Flashback Friday - Let's Play!!

What toys do you remember from your childhood? What did you like to do to entertain yourself? Did you mostly play inside or outside? Did you ride a bike all over the neighborhood? Play baseball in the backyard? Basketball in the driveway? Did you have to "get permission" to play at a friend's house, or were you and your friends back and forth between houses all the time? If you had siblings, was there a distinction between your toys and theirs? Did you "inherit" any toys from older siblings? What were the "fad" or "must-have" toys of your generation? Did you parents buy them? Was there a toy you always wanted and never got to have?

What a lot of memories I associate with toys! The Raggedy Ann picture to the left is very similar to the one I owned. She slept with my always, and even up until I was in college, this precious doll was the bearer of all my heartaches. Her face was tearstained and her hair tattered. Oh, how I loved my Raggedy Ann!!

Barbies were another huge part of my world. I had a younger cousin who had more Barbie stuff than I did, and between her pool, townhouse, camper and all of my stuff - and we had Barbies by the dozens! - we could fill my entire den with a Barbie subdivision!


I remember my brother had a lot of GI Joe figures and a Tonto and Lone Ranger that would kidnap my Barbies! I cannot begin to tell you how many hours and days were filled with Barbie and her co-horts! Many, many, many my friend!




I wish I could find a picture of the playhouse items I remember. There was a metal set that included a refrigerator, stove and sink, and I had a table and chairs, a crib and even an old tv set that completed my "play house". Oh the wonderful memories I have playing with my brother in the play house. He would be a WWII fighter pilot and would fly off on missions, and I would radio him home for supper or when one of the babies got sick! I had a host of teddy bears, baby dolls and other stuffed animals that made up a huge part of my childhood.


I remember my Smurf doll, my stuffed E.T doll and a host of others that I slept with. Folks had to hunt me among all of the stuffed animals on my bed!
And I kid you not...I took a lot of my stuffed animal collection with my to college. One of the pranks friends pulled on my was to kidnap my stuffed animal collection and have them appear in my classes and other embarrassing places. I was a stuffed animal nut!





And I grew up on a farm, so a lot of my toys were just the great outdoors. We could "build" tree houses and forts by the hour out of whatever scraps or sticks we could find. I spent a lot of time playing by the creek in the pasture. There were banks to that creek that seemed ginormous that we would slide down! Amazing how small they appeared as an adult.

Most of my toys appeared under the Christmas tree. I had a couple of aunts and uncles that would treat us to shopping trips for toys occasionally. If there were "fad" toys it had to be Barbie! There was TONS of that stuff! And quite honestly, I don't remember ever wanting something I couldn't or didn't have. Occasionally my cousin would get a Barbie piece I wanted, but I had a really dreamy childhood. LOTS of fun!!

And you know what? I truly remember having a TON of fun with a big cardboard box! We had some appliances delivered, and we didn't do anything but cut doors and windows in it and decorate with with markers! When it finally fell down, we smashed it flat and used it to slide down the grassy hill in the back yard!! YES, I played with cardboard boxes and had a BALL!!

For other playtime memories, visit my good friend Linda's blog!