sorts of Play Dough kits. I had one that let you mash the dough through little holes to make Play Dough pasta. There was even a little plastic mold to make meatballs. I didn’t have the right colors, so it always looked pretty weird. Mmmm blue spaghetti and purple meatballs… YUM.
Lincoln Logs – These durable, stack-able, interlocking, wooden blocks have been around since 1916! The ones I played with were my mom’s from when she was little, manufactured sometime in the 1950s. But guess what? Not only did these toys exist in both mine and my mother’s generations… but you can still buy them today! In fact, they’re listed as a “best seller” on Walmart.com for $18.99 – The 100th year Anniversary Tin set will run you just under $50. Yep, 100 years strong… and that major milestone was reached back in 2016!
There was a survey that asked parents if their kids have any toys today, that were for sale back when they were kids. There were quite a few that stood the test of time and managed to stay relevant for several generations. Here were the top results of that survey:
Play-Doh #1
Mr. Potato Head #2
Barbie #3
Army Men #4
Legos #5
troll dolls #6
My Little Pony #7
Furby #8
Bop It #9