I was just browsing on Amazon for toys for nieces and nephews for Christmas. Where did all the cool toys go? These kids are 3 - 6 with one 10 year-old. It should be easy to find toys that look fun. Especially since that’s my emotional age about half the time. There were plenty of computer games and lots of flashy, noisy plastic things. Some of these seemed to have no purpose except to make noise in response to buttons being pushed.
Where are are the cool toy cars? All of the cars seemed to be marketing for the “Pixar Movie Cars”. Where are all of the dump trucks and the toy tractors?
Even the dolls were all some Disney merchandise with ties to a current movie. There were no cute and cuddle baby dolls. No princess dress-up outfits.
I know I’m experiencing some selective nostalgia, but it makes me feel old and sad.
I hear ya, and agree, but you could try a shopping venue other than Amazon. There are lots of catalogs that have those tried and true toys.
Try Hearthsong dot com and Magic cabin, these are online catalogs that have many great toys.Also check out your local independent toy stores for creative & enduring gifts.
Quasi, they have some neat stuff! However, when I went to buy something, I looked for the secure icon. It was there – the little gold padlock – but there was a diagonal gold bar across it. Haven’t seen that before. Do you know what it means? That it’s not secure? Or not secure until I start entering credit card info?
A couple years ago, I bought a Russian wooden doll for my SiL. She didn’t like it (she never likes anything she hasn’t thought of beforehand), but she kept it in one of the shelves under the TV.
My Nephew is now 14 months old. He loves that doll! He tries to grab it and people will take it out of his hands because “it’s not a toy”. Yes it is. Once I gave it to him, and all he did was look at it, turning it around, and give it a few bumps against the foam-covered table’s edge (that house is so kid-proof, I’ll have to drop the kid in the street to make sure his body knows how to handle bruises… just kidding, just kidding!) but SiL and her Mom said “oh but you shouldn’t give that to him, it’s not a toy!”
“Yes it is! It is a DOLL, it’s not a statue! And I paid for it, so I oughta have a say on whether it’s OK for him to bite it! It’s even painted in childsafe paints, I checked before I bought it!”
Someone bought him a playskol gizmo that’s got six brightly-colored balls; you push a button and the balls come out of a hole and go down a spiral ramp back into the machine, and come out of the hole again. It’s marked “18 months and over”. Kids that age, having started their Processing already, dutifully put the balls on the ramp and clap as they come out. The Nephew, who hasn’t started the Normalization Process yet and who is officially too young for the machine, insists on:
tossing the balls at his adults and having them throw them back
sending the balls rolling, then picking them back, depositing them with his adult when his hands are full (this leads to some Monkey and Banana situations when he’s got both the red one and the fuchsia one, because he doesn’t want to let go of either)
if someone presses the button for him, trying to push the balls back against the air current
Mom and me encourage him… SiL and her mom try to get him to Do What The Machine Says. Bleagh!
It really saddens me to read things like your post, Nava - makes me wonder how those kids will turn out. From the earliest age they’re being discouraged to explore and use their imagination, instead their parents want them to be spoon-fed playtime. I despair sometimes, I really do.
Hey, that’s why I do things like put the kid on the floor (at 8 months! Nobody had put him down before!) and why I’m glad Mom is finally getting some grandson-sitting time: so long as she can keep her Processor training buried, Mom is great with kids.
The Nephew checks with his adult before putting stuff in his mouth. He gestures like he’s going to put the new object in his mouth and looks at you until you say “yes” or “no”. SiL is shocked by how many things I’ll let him put in his mouth so long as they’re clean. But what the heck, he got his habit of eating pieces of magazines from his aunt :rolleyes: and his Dad survived having a Lego 4x2 in his tummy for 8 years (the Lego was pretty grey by the time it came out). He’ll survive…
It’s great that you do it for him, Nava, maybe the parents could learn a thing or two from you. Err…thanks for the info on the Lego…put me right off my tea, it has.
No, what I really need to do is get off my ass and out into the garage and make something. I did that a couple of years ago and it worked reallly well. Unfortunately, unless I’m willing to rely on chemical assistance, I need at least six hours of sleep a night.
There’s a Mattel outlet that I can stop at on the way home. Their website shows they close at 6, so I’ll have to bail out early.
I looked at some of the sites recommended above and got some good ideas, too. Thanks for the links. One had slinkies, but I got those last year.
Wow, Tully, I remember seeing those die-cast tractors at every farm-supply store in town just a few years ago. It wasn’t long ago when you could stop in at the parts house and come out with a very nice little working backhoe toy, or even a nicer model for desktop toys.
I looked them up at Tractor Supply for you, and nothing; nothing but a little farm-themed junk. Does Ertl not make them any more? It looks like Tonka is still in business at least, but even when my younger son was of a Tonka age, it was getting pretty hard to find the good metal ones. He did love the remote-controlled plastic ones, but they didn’t last as long, and certainly didn’t take a beating in the sandbox, and what good is a dump truck that you can’t take into the sandbox?
Don’t forget, once you find them, that lots of girls like tractors too, and being the uncle, you have a perfect chance to be the *favorite * uncle and give them something that’s not Barbie crap.
How about Lego? You can’t go wrong with Lego. K’nex and Magnetix are also big hits around my house, especially with my eight-year-old. We like building toys.
I’ve ordered from Bits & Pieces a few times. They do have some neat stuff. A lot of times they offer a free puzzle with your order, too.
I find my two nephews to be in a sadder situation. They’re 6 and almost 4. My sister-in-law told us, “Don’t buy them toys any more. They don’t play with them. They’re into electronics now.” My younger nephew is getting an *MP3 player *and a Nintendo DS for Christmas! They told us to buy them either Nintendo DS games or XBox games. I did, but I also got them some board games appropriate for their ages.
God knows I love computer and console games. In fact, I want a Nintendo Wii, own an XBox, and play a couple dozen computer games a year. But children that young should be playing with blocks and toy cars and action figures. They shouldn’t be plopped in front of a TV screen for hours.
Seconding the vote for Hearthsong. I’ve shopped there for the past two Christmases. Also seconding the lack of good toys sadness.
I actually did see a pretty cool set of die-cast tractors on Amazon a couple of weeks ago while shopping for my son. There were three in a set and it was on sale for around 15 bucks. John Deere, I think they were. I can’t find them now but it was a pretty sweet deal. Some of my son’s favorite toys are old metal die-cast tractors we picked up yard sales. He prefers those to the newer, flashier versions.
Bah! I did 95% of my Christmas shopping in two hours last week, by sticking with a handful of stores online. I have one more gift to buy in which I’ll have to actually go into a store. It’s been years since I’ve done my shopping in person. My stress level for this time of year has dropped drastically since I started doing it this way.
I’ve been trying to find star wars monopoly for my 13 yr old brother. (He’s becoming a geek! I’m so proud!) Everywhere seems to be sold out of it, I got star wars risk and star wars chess but am hoping to get the monopoly for him too.
(the Lego was pretty grey by the time it came out). He’ll survive…
