Children's Toys in the EOTWAWKI.

[Merovech]

I collect M.U.S.C.L.E's a totally cheap arse toy from the 1980's... I have hundreds, I troll classified ad forums and any number of other places looking for them, and when I find them I buy them. They are usually cheap, 10 cents to 50 cents each and my children absolutely love them... (If you have a bunch Id love to buy them



MUSCLE men are basically indestructible, a solid piece of PVC/Rubber that unless you take a flame or a knife to them will last virtually forever... It is a documented fact that you can bury them in the mud, sand or dirt and dig them up 20 years later and they can be 'like new' with a little soap and water...

This got me thinking, what sort of toys would children be playing with if we were sent back 100 years as far as technology, or some other SHTF situation long term?

Battery Operated toys wouldn't be high on the priority and eventually complicated things like Transformers and such with small pieces would break or otherwise wear out.

My grandmother jokes that when she was a kid her favorite toy was "A hoop and a stick"...



Sadly, I thought she was joking...

Children have made toys out of just about anything for as long as there have been children...

Dolls from bone/stone...


Dolls from Socks...


Pull Toys from Antiquity...


Or any number of odds and ends that would fuel the imagination of the younger folks...


It is fact that children who play often are more creative, smarter, and more well adjusted than children who are forced to grow up too early, or otherwise watch TV or play Video Games all day/every day. One could make the argument that it is 'how' we play as children that has lead us to our current level of civilization and technology.

So my question to everyone is this, what sort of toys do you expect to last longer than 10 years in the hands of various generations of children? Things like MUSCLEs may very well last forever, but what else would/could last?

Beyond what from our current world would be left over, what would you expect to see being made in the world after?

Here is my 'short list' I wont include too much cause I am curious as to the responces.

#1: MUSCLEs, Generally indestructible and infinitely creative.

#2: Matchbox Cars (without Wheels) The wheels crack and break and the axles could be pretty useful in a PAW, but the body of the car I could see being relegated in masse to the children.

#3: PVC Doll Heads and Barbie dolls... again, they break and get ratty, but little girls MUST have dolls and will use almost any dirty thing to make one.

Thoughts?

[BullOnParade]

I would imagine it would go back to the toys of yester-year. Ball and cup, paper dolls, yo-yo's ...

You see the odd documentary where kids in Africa are playing soccer with what looks like a ball of leather - I would imagine if you were a frequent hunter contributing a foot or two of hide from each successful hunt could equate up to a ball to play with.

I remember digging in the sandbox while on recess (usually either a full lunch recess if not a full morning and lunch recess) to get down to the clay under the sand, and sculpt things out of the malleable dirt with my friends.

I would agree with your point on kids being shaped by the toys available to them, or their creativity being fully formed by their child play time. I imagine a generation born in a PAW would be pretty good at coming up with something to play with

[Baba Brad]

Borders had this book on sale for $1.99, along with 200 Classic Things To Build. Human powered, wind powered, imagination powered toys and instructions on how to make them. Mostly with hand powered tools.

[Tater Raider]

My grandfather played "cars" in the dirt as a kid using pig's knuckles. Talk to survivors of the Great Depression while you can.

[airexurb]

I have a daughter who is not quite 3. The past few days, she and her dad have been clearing weeds and planting flowers in the yard of our new house. She found 3 medium/small rocks in the dirt and started playing with them as though they were dolls. Kids see the toy in everything, its awesome to watch.

[Necrodamus]

In the PAW kids will have more chores so they will be more appreciative of any play-time they have. Thus any toy will be more acceptable!

[JTNieman]

Sticks to hit other kids with, and to use to block the other kids from hitting you with sticks.


EN GUARD!!

[JojoZS]

I once chaperoned a grade school field trip to a working cattle ranch.
They showed how tough life was in the 18th century, and showed the kids the types of toys kids in those days played with. Basically if you couldn't hand make the toy then you didn't have a toy.

The one that disgusted the girls the most and delighted the boys was the pig bladder ball.

I can imagine in the PAW, a lot of Cowboys and Zombies!

[Regulator]

Bean bags, hackey sacks, wire puzzles (like the two nails), dominos, anything can be carved out of wood. I wood think toys would be a lot more personal, not only because they would be scarce and probably homemade, but because the kids would carry them with them. As opposed to all the big crap that kids now days seem to have laying around all over to be played with anytime. Guess you could load up the PS3 and Easybake generator in the Barbie Jeep and cruise over to the next village.

As was mentioned earlier, at least for boys, sticks are the best. They are anything you can imagine. Ball bats, swords, you can kill snakes, poke dead things or hornet nests, tease your sister, throw it like a spear at totally safe rabbits, walking stick, depth finder before you use it as a fishing pole, fire stick, weeny roaster, flagpole, ninja staff, bow an arrows, rubberband gun.... It's not just a stick in the hands of a kid. Damn... I miss my stick.

[Merovech]

Handmade toys are pretty much a given, thats the way it used to be... and would be again in the PAW should (god forbid) it ever happen...

However A LOT of the things we have now are not simply going to just go away.

10, 20, 50 years into a PAW... houses that were once stripped of lumber, food, ect... toys wouldnt exactly be on the high priority of salvage.

But eventually they would get picked up, think about what a kid in 1820 would have done if he had found a toy like this:



His hoop and stick would have been forgotten about.

