A post on Drowsey Monkey about Wade figurines got me thinking today about favourite childhood toys. Now I was born a long time ago, so there were no electronic gadgets or computers or even Lego, poor deprived child that I was…
So what did I play with? Well, I had dolls, of course, but they weren’t my favourites. There was no Barbie or Sindy, or I might have liked them better. I mean, all those little accessories, and changes of outfit and growing hair and such? Yeah, I’d have loved those. But anyway, I was the youngest child, and I had no sisters, so the toys I coveted most were boys’ toys. I wanted the meccano! I wanted the little shiny model cars with diamonds for headlights and doors that opened and everything! I wanted the guns! And my parents wanted a girlie girl and they didn’t let me have any of those things. My next oldest brother kindly swapped me a cap gun for a doll one day (he didn’t want her, but he couldn’t just give me anything, it had to be a swap), but when it was discovered, we were made to give them back. Boo hiss.
But there were things that I was allowed that I did like, very much. I loved Plasticine, even though it smelled bad and it was so hard that it made my hands ache, and I had a mosaic set which I adored. It was a round tray with a lot of dimples in it, and hundreds of metallic balls you could make patterns with. Sadly, I ended up with very few balls and a very unhappy mother, because the little balls were made of clay and they broke when you trod on them, and apparently that wasn’t a good look for the carpets. See? Old as dirt, me.
Oh, and I had a building kit called a Bako Builder or something. OH had the same kit as a child too! You had a base plate with holes in it, and a whole lot of little metal rods. Then there were bakolite ‘bricks’ which slotted onto the rods, and windows with cellulose panes, and roof tiles and little front doors and you could build yourself a dream house. Of course, in time the rods bent and the window panes popped out or split, but I loved that building kit. I’d have loved Lego even more, but it hadn’t been invented so I didn’t pine for it.
I didn’t have a cycle or a scooter or anything, because we lived in a flat on the eighth floor. I did have a magnificent coach-built doll’s pram, but it was such a pain getting it out that it was used only rarely. I desperately wanted a pony, but Mum said we couldn’t keep a horse on the balcony and no, it wouldn’t like to ride in the lift, so tough luck, kid.
I had stuffed toys though. They’re pretty universal, aren’t they? Who didn’t have stuffed toys? Who didn’t love them? I slept with thirteen of them in my bed, in a very precise order. I don’t remember them all now, but I know I had Larry the Lamb, and Blackie, the little black velvet kitten with a squeak in his tail – those were two favourites. Blackie got lost on a bus trip one day and I cried for weeks.
So, what memories has this stirred for you? Did you ever lose a favourite? Did your brother cut your favourite doll’s head off? Did you crash a model airplane into the Sunday roast?
At least tell me someone else remembers that far back?
plastic horse statues and lego!
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Dawn! How come you had Lego? S’not fair!!!
LOL!
I didn’t have Legos either Jay. But we did have Tinker Toys!
And a box filled with old playing cards that we used to build a city. Fun stuff!
I love the smell of plasticine.
My Mum used to have a dog – Brambles. One of our dogs decided to eat it. Mum rescued the remains and a friend said she could fix it. A week later, it returned – the old head was sewn onto a new body. It was really creepy – rather Frankenstein – and Mum had to get rid of it in the end. She was quite upset.
Don’t Bug Me!s last blog post..So, what do you think she said…..?
Kat – I used to make card houses too! You need old tatty cards for that! And what are Tinker Toys?
DBM – That sounds very freaky. Reminds me of ‘If’ – which I’ve never been able to watch a second time. *Run and hide!!!*
just lucky I guess Jay
loved legos! still do!
tinker toys used to be made of wood, not much fun really
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2267031
Dawns last blog post..Blooming Maple
Hmmm, now I have to go and find out about “If”……must be before my time.
Don’t Bug Me!s last blog post..So, what do you think she said…..?
I would sneak over across the road to the sandpile
where my older brother kept his toy cars and trucks.
I’d put in roads and houses and even telephone poles.
He would always wreck everything I had built!
Doesn’t sound very Princess like does it?
I also had Barbies with lots of clothes, Dream House,
etc, etc.
Hi Mary! Ah, the sandpile! I’d have loved one of those too! But you don’t find them up eight stories, do you?
