Posted on 05/20/2014 7:06:34 AM PDT by Scoutmaster
The National Toy Hall of Fame, established in 1998, recognizes toys that have inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period. Each year, the prestigious hall inducts new honorees and showcases both new and historic versions of classic toys beloved by generations.
Anyone can nominate a toy to the National Toy Hall of Fame. Final selections are made on the advice of historians, educators, and other individuals who exemplify learning, creativity, and discovery through their lives and careers.
Toys and year of induction:
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
I learned about the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2004, when my daughter, San, did a Social Sciences project on "What Do Children Learn From Toys?" We were surprised to learn we owned every item on this list by 2004 except one - the Barbie doll. San had previously donated all of the family Barbie dolls and paraphernalia to charity. My erector set was in the basement.
As part of her project, she nominated five toys for inclusion in the Hall of Fame. Four of them - the ball, baby doll, cardboard box, and doll house - have been admitted in the last nine years. The fifth, the busy box, has not been admitted.
Seriously? The Atari was added before the ball?
Notice the absence of the toy gun. My Mattel Fanner 50 weeps.
What would you add to the Toy Hall of Fame?
What about the Daisy Red Ryder, Range Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time?
Matchbox cars
Plastic army men (WW2 types that were prevalent in the 60s and 70s)
Lawn darts
Cox airplanes
A stick? Really, I clicked on it. It’s just a stick.
What about “log”? You know,
“it rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs, it rolls over the neighbor’s dog...”
I was rather amazed as well. AND, it made it into the HoF before chess...
Jarts!
Got my Johnny Seven O.M.A. (one man army) for Christmas in 65 or 66.
Spirograph... Shrinky-Dinks... Lite Brite... Wheelo... and good ol’ Magic Slate...
1983 Kenner All-Terrained Armored Transport(AT-AT).
THOSE were legendary toys.
It’s big - It’s heavy - It’s wood!
Johnny Seven OMA?
MYRON: That kid's going to need some serious therapy.
HOWARD: Oh, don't say that.
MYRON: Mm-hmm. I know what I'm talking about. See, I never forgave my father. One Christmas, I wanted this one special toy: Johnny Seven O.M.A. Gun. You remember those?
HOWARD: No.
MYRON: I still remember the commercial. Two kids playing out in the backyard:
'Johnny to Peter. Enemy sighted.'
'Roger there! Open fire!'
Johnny would whip out his Johnny Seven O.M.A. One-Man-Army Gun. Seven guns in one!
HOWARD: Huh.
MYRON: [Chuckling] Thing looked like a blast. Of course for my old man, Christmas was just another opportunity to let me down. I never did get that Johnny Seven O.M.A.
HOWARD: Sorry to hear that.
MYRON: It don't mean nothing.
I certainly played with sticks when I was a kid. I made rafts with them. I floated them down the stream in races. I made dams with them. I made forts with them. I used them as play guns. I played makeshift baseball games while camping, with a pine cone or a pair of rolled-up socks as the ball. I swung them against trees and threw them like javelins. I tried to spear fish with them. I made slingshots with them.
They weren't nearly as much fun as a new, large cardboard box, but a stick was a perfectly useful toy.
We can argue about the order they were added, or what should still be added, but that’s a pretty solid list of toys and games. I can’t point to a single one and say “that doesn’t belong”.
That’s about the same time I got my Johnny Seven OMA. I still have the box, but I had to buy replacement bullets and a replacement grenade. The original grenade may still be in some prickly bushes on the grounds of the VA hospital in Seattle, Washington.
Ironically, that was never a real model. They only started making it after the movie came out because people kept asking about it.
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