Old toys: a 5-year FLASHBACK blog!

(Originally posted December 20, 2007)

The all-time dumbest toy was probably Etch-a-Sketch.  You could not draw anything, not even a tree.  Well maybe you could if you were diligent enough, but I never had the patience.  There is probably an Etch-a-Sketch world champion somewhere, some guy that drew a good picture of George Washington or a fish.

Mr. Potato Head is neat because he has a trap door for a butt.  Unfortunately, no one ever thinks to put anything in his butt besides his face, but he actually makes a good storage bin for things like buttons or jellybeans or marbles.

Fun fact: When Mr. Potato Head is full of pennies, he weighs over twenty-five pounds!

Was Easy Bake Oven cool?  I never had one because it was just for girls.  They should come out with a boy version where you can make little pizzas and nachos.

That was probably the only toy that encouraged children to put things in their mouths.  Why are small toy parts such a choking hazard?  Was there really ever a kid that started munching on a handful of Lite Brite pegs?  You can't get a kid at the dinner table to eat carrots or brussel sprouts, but for some reason they find it appetizing to suck down a Weeble.

a lot of times kids will get toys that are just fake versions of real things.  a play workbench, toy doctor equipment, fake plastic food, a toy gun, etc.  This is because it's fun for kids to "make believe."  I guess I can understand why it might be fun to pretend to shoot somebody, but a lot of that other stuff is kind of humdrum and boring.  "Look, kids!  You can pretend to hammer a nail!  Give someone an ear inspection!  Make a sandwich!"  Yeah don't have too much fun all at once, there.

Did Crazy Foam really need to be banned?  It's not like it tasted good.  Maybe kids were trying to shave with it.

(Toy idea: Fake shaving kit!)

(Another toy idea: Jumbo-size Slinky)


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