The Barbies and Dream House – those sound much more Princessy!
Ay up! I have to be nice to you after your comment on my atrocious joke…so: I had one of those Bakolite Builder do-dahs too…totally useless it was. And I’m afraid I recall the Lego revolution…I got my first little box of bricks when I was about 8 or 9 and ill in bed…brilliant. Strangely none of my kids took to it – too busy gaeping at electronic screens I suppose
oh…not “gaeping” but gawping…
That building kit sounds cool. I made endless mud pies with flowers and leaves and twigs in them, and asked people to ‘eat’ them. I played in the dirt with my brother’s cars and marbles, and we had races that included running through a wading pool to the finish line. Its lovely to remember all that again, thanks Jay !
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I remember! I rumember …
My fave toy of all the toys I ever had (which really wasn’t very many … we had lots of books) was a stuffed monkey with the white vinyl shoes and the vinyl banana that really went into his mouth. My sister threw it out of the car window onto the freeway one day and I have never been the same. Yes, I still hate her. Later I transferred some of the affection I’d had for the monkey to my homely but adored “iggy” trolls with the beady eyes and wild hair. We built houses for them out of shoeboxes.
I desperately wanted a pony, but Mum said we couldn’t keep a horse on the balcony and no, it wouldn’t like to ride in the lift, so tough luck, kid.
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHA! I loved that part.
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Neutron – You didn’t like the bakolite building thingy? I loved it! And I loved Lego when my kids had it. I made up for lost time and wasted hours and hours sitting on the floor making models with it.
Aussie – your childhood sounds wonderful! Mud pies! And you were allowed the boys’ toys!! I’m so jealous!
Jenny – Ah, you also had the traumatic loss of a favourite stuffie to deal with. No wonder we get along!
i think my favorite was barbie or something called sit n spin. hmmm. uh er, big wheel.
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Sit’n'spin, Natural? Mmmm – sounds fun!
@ Coastal Aussie – Mud pies!! Yes. more than any toy, I loved to play in the garden with mud and twigs and beetles and worms. I have to confess to feeding the mud pies to my sister but she would eat anything and still does; we’re cool with it. She got me back when she ‘operated’ on my favourite teddy bear.I still have him and he still has the scars. She drew surprised eyebrows on him too. He’s almost 50 now, very bald and still looks startled.
Making camps with bedsheets and chairs was another fav. I don’t remember having much liking for actual toys though. I loved paint and crayons and also the plastecine. It did get stuck in the carpet though.What else? Oh yeah,I liked making clothes for my dolls and bouncing around on my space-hopper.
I loved my stuffed animals & my plastic dinosaurs! I used to think my stuffed animals would come alive at night – I’d set them up very carefully & see if they’d moved any by morning! Which makes what my older brother did even worse!! I came home from somewhere with mom (I was probably 4 or so) and he had HUNG about 6 of them from nooses!!! What a very sick boy!! (PS I like him NOW!)
I also loved my Creepy Crawlers sets – had a very hot cooker part & lots of metal molds. You’d put goop in the molds, heat them to volcano heat in the cooker & pull them out with little metal tongs & put them in a water bath – SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! We burned ourselves about once a week – needless to say, these could NEVER be sold now!!
Jeni – Ah well, see, I didn’t have a garden till I was ten! Deprived, I tell you! But bedsheets and tents, yep, I loved to do that!
Jeannine – Good grief, I do believe your brother was worse than mine! LOL!
I’ve never heard of the Creepy Crawler sets, sounds FUN! And no, they’d never let them be sold now. But I bet you learned to be careful with hot stuff, huh?
Yep – we learned pretty quickly!!
My brother doesn’t remember doing that… when I told him (’cause I remember like it was yesterday!), he said “I wouldn’t have done that!” and mom said ‘I’m afraid you DID do that…” … he DID apologize – about 40 years later!!
Brothers! Yeah, selective memories, some of them. But good for him for apologising, even forty years late. I remember a conversation between OH and his brothers, talking about things they’d done to him (he was the youngest). One brother was apologising and cringing for the things he’d done, the other was laughing and not apologising, but justifying himself by saying that it did OH good. No prizes for guessing who the instigator was!
My favorite toy was a stuffed Kola Bear – I received this from friends after our house burned down – Still have it today 30 years later- though it does need to be cleaned