Toys of the Imagination

In this post, rather than just talk about one specific kind of toy, I wanted to talk about the anticipation of getting toys, especially Christmas toys. Looking back, I am pretty sure that as a young child I got more enjoyment and excitement from looking at toys in a catalog and anticipating the fun I would have with them than I got from having the real thing. It really is true that if you have a good imagination then you can go anywhere and do anything, and that's the way it was for me and toy catalogs. You weren't limited to one or two toys, you had everything at your disposal and you could do anything you wanted with them. I remember looking at the twisty, turny loop the loop matchbox car tracks, the cases that would hold a hundred or more matchbox cars and imagining what could be done with all of that.

I also remember looking at the tents, sleeping bags and other camping equipment and imagining all the great adventures, the toy spy equipment, the magic sets, the model kits. The point is that those toys did not just do what they were supposed to do, they left plenty of room for invention and allowed you to make them so much more because they fired up your imagination. As fun as video games can be, they don't really allow for this. They are what they are and that is it. Hopefully these kinds of toys will never go away because I think kids need those kinds of toys. Sometimes timeless toys stay around a long time, but they have a modern spin on them. My nephews love their lego spongebob sets but they are really the same toy that I played with years ago. Classic toys change and adapt but they stay essentially the same. They are classic because they engage us, we don't just play with them.