Did you play with dolls? Machines? War toys or cowboys and Indians? Coloring books? Hula hoops? Slinky? What were those special toys you played with the most in your childhood?

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001

Answers

I had a Slinky but didn't play with it all that much. I had plenty of toy guns, so 'war' was commonplace. :-) I also really played a lot with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. I had the orange-yellow plastic Hot Wheels tracks - those things were a blast and a half! I built models from kits of the X Wing and TIE fighters from Star Wars, and the Cylon fighter from Battlestar Galactica, and played with them for years. There was a competitor to G.I. Joe called Big Jim and I had one of those along with his Indian sidekick, Warpath. But probably my favorite of all, and it's my favorite to this day: Legos. :-)

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001

My 2 favorite toys must have been my Barbies and my Breyers Horses. Barbie would hop on the back of the Breyers Palomino Pony and gallop across my green shag carpet.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

Let's see: Barbies; Easy-Bake Oven; Spirograph; Creepy Crawlers (You poured this plastic goop into molds of bugs and flowers, and put it on a very, very hot plate to bake. Stank like you wouldn't believe, and it's a miracle we didn't burn the house down.); craft kits.

As you can tell, I enjoyed making things (still do!).

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

Strawberry Shortcake. I miss those dolls so much, I'm starting to collect them via ebay.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

My favorite were strawberry shortcake, barbies, and rosepetal's place dolls. I loved any doll that smelled like food or flowers.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

Just about any doll. I wanted Thumbalina in the worst way and finally got one for Christmas one year. When Barbie first came out, my mom said I was getting too old for dolls and this one was not appropriate for little girls (hey, she --meaning Barbie, although mom did too--had BOOBS!). She finally relented and I got Barbie (the second edition) and Ken (first edition) for Christmas. I still have them in a box somewhere. My absolute favorate was a toy sewing maching that really worked.

Let's see, slinkies, paddle balls, hula hoops, play doh, and I can't recall more right now.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

Just about any doll. I wanted Thumbalina in the worst way and finally got one for Christmas one year. When Barbie first came out, my mom said I was getting too old for dolls and this one was not appropriate for little girls (hey, she --meaning Barbie, although mom did too--had BOOBS!). She finally relented and I got Barbie (the second edition) and Ken (first edition) for Christmas. I still have them in a box somewhere. My absolute favorate was a toy sewing machine that really worked.

Let's see, slinkies, paddle balls, hula hoops, play doh, and I can't recall more right now.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

When I was going to elementary school, baseball cards were the rage. We traded them, and played gambling games. It was so problematic, that the teachers would declare them illegal, and confiscate them from everyone. They would give them back at the end of the school year. I often think that the adults who now collect baseball cards were not allowed to have them when they were kids. Ahh, youth! It was great!

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

Sit n' Spin.

I liked to read, Hungry Hungry Hippos was fun, play do rocked my world, but Sit n' Spin was where it was at.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

I think one of my favorite toys was this thing called a "Lemon Drop" it's hard to describe, but it was a plastic lemon with pebbles in it (sort of like a maraca) that was attached to long plastic piece that you slipped around your ankle. You moved the lemon around and jumped over it with your other foot. Okay, I'm sure there's a better way to describe it, but it existed, I promised. I also loved my Big Wheel.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Oh yeah, Gardanna, I've seen lots of girls playing with those. You spin this thing around one ankle and you have to hop over it with the other foot every time it comes around again.

And right on about the Big Wheel. Those things rocked (until the aforementioned Wheel got a flat spot, then you were screwed). How about it's cousin the "Green Machine"? It was almost the same, only they added a braking handle on one side that when pulled would cause you to spinout/fishtail. Even better! :-)

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Oooh, Gardanna, we had something similar when I was a kid. It wasn't a lemon, though, and there were no noisemaker thingies inside, it was just a plain ball. The Lemon Drop sounds way cooler.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

I always wanted a big wheel when I was a kid and my parents never got me one!

I wonder why I never bought my boys one?

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Shelley, because on an incline of more than 3ft, those things are instruments of death. That's where the fun came in.:)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001

Art supplies, books, Barbies, trees to climb and creeks to splash in, bike, park pool. Parents weren't into buying us a lot of toys. I coveted my neighbor's Dawn dolls and LEGOs, though.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001