Tag: DPprompt

Did I really have a favorite toy?

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Sawmill made out of en:Lincoln Logs.
This is an example of the sweat lodges I used to build from Lincoln Logs, and I would pretend they were full of little kids making imitation Gucci bags. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Do you remember all the toys you had as a kid?

I had plenty of toys as a kid, and for the most part you could say that they fit into these broad categories; there were building toys, action figures, stuffed animals, plastic vehicles, remote-controlled vehicles, and books. I count books because they were significant part of my life, especially when I was a kid. However, discounting books as toys since they would win hands down considering how much I read as a kid, do I really remember what my favorite toy was?

I can tell you with absolute confidence that the one toy that I miss most, and the one that I would have back if I could, was my stuffed buffalo. I could get another stuffed buffalo, but I have never seen one like the one I had when I was a kid. And I’m really not sure I could describe it, but I know it when I see it. That being said, I don’t think the buffalo would qualify as my favorite toy per se.

You see, as a kid I was really preoccupied with building toys. Now when I say building toys, I’m talking about the kind of toys you use to build things; I had Lincoln Logs, I had Legos, I had Construx; then there were various models that I mangled; but I really liked to make stuff. It made me feel creative, it have me purpose in my play, it helped to build my imagination. So if there’s a favorite that I had it was a building toy. When I was younger it was Legos, but when I was older, I began to get into Construx, which if you have never seen it, is like a plastic snap-together erector set. Speaking of erector sets – I’ve seen them, I’ve heard others say they had them, but I never did. It might have to do with all the little pieces. As it was, my Dad threatened to throw away my Legos if he ever stepped on one when they were given to me, and for what it’s worth that still makes me laugh to think of it, I don’t know why.

LEGO Indiana Jones in 2008
LEGO Rob Ross (Photo credit: Dunechaser)

As an adult, I still enjoy creating, crafting, and building things, and the building toys taught me that it was possible: that piece by piece things can still be created from scratch; and this is important in a world that is largely manufactured by machines. This is where hand-making renegades get their courage: through this confidence that everything is made not by magic, but by discrete processes that can still be done to some extent by hand. I’ve made hand bound journals, knitted and crocheted articles of clothing, and cobbled together structures of wood. Nothing is beyond my reach if I only have the materials and the know-how plus time.

And sometimes I still fool around with my Legos.

This post was prompted by today’s Daily Post prompt.

 

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