Old toys and learning

Let’s play.

I haven’t wandered the toy aisle in a very long time but I have a sense that things have changed since I ripped the brown paper wrapper from a Wish Book.

Toys should stimulate a kid’s imagination and teach them something, without their knowing it, of course.

An efficient way to stimulate imagination is to turn off the TV and download some of the hundreds of radio shows for kids that were plentiful in the decades before every house had a TV set.

Ideally, the perfect toy is something that isn’t limited to doing just one thing. For that reason a pile of wooden blocks fills the bill.

For future fliers there are drones at all prices but I think if someone is going to learn about flying machines they should start at the very beginning like a “stick and tissue” model airplane.

Model airplanes, before they became “easy-to-assemble” plastic parts came as sheets of balsa wood and tissue paper.

The parts were cut from a pattern and slivers of wood were assembled and glued to make the frame. A covering of tissue created the the skin and it was powered by a rubber band.

There are grown-up kids who build models of commercial and military airplanes and power them with small gas engines. Some models are powered by tiny jet engines that actually work.

I saw four of them power a model 747 into the air. Each produced 89 pounds of thrust and sell for a five-figure price.

I enjoy a breezy day and travel with a kite and a few spools of string. When my son was small we launched a few toy rockets but grew out of that together.

Few toys develop patience and manual skills like “pick-up-sticks” They are known by many names but the object is to pick up a stick from a pile of them without moving any but the one which is your target.

Lincoln Logs have been around for close to a hundred years. I think I have part of a set and they are identical to the new ones. A kid can learn a bit about “center of gravity” and how buildings and barns come together

Erector sets came with aluminum beams, components and tiny nuts and screws for tiny hands.

Some parents believed that these building toys should be kept from kids until they have out-grown them because the parts could be swallowed.

My favorite toy was the electric train that nearly wore out because it was partnered with every indoor toy I owned.

Some times toys should just be fun and not teach anything at all but if you want a kid to learn something about responsibility move to the country and buy him/her a horse.

Uncle Guy Phillips said that a horse can teach a kid more than any school. He was usually right.

Joe Phillips writes from his home in Atlanta, Ga. He and wife Kay also have a house in Kay’s hometown of Washington. He can be contacted through email at Joenphillips@yahoo.com.