Jon Stewart Toy Hall of Fame Inductees

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My Favorite Toys

I tried to spread it out a little bit and pick toys from all over the spectrum (baby toys to active play toys), but my opinions are a little biased towards the puzzle-problem solving toys. Enjoy!

Connect Four 
BESTEST GAME EVER, (in my opnion of course). This is a game that I just don't get sick of playing.
P.S. Last year my ma bought it for me for Christmas... I am very competitive  :-)

Mr. Mouth

This is my favorite game to play in here. I find that children will watch as I play it and then all of a sudden there is a line and competitions. It definitely hold their attention for quite a while.

(Bonus is that it helps with small motor and aiming skills)

Marble Runs

The one pictured here is a generic brand but the ones I am most familiar with are made by Discovery Toy. I love that they (again) are multi-faceted toys. They are creative, small motor skills, problem solving and FUN!

Corn Popper Push Along
This is a completely classic toy (to me). I wish more infant/toddler toys made real noises instead of the electronic sounds they tend to make now.

Triazzle Puzzles

The first time I found these it took me a day to solve it. Considering I am a puzzle addict, that says something.

Flexiblocks
I saw that they actually still produce and sell these and I was uber-excited. I played with Legos as a child also, but these were just better because they could move.

Wedgits

When these were donated to the library the woman told me that it is an ageless toy, that small children as well as teenagers would enjoy playing with them. After she left, I played with them for an hour. It's a great item to teach stacking and nesting, but (i think) that they are better used creatively.

Wooden Train Sets

This one happens to be Melissa and Doug (a favorite brand), but i prefer wooden to plastic in general. I also think that they are used more often when a table is involved and the same set-up is used all the time. Though I do like how creativity and problem solving are used in creating and completing different tracks.

Playhut

I know this is a brand and not just a toy, but I couldn't choose one!

The Preface to My Favorite Toys

I have been working here for just about 4 years. I've had mom's tell me I should be a toy consultant, and sometimes, I don't think that's too bad of an idea. I love toys and playing. And I think that I have gained an amazing knowledge about toys, especially in how they have progressed over time. That is because many of the items in the toy library are the part of the original collection, when it began almost 25 years ago. I can see how many toys were ahead of their time.

Discovery Toys, for example, it's a great brand, highly trusted, but also, the toys are just different than others. They are multifaceted. For example, the Measure Up Cups aren't just stacking and nesting cups. They are also numbered, have animals engraved on the bottom, can be used for patterning AND they are volumetrically correct. I know a child may not appreciate all of these qualities, but the adult buying them sure does. Any toy that can teach more than one concept is pretty great, in my opinion.

I've seen Fisher Price change dramatically. Not only in their Little People brand of toys but also in their infant/toddler toys. In this collection, we have Little People that are small-wooden, small-plastic, chunky-plastic, "realistic"-plastic... For a short period of time I was seeing another version of Little People that were flexible, but they must not have lasted long. What also has amazed me, is that when you look at the small Little People, they were not multicultural, there was just white. Now they have a better representation, they even have Hanukkah play set (as well as a Nativity Scene, Christmas and Kwanzaa). The infant/toddler toys used to be very simple, and now they are electronic and noisey. They count, they say the ABC's. They speak Spanish! It amazes me.

Now that I have waned nostalgic about different toy companies and my love for them, I'll get to my point. I think I know toys pretty well and I know how the children interact with them. So in my next post, I am going to chose some of my favorite toys in this toy library. I do not have the most rigid criteria, by the way. Some are my favorite because because I know children love them, some for their educational purposes, and others, well, I genuinely like playing with them still :-), I think that says something.

News From the National Toy Hall of Fame

I read this today on Strong National Museum of Play's blog...

"So, it’s a great thrill to celebrate this year’s three new inductees to the National Toy Hall of Fame—the Ball, Big Wheel, and Nintendo Game Boy ."---Play Stuff Blog

P.S. I have to say that it's pretty exciting to see the game boy in the hall of fame :-) 

The Best Toys Lists

Parent's Choice
This list separates games from toys which is nice...and I find it's a little more family friendly (duh!) than the Oppenheim list below.

Oppenheim Toy Portfolio
This award is kind of a big deal. They also chose awards in book, audio and dvd. They organize by age group and have lists of "the best toy" for each. They chose less mainstream toys in my opinion. I have quite a few items chosen over the past few years in the Toy Library.

About.com Toy of the Year Award
This one is a little more commercial, but still a detailed list.

Games turning into movies...

Story from Rotten Tomatoes...

THE PLOTS OF THE BATTLESHIP AND MONOPOLY MOVIES ARE AS BAD AS YOU'D EXPECT
Story details have emerged in the last week or so for the "board game movies" Battleship andMonopoly. First up is Battleship, which will be about an "international" five ship fleet engaged in an intense battle with... aliens. And those aliens will apparently shoot giant red or white plastic pegs, I guess. Filming of Battleship starts next spring, and the movie is expected in the summer of 2011. As for Monopoly, the premise as detailed by producer Frank Beddor is quite lengthy, but the gist is that it's about a "comedic, loveable loser" who tries to break the world record for the longest game of Monopoly, and instead ends up in the world of Monopoly City, where Monopoly money is real and the world is ruled by the evil Parker Brothers, with whom the comedic, loveable loser engages in a series of "sight gags" to defeat them. Maybe it would be impossible to come up with plots for movies based on board games that wouldn't sound rotten, but that's sort of why until recently, people didn't make movies based upon board games.

