Toyland

 Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, we didn’t have electronic toys. Instead, we grew our imaginations, and anything was possible.  It was a magical experience for your toys to come alive…and it was very real.  I remember when I began to grow past that stage. Somehow Mother must have known that my toys no longer held their magical powers.  She would often sing these words to me, probably understanding the struggle that children have when they begin to leave behind the make-believe world.

Toyland, toy land
Little girl and boy land
While you dwell within it
You are ever happy there.

Childhood's joy land

Mystic merry toy land

Once you pass its borders

You can ne'er return again.

              ~Christmas song by Doris Day

I didn’t have everything I wanted, but I had plenty. One of my favorite things was a set of Disney characters on wheels that Mother ordered for me from Montgomery Wards.  I waited anxiously for them to arrive and when they did, they were everything I dreamed of.  I played with them for a long time, coveted them and took good care not to break them. I appreciated everything that was given to me and perfected the art of preserving things by storing them perfectly sometimes in the original packaging.  I never wanted anything broken, and if by chance something did break, Mother was the master mind at finding a way to fix it.

The Disney characters on wheels.

https://missfunes.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/disney-vintage-toys-1960s/ 

I also enjoyed playing with toy cars, often making roads in the dirt to drive them along.  Barbie and Ken were VERY popular. I had several of each and two different doll houses for them.  I had complete wardrobes for them and two convertibles to drive them around in. But the doll I loved the most was my troll doll name Massie. These were the rage and mine was special because she had brown natural type hair. This is the only doll that I wish that I had saved, and yet she got left behind at Vernon when Mother and Daddy divorced.  I made clothes for them and had a doll house for them, as well. This was the doll that I played with until I reached the age that the fantasy world was no longer there. A friend/5^th cousin of mine also loved her trolls and we played behind closed doors when we felt that others were no longer playing with dolls.

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 I played with a “Baby Dear” because that was what Paula played with.  They were life-like and we purchased actual baby clothes at Moses for them.  We had cradles with blankets for them and would play mommy for hours. 

Other toys of my childhood:

Chatty Cathy – a doll that would talk when you pulled the string on her back side. She had eyelids that closed and opened.

 Mouse Trap Game – I loved building the sequence during the game to watch the ball navigate all the way through the maze to finally lower the cage that would capture the mouse.

Creepy Crawlers – was a ‘make your own’ creepy crawlers with a metal mold over a heated element. I would pour the gel into the mold, heat it, cool it and then have my own rubbery spiders and centipedes.

Wahoo – a game board to move marbles in order to win. I never had an official game board because I played this with cousins at Mimi’s house in Crowell on a homemade board made by Pappy.

Jacks – I mastered sitting in the floor and throwing the ball up, collecting all the jacks and catching the ball before it hit the floor a second time.  I remember playing this at church camp…sort of like tournament play.

Skating was a popular pastime, but the skates were clunky, no inline skates back them. They were metal affairs that were tightened with a key until they gripped our shoes, usually. I also had a skateboard that I wanted to love but it was difficult to ride because even the smallest pebble would stop the wheels and throw you off.

 Other toys to mention: Tinker toys, Mr. Potato Head, play dough, view masters to view beautiful pictures, etch n sketch, the cootie game to build a spider like animal, pick up sticks, and slinky, of course, but those were basically useless for long time play.