Toys Kids Love

Teddy Bear

Teddy Toy stuffed bears are one of the classics of childhood, and I would be willing to bet that they always will be. Don't get me wrong – there are many different kinds of stuffed animals that kids like. When I was a little kid, I had a toy unicorn that was one of my favorites. I would sleep next to it every single night, carry it around with me, and even have conversations with it. I also had several toy bears on my bed. Even if your toy bear was not your favorite, you would always have at least one.

Kids treasure their stuffed animals and Teddy Ruxpin bears, but as robot toys have developed more and more, people have also discovered that there are some things that you can't improve on. After all, the purpose of the toy bear is to be a cuddle buddy. Toy bears with too many moving parts in them don't last through quite as much affection. Kids are perfectly willing to pretend that a stuffed animal that never speaks is alive, but when a stuffed animals speak to begin with, seeing them lose the ability can be quite upsetting. When they get a little bit older, I will let my kids have toy robots, but until that point I'd prefer to have them use their imagination. After all, I don't want them to have to find out that their toy bears had died!

Toy Boats

Growing up by pond, I developed a love of toy boats. It was a little bit too small for all but the smallest vessels, and although I occasionally enjoyed going for a row with my dad, it never held a thrill that toy boats did for me. With boat toys, I was captain. I was able to indulge in all kinds of flights of fancy. Sometimes, I would imagine myself speeding along in a racer. Other times, I was the proud admiral of a tall ship, sailing the high seas. No matter what kind of mood I was in, I could always find a wonderful game of make-believe to play with a boat toy.

Of course, back then radio controlled boats were not around. That doesn't mean that people did not like to race their toy boats! You put your boat in the water, raced from one side to the other, and the first one there was the winner. Although the toy boats sometimes got stuck in the middle of the pond, usually they would make it across. One of my favorite memories from childhood was building a toy sail boat kit with my father. He loved perfecting every detail on a model sailboat, airplane, or car.

Toy Soldiers

I also liked toy soldiers, toy guns, a soldier costume, and a water pistol, but I rarely used any of them. On the other hand, you could not get me away from those toy soldiers. I would sit down with them every chance I got. I would bring them to the dinner table, smuggle them in my pockets into the classroom with me, and even play with them on the way to and from school.

My very favorite toy soldier models were called “Knights of the Sword”. They were medieval toy soldiers, and they were absolutely spectacular. Although they were made of plastic, they were some of the most dramatic and well-designed soldier toys I have ever seen to this day. They were all in these great poses.  They would have their sword arms ready to swing, the shields raised fiercely in front of them, and their standards blowing in the breeze. Some of them would get broken to pieces, other ones I would melt with a lighter that I found in my dad's study. I would get together with my best friends, and we would play toy soldier games for hours on end. We would set up elaborate outdoor battles, complete with land mines and bullet wounds. Few of those toy army men survived more than a few battles, and it is strange that my parents never wondered where they all went!