Day 96-Toys of Joy

My daughter Juliann and I were talking about toys for her children today for Christmas and it started me thinking about the toys I loved to play with as a child.  I decided to make a list of the 25 toys I could remember being a tail-end baby boomer born in 1959:

Barbie

Clackers

Clue

Cootie

Etch-a-sketch

Francie

Giggles doll

Hula hoops

Locket dolls

Magic 8 ball

Mr and Mrs Potato Head

Paint by number

Pick up sticks

Play-doh

Pogo sticks

Easy bake oven

Silly putty

Skipper

Slinky

Spirograph

Super ball

Tinker toys

Tippy toes doll

Trolls

Twister

Yo yo

One of my clearest memories is my dad giving me a Pogo Stick for my December birthday and I spent hours bouncing up and down just like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh.  To this day, I would challenge anyone on a Pogo Stick.  I made creative pictures which was not hard to do using Spirograph and baked small cakes in my Easy Bake Oven.  I played with my Barbie, Skipper and Francie dolls changing their clothes from one outfit to another.  I giggled with my Giggles and hugged my Tippee Toes doll.  I recall my sisters having Trolls which first came about in 1959.  I bounced Super Balls, bent over backwards in Twister, and flipped Yo Yo's.   

There is a scene in the movie Santa Claus 2 when Tim Allen makes a work party come alive as he hands out favorite toys the employees use to play with as children. Target has some of these same toys still on the market. I know because my granddaughter Mae is asking for an Easy Bake Oven this year.  Now that takes me back! Bring a toy of the past to the Christmas of today and remember the joy of play.