Who hasn’t heard the old saying….back when I was young? Times have changed and so have the toys our children play with. Video games now dot the landscape with violence and virtual worlds for our children to “enjoy”.
But something else has changed with this new age, the availability of classic toys. With the Internet, it is now possible to find the toys your grandfather or your father grew up playing with. These toys never go out of style. Let’s take a look at the history of one of these toys: The Erector Set
A. C. Gilbert was a brilliant man. At the time of his death in 1962, he was credited with 150 patents for the inventions that went into his products. In fact, as a boy he was a talented magician and it was that talent that helped him pay his tuition to Yale Medical School. While going to school and performing as a magician, he formed Mysto Manufacturing, a company that sold magic kits to children.
Gilbert ultimately finished Yale Medical School, but decided to enter the toy business rather than practice medicine. He was a gifted inventor and chose to entertain and educate children. His most popular invention? The vintage construction toy-the erector set.
In 1911, on one of his many train trips from New Haven (his home) to New York City, he watched out the window as workers positioned and riveted the steel beams of an electrical power line tower. He decided to create a children’s construction kit, with evenly spaced holes for bolts to pass through and he included nuts, pulleys, gears and eventually engines. Although a British company called Meccano was selling a similar toy, Gilbert thought his “erector set” would be more realistic. His set had more technical advantages, especially steel beams that were not flat, but were bent lengthwise to produce a ninety degree angle, thus, four of them joined together side-to-side, formed a sturdy, square support beam.
Backed by the first major American advertising campaign for a toy, Gilbert started selling the “Mysto Erector Structural Steel Builder” in 1913, (later to be called, simply the “erector set”) and the toy became one of the most popular construction toys of all time. It was not unusual for living rooms across the country to be crowded with small skyscrapers and buildings that young minds had carefully crafted. It is estimated that the A. C. Gilbert Company has sold more than 30 million sets.
It seems nowadays children are preoccupied with either television or video games. But it wasn’t that long ago when children had to use their ingenuity and imaginations to be entertained when playing and having fun. Parents can bring back this ideology back into our homes by turning off those dreaded machines, getting back to the basics and bringing into our homes the classic toys that have entertained and educated children.
With the advent of the “video age”, there is no doubt toy companies feel slighted on the bottom line. But some toys stand the test of time and never go out of style, still entertaining and thrilling children for decades, with no let up in sight. Let’s explore one of these classic toys and an icon of the toy industry:
Invented in the late 1950’s by a gentleman named Arthur Granjean (he called it “L ‘Ecran Magique”), meaning the magic screen; in his garage. The Ohio Art Company decided to take a chance on his “drawing toy” and renamed it the Etch A Sketch and in 1960 launched a successful television advertisement campaign to promote it.
The response was so overwhelming, Ohio Art continued to produce them until noon Christmas Eve, 1960. The toys were then immediately shipped to the west coast so people there could have the Etch A Sketch in time for Christmas.
The Etch A Sketch has entertained over 100 million adults and children in 67 countries worldwide. The basic design pretty much stayed the same, although Ohio Art did offer hot pink and blue frames in the 1970’s, but found that people preferred the traditional red frame. Additionally, the Etch A Sketch Club was formed in 1978 and has an average of 2,000 members worldwide.
For fun, take a poll of your friends or coworkers, and ask them how many of them ever drew something with an Etch A Sketch. Your numbers will be astonishing; it was and still is, one of the world’s most popular toys!
Did you know there is an Official Etch A Sketch Website? You can go to www.etch-a-sketch.com if you want to learn more about this marvel of the toy industry and if you are feeling a bit nostalgic you can even draw online!
Choosing the right toy for your child’s age is not just a matter of selecting a toy that will engage, entertain and educate them, it is also a matter of safety. If you’ve browsed the aisles of any toy store lately you probably know that selecting the right toy can be a difficult undertaking. Not only do you want a toy that you can rest assured will provide no danger to your child, but you also want to select a toy that will help your child develop their full potential.
Research indicates that children who are provided with age-appropriate toys that are stimulating will help children to more fully develop their physical, cognitive and creative abilities. By learning which toys are right for your child’s age you can help them to stimulate the connections in their brains that are responsible for building your child’s future intelligence.
Keep in mind that it is never to early to begin this all important process. Even the youngest babies can begin responding to bright colors, helping their vision to develop more quickly.
Children under Six Months:
• Mobiles in bright colors will stimulate vision
• Activity centers to encourage reaching for motor control development
• Mirrors designed with baby safety in mind to encourage your child to explore faces
• Rattlers and teethers that will introduce baby to new textures.
• Board books-even at this young age reading to your baby will help them with beginning language development
6 to 12 Months
During this time period, it is important to begin focusing on interactive play with your child. This includes introducing the concept of cause and effect as well working on eye-hand coordination. Simple games such as “peek-a-boo” and “pat-a-cake” are fun ways to help your baby discover the wonders of their new world. In addition, look for these types of toys to further stimulate your child’s development and learning:
• Toys that are musical and make sounds
• Baby gyms and activity courses to stimulate crawling
• Bouncers to stimulate physical activity
• Play telephones to encourage communication through mimicking
• Soft dolls and stuffed animals for kids who love to cuddle
• Wooden and soft blocks for stacking, filling and dumping games
12-18 Months
Around the time your child turns one he or she may begin to walk or experiment with taking those first steps. Toys at this age should focus on supporting your child’s curiosity in exploration while further developing fine motor coordination.
• Swing sets and safety trikes encourage physical activity and development
• Building blocks for eye-hand coordination
• Nesting cups and shape sorters to improve eye-hand coordination as well as problem solving skills
• Storybooks/picture books for language and vocabulary development
• Toddler appropriate videos and music
18-24 Months
By the time they are a 1 ½ years old most children begin to use their imagination in play. This typically takes on the form of make-believe; however, in reality this type of play is helping them to develop problem solving strategies. Look for toys that support this important time of development by expanding their exposure to shapes, colors, ability to follow instructions and language. The important key to remember at this age is that kids are truly learning with hands-on play.
• Costumes and dress-up to stimulate imagination
• Push and pull toys that support both tykes that are beginning to walk as well as advanced walkers
• Puzzles that are easy to manipulate with a small number of pieces
• Playhouses and other scaled down objects that your child sees everyday will give them the opportunity to mimic the world around them.
• Swing sets to develop physical skills
24-36 Months
At age two children begin to really focus on fine motor coordination, even though they do not realize it, of course. By this age kids can begin working with board games suitable for their age as well as craft type projects and toys. Most kids this age are also ready to begin playing with other kids, so you may also wish to look for games and toys that are more structured in nature that previous toys.
• Simple board games and puzzles to encourage further eye-hand coordination and memory development.
• Outdoor equipment such as swing sets, riding vehicles and tricycles to build physical skills
• Beginner musical instruments
• Playhouses
• Sand boxes
• Train sets
• Dolls
• Cars/trucks
• Costumes/dress-up
• Art sets
• Storybooks for language development and vocabulary building
• Videos and music, especially those that expose kids to numbers and the alphabet
By keeping in mind which toys are age-appropriate you will be in a better position to help support the lightening fast development of your child’s brain and actually step up their learning and development.