[BullOnParade]

Handmade toys are pretty much a given, thats the way it used to be... and would be again in the PAW should (god forbid) it ever happen...

However A LOT of the things we have now are not simply going to just go away.

10, 20, 50 years into a PAW... houses that were once stripped of lumber, food, ect... toys wouldnt exactly be on the high priority of salvage.

But eventually they would get picked up, think about what a kid in 1820 would have done if he had found a toy like this:



His hoop and stick would have been forgotten about.

Hell, He'd have forgotten all of his chores too. Which would have resulted in the beating of a lifetime.

[AZMedic]

Kids wont have time to play in the PAW. THey are the lookouts and scavengers.

Ok I can see wooden toys make a comeback.

[eugene]

His hoop and stick would have been forgotten about.

I don't think so, sometimes kids prefer the simple. We did a overnight in Amish country and despite my kids having their leapsters, digicams, etc they really enjoyed some of the simple wooden amish toys. We bought them a couple and actually play with them a lot, more than I expected.

I did simple wooden toys for my son's 4th birthday party. We did a handy manny theme and we had bought him the handy manny workshop for Christmas. It has all these plastic pieces you put together with plastic nails and screws to make things like a birdhouse, toolbox, a car, boat, etc. there were 6 main projects with detailed instructions so I copied that instruction sheet then copied all the parts with wood. Setup a couple simple jigs from scrap so I could assembly line the drilling and cutting and make a dozen or so of each part real quick. I used a small drill bit to predrill where all the screws go then screwed them together and back apart so they would be easy to assemble. Then made up 3-4 of each project and passed them out to the kids. a couple of the non hands on parents had fun using screwdrivers for the first time. The kids loved them, some took them home and took them apart and painted the parts, etc. I wasn't real impressed with the projects because they are made out of a half dozen standardized parts so the car is the end of a toolbox/birdhouse with wheels stuck on it and not very car like but the kids didn't seem to mind. These are toys that can be made out of scraps, only reason I had to buy wood is because I was making several of each otherwise I'd have plenty of scrap to make one of each.

But the point is sometimes kids like simple things and things they make themselves.

[dukman]

I sold all my M.U.S.C.L.E. Men on eBay 8) (Got about $1 each on average)

In TEOTWAWKI I see wooden toys making a big comeback. I foresee a big comeback of metal toys as well including cast iron. (or die-cast/pot metal/zamac instead using the old cast-iron ways of production) Dolls will never go away for the girls. Weather they be made out of crochet or even stitched leather with wooden heads, they will never go away.

But even if none of these toys did see a resurgence, the kids would make do with whatever they have. Whether it be a stick, a rock, or even a bone. They will have plenty of toys in their own mind. And their imaginary friend will make sure of that....

[eugene]

Remember when you got old enough to get a pocketknife and start whittling your own toys?

[JojoZS]

Remember when you got old enough to get a pocketknife and start whittling your own toys?

Which directly related to your first trip to the E.R.

[solrac7]

Damn! I wish I still could imagine stuff like that... Then maybe I wouldn't feel so damn old... It gets harder the older you get... Cb

[Bonecrusher Doc]

I have a buddy who made several hundred dollars collecting those musclemen and then selling complete sets.

My wife and I try to have the majority of our kids' toys non-plastic, non-electronic. Basically any plastic or electronic toys they have are ones we got for free/gifts from relatives.

My wife loves the wooden toys from HABA.

My kids' favorite toys include: musical instruments, puzzles, dolls/teddy bears, blocks, and anything that mimics adults: toy iron and ironing board, toy tool kit, toy kitchen set. Why do you think little kids love phones and keys so much? Because they see adults using them all the time and placing value on them. (Where are my keys!)

[nyarlotep]

... anything that mimics adults: toy iron and ironing board, toy tool kit, toy kitchen set. Why do you think little kids love phones and keys so much? Because they see adults using them all the time and placing value on them...

I think that's exactly right. Kids want to do the things grown-ups do. they'll learn play-versions of grown-up activities, like archery or flintknapping or foraging or hunting or fishing. They'll have their own toys and games too, I'm sure, marbles and conkers and kick-the-can and whatnot.

[ZombieGranny]

We used to fling cowpats like Frisbees.
Nothing is more fun than to find a just-barely-dry one, and get your evil cousin right in the back of the head.

heh, heh. Good times.

[Lucretius]

Pine cones + tooth picks = a potential zoo.

A piece of wood + a sharpie = a doll with an "interesting" face

A stick = WIN!!!!


Also, kids will play "shop" with anything from bottle caps to stones. A human instinct to barter, perhaps?


When clearing out my father-in-laws house, we found TONS of old electronic junk. We had already built a decent car of wood for the kids, after adding these microfones and curcuit boards and stuff it looked like a space shuttle...

[psychomajortom]

+1 sticks. In Cub scouts we'd fight...HARD... over whether a person still owned a stick after putting it down.

[ZombieGranny]

When I was a kid we lived in the woods. The dads went up in the trees and created us what must have been the largest jungle gym ever made. They hung cables from tree to tree creating a ladder to get up, a zip ride and a veritable spider web. The tree houses were made by the kids.
(The cowpats and evil cousins were at Grandma's house.)

[Jeriah]

The guts to a music box?