What toys do you like best? What toys do you remember best? What toys do your kids spend most of their time with?
*Every couple of years we visit the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, and on any given visit, it seems like we get through about half of the place. (It’s big!)
*Earlier this month, I committed to spend some time on the upper level, in the Toy Hall of Fame, which showcases 62 toys (so far) that have been selected for the honor.
*One of the great things about the Toy Hall of Fame is that it takes a very broad view of toys and playthings. So honored inductees include the stick (inducted 2008), the blanket (2011), and the cardboard box (2005).
*There were three inductions last year: Dungeons & Dragons, the swing, and Fisher-Price Little People. That makes a good picture of the breadth. The granddaddy of modern role-playing games, an ancient low-tech plaything, and an enduring, well-loved proprietary set of toys.
*When you wander the Toy Hall of Fame, you wander through a memory gallery that ranges from A (alphabet blocks, 2003) to almost-Z (View-Master, 1999).
*I have to say that I no longer remember any specific story on my View-Master. But I certainly remember pressing down that little button on the right, the satisfying “clunk” as the disc advanced, and the exciting 3-D effect, which I now know mimicked the old-time stereopticon.
*And how I loved my Lincoln Logs (1999), building anything imaginable, often in combination with my plastic dinosaurs or my little green army men (2014). Each Christmas, I used Lincoln Logs to make up a Nativity scene.
*My grandfather taught me checkers (2003), but my father taught me chess (2013). My mother taught me to ride a bicycle (2000). We bought our kids G.I. Joe toys (2004), and Star Wars action figures (2012). When I was at a very low time in my life, shortly before we came to Bath, our younger son bought me a jar of bubble water (2014), and I spent many calming hours on the steps, making bubbles and watching them float on the breeze, and thinking about what an insightful guy he was.
*Nowadays at our house we don’t go in much for Atari (2007), Barbie (1998), skateboards (2008), Easy-Bake Ovens (2006), or Rubik’s Cube (2014). But we DO spend time with Scrabble (2004), and with jigsaw puzzles (2002).
*Besides the main Toy Hall of Fame, the Strong is also home to the Toy Industry Hall of Fame (honoring people), the World Video Game Hall of Fame, and the D.I.C.E. Awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
*Near the Toy Halls of Fame is the America at Play gallery, a chronological look at three centuries of play and recreation. I was thrilled to find a full-size fishing diorama here, complete with a Penn Yan Boats “Cartop” boat from the 1950s. I was intrigued to see one of the early circular Monopoly boards, hand-drawn by Charles Darrow.
*Since I’m a big fan of comics and cartoons, I enjoyed spotting playthings of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Popeye, Barney Google, Spark Plug, Peanuts, and Dick Tracy.
*We also took in Reading Adventureland; American Comic Book Heroes; and the Berenstain Bears “Down a Sunny Dirt Road” space, besides catching the last day of a dinosaur exhibit, and poking around the Field of Play room. And that still left almost half the museum untouched. Which just means we have to go back! And we will. You might like it, too.