Just some observations...

I've had a weird couple weeks here. Nothing new or amazing...Just settling into the Fall. It's slow because of school being back in session. And since, for a while there, it was still nice out, it was like the children's brains were tricked into thinking it was still summer... I've noticed it takes a while for their "clock" to adjust. They would be trapped in school all day long and then come to the library... where they would not only drive me insane, but also the librarians (and on a good day, even the circulation staff.) At least then we were all affected.

I don't like yelling at kids. Actually, I really despise it. I don't want to be angry ever because this is a happy toy library, not their home and not their school. I don't want to be a parental force in their life, which is why, this is the first thing I am going to mention. How much should we have to handle? The 'we' I am talking about is professionals, working in a community place, in which we deal with children and their families. Say the children are mostly unsupervised (like here) and the people who work here are their grown-ups for the time they are in the building. How much should we put up with behavior wise? I'm okay with the occasional "Don't do that"..."Please take turns"... "Stop being so bossy"... and my all time favorite "No tattle-tailing!!!" But what if you are mediating situations with children ALL THE TIME? If it's back and forth "He did this"... "She's about to hit me"... "Why aren't you yelling at him?"... Do we have a choice to be a "parent" here? The Library OUR home, it's our work place, we have our rules. What happens when the children stop following them?

And this is where I get to my second point. Say the children stop following the rules and they are just "bad". They disrespect the staff at the library AND they make the toy library an unsafe place to be (for other children and families/adults). Those are my 2 bottom lines. As long as those lines aren't crossed, you'll pretty much be okay in my book. What do we do with those "bad" children? Do we talk with the parents? Do we demand they be supervised at all times? Do we kick them out of the library for a day? A week? FOREVER? What happens if we lose them from the library? What happens if they get in trouble and they don't come back because... (I'm having a hard time not taking the blame for what I am about to say)... they are being yelled at/ getting in trouble with, one more grown-up in their world. What if it is worse at home? Or in school? What if them being in the library after school means they don't ever hang with that "bad crowd"? Or that they're not home alone until their parental figure(s) get home from work. Could we teach them to be better?

I've known a child here since he has been around 6 years old.  I can't pretend that I don't pick favorites because I do (and everyone knows it). He has always been one of my favorites. He turned 10 this year. He is smart, really smart. He tells the new kids the rules and he follows the rules. He helps me clean up and he is just a good kid. I want to know what he is going to be like in 15 years. It would be amazing to see. The thing is, this past summer, I saw myself starting to lose him. He hangs out with different boys now. He started breaking the rules. Getting mouthy. He wasn't being a good kid. And it's all because of who he hangs with now.... because once in a while I'll see a glimpse of that kid I used to know when he was alone. Not to make it all about this one child but... How do I not lose this kid? And how do we not lose the ones in the future?

Jealousy :)

I have Toy Library jealousy... Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library

The Passion of Toys

"Finishing a jigsaw means you have restored something that was ugly and useless to begin with" -From the book review of The Pattern in the Carpet By Margaret Drabble.

My most favorite thing in the world is when people talk about their work and what they're passionate about. I have heard many stories from engineers, musicians, librarians, and the best of all, cooks. I have friends that are cooks,waitresses and a couple that have been to culinary school. Some of the best conversations I've had in my life were about food. It wasn't just about the eating or the cooking... It's the art form of both.I would hope that anyone who has chosen a career would have some passion for it.

While reading Drabble's book review a thought occurred to me. I rarely put into words why I love what I do. I share stories about parents and silly questions. I talk a lot about the naughty kids that come in here. Friends of mine know them by name or instance. But I don't know many other people who can talk about toys, games and playing with passion. It's probably why I keep it in, not many people can relate to it. Maybe it's because we were supposed to leave all that stuff in our childhood.

But I'm growing up with these toys...

This place has become as intertwined with my life in as it has with the people who come into it. I have been apart of some family's lives for the whole 4 years. The babies I first met are in pre-school this year. I have met mothers, seen them through their pregnancies and now can watch those babies run (not walk) around this library. I have watched children from this neighborhood grow-up. I try to have this place grow-up with them. I talk about the children in here like they are my own. They're my babies. I feel awful when I have to discipline some of them. Well, I have mentioned some of those things. This is what I think I forget to talk about...

Toys are amazing things. They are a unit of communication, they bring people together. Children are able to make up their own world, games and rules-with toys. Their ability to play freely is a something I take for granted. I forget that all kids didn't have the childhood I did with the safe streets and kids my own age to play with. The streets aren't safe around here. They are becoming the best versions of themselves in this room. This is where they have the ability to be themselves. There are many educational things I could say here as well, but that just isn't my style. I'm not a teacher, simply a toybrarian.

Back to school!!!

Today is the first day back to school (most city schools at least). It has been completely quiet and stress free... Only a few parents and their children... AHHH....

This is the happiest day of the year at work... Now I have to clean up the 3 month mess... (ICKY POO!)