The National Toy Hall of Fame

By | July 3, 2009 | Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Occam’s baaack with his twist on toys. Take it away, our skeptical cheerleader:

I recently visited the town of Rochester, whose newly-adopted town motto – “Not Buffalo!” (which in a city-wide vote only narrowly beat out “The Coldest Place You Can Tolerate”) – doesn’t do this burgh justice. It’s a great city and while there I wanted to spend a few hours taking in the cultural offerings. First was breakfast at Charley’s Frog Pond, a wonderfully eccentric, tiny dive downtown where the pumpkin pancakes make patrons swoon.

Then came a tour of the George Eastman estate, where I encountered the most ironic thing Rochester has to offer, that being that you can’t take photos during the tour of the place. Eastman lived out his years in this mansion as a “confirmed bachelor” and everyone there will tell you he was not an eccentric. I can completely understand this conclusion, especially since in my book any person who has a man-servant living in his home whose (supposed) sole duty was to play the organ for him every morning as he came down the steps to breakfast in a room adorned with animal heads is certainly not “eccentric.” (Insider secret – slip the docent $10 and ask to see the “hidden photo catalogue” and view, among other things, Eastman’s very Mapplethorpe-esque collection of “organ pipes” photos.)

Lastly I made it to the Strong Museum of Play, which in a town a bit saucier, say, like Amsterdam or….Schenectady, sounds like a place where you only go with your partner, submit your “safe word” at the door, wear much more leather than you normally would, and pay a ridiculous cover charge. But in Rochester it’s a family-friendly place that is quite a lot of fun, quite frankly.

At this museum they house the National Toy Hall of Fame. I giddily entered this section of the building, excited about the wondrous pleasures that would greet me, ready for a Wonka-like world where instead of candy growing as flowers I’d encounter talking water fountains and maybe a robot concierge and probably some sort of Disney-like, interactive, 3-D space game. And what did I find?

A stick. Yes, a stick.
Oh, and a cardboard box.

One must conclude the selection committee members for the toy HOF are all over 80 and have a depression-era mindset of making the most of the least. Don’t get me wrong…I’m all for the importance of kids using their imagination and the cognitive development that comes from creating fun and not just having fun things fed to you. But as citizen scientists, as people who are excited about the opportunities for childhood learning and understanding that come from electronically-advanced technologies and from the informal science/engineering experiences kids can have these days, I just have to say….a stick? Well, the museum says, the stick “provides an endless source of…fun.” Endless. This is why, I guess, in 2009 “stick” was the number-one requested toy for Christmas, ahead of the Wii, which of course is notorious for its brief fun longevity.

(Curious aside – It took five years for Raggedy Andy to make it in after Raggedy Ann was selected, and reportedly this was only at the repeated requests of a harried GI Joe, who had gotten tired of the nightly entreaties from the lonely, yarn-headed vixen. Speaking of GI Joe, he made it in several years after fellow doll Barbie and even after Raggedy Ann, proving that the selection committee truly doesn’t recognize the sacrifices of the military heroes who fight for our freedom. So good luck to you getting in, Captain America action figure. The Ken doll is also notably missing, calling into question the attitude of the committee toward the representation of a diversity of sexual orientations.)

The Erector set and Legos and Tinkertoys are all in there, so kudos to them on that. After all, not everything has to plug in for it to give a child a chance to explore engineering and technical concepts. One of those entrants that does plug in is the Atari, which seems to evade one of the selection requirements that a toy have longevity and be more than a passing fad. Anyone watch your kids play with an Atari lately?

So get to the nomination form citizen scientists, and do your part. Be creative in nominating toys that have helped the scientific development of the young people in this country. We’ve got to hurry because I think “dirt,” “pocket lint,” and “air” are up for voting this year.

  • Taylor

    You’re exactly the sort of close-minded “hip” youngster who thinks that buying all these new-fangled things will make you, eh, cool. You can’t possibly imagine all the ways a cardboard box can be used! Why, just this morning, I used one as a coffee table, stepping stool, and foot rest (on different occasions, mind you). Now, was that much of a toy? That question is questionable. But toys don’t need to be purchased at the local Target, or to be plugged into a wall! Sticks, for instance, require almost no set-up, and are free just about everywhere. As far as I’m concerned, you need only to give a child a staple gun, power saw and some wood and tell him that he can’t make something fun of it; you’ve no idea the kinds of things he can create! I certainly hope you raised your child to at least have the creativity you seem to lack.

  • Taylor

    You’re exactly the sort of close-minded “hip” youngster who thinks that buying all these new-fangled things will make you, eh, cool. You can’t possibly imagine all the ways a cardboard box can be used! Why, just this morning, I used one as a coffee table, stepping stool, and foot rest (on different occasions, mind you). Now, was that much of a toy? That question is questionable. But toys don’t need to be purchased at the local Target, or to be plugged into a wall! Sticks, for instance, require almost no set-up, and are free just about everywhere. As far as I’m concerned, you need only to give a child a staple gun, power saw and some wood and tell him that he can’t make something fun of it; you’ve no idea the kinds of things he can create! I certainly hope you raised your child to at least have the creativity you seem to lack.

  • Jeanne

    A cardboard box provides endless fun! Ask my Grandson! One day it was a Dinasaur cave, A place to hide for hide and seek, a boat going down the rapids (the stick was the oar), a castle, an army depot, etc etc.

    Young children just Love large cardboard boxes! This writer – had to many manufactured toys as a child, has never had children, and has NO imagination. A stick and a box are very basic toys! You don’t need alot of money to buy them (they are usually free) and they allow children to use their imaginations – very important – better than passively watching ANY children’s program on TV!

  • Jeanne

    A cardboard box provides endless fun! Ask my Grandson! One day it was a Dinasaur cave, A place to hide for hide and seek, a boat going down the rapids (the stick was the oar), a castle, an army depot, etc etc.

    Young children just Love large cardboard boxes! This writer – had to many manufactured toys as a child, has never had children, and has NO imagination. A stick and a box are very basic toys! You don’t need alot of money to buy them (they are usually free) and they allow children to use their imaginations – very important – better than passively watching ANY children’s program on TV!

  • Occam

    Jeanne – on the contrary! I have a teenaged daughter who will be 16 in just a few months. Or wait…maybe it’s 15. I honestly can’t remember and haven’t spoken to her much in the last few years, as both of us are pretty much constantly playing video games.

    While I’m sure your grandson is a fine boy, it sounds to me like he’s wrapped himself in a cloak of fantasy and dangerous “mind-wanderings,” as Hegel called them. Sit him in front of a TV very soon, and for long periods, or the next thing you know you’ll be knee-deep in Ritalin bills and his Dungeons and Dragons friends will overrun your home!

  • Occam

    Jeanne – on the contrary! I have a teenaged daughter who will be 16 in just a few months. Or wait…maybe it’s 15. I honestly can’t remember and haven’t spoken to her much in the last few years, as both of us are pretty much constantly playing video games.

    While I’m sure your grandson is a fine boy, it sounds to me like he’s wrapped himself in a cloak of fantasy and dangerous “mind-wanderings,” as Hegel called them. Sit him in front of a TV very soon, and for long periods, or the next thing you know you’ll be knee-deep in Ritalin bills and his Dungeons and Dragons friends will overrun your home!