Toys and Games – Reviews and News

There’s play value and then there’s financial value. Toys are meant to be cherished and enjoyed by children, but even so miniature die-cast vehicles from at least 20 years ago still seem to be selling for more than the real thing. A boxed set of six Dinky vans went for £35,000 (you could get three real Ford Transits for that and afford short term van insurance cover for almost eight years!). The most sought after models have been fetching two or three times estimated prices at auction.

Dinky began life in 1934 as a Meccano spin-off and was owned by Hornby. The first ranges captured the imagination of a pre-war generation of kids that had never seen quality metal toy cars before. Any chips or blemishes can have a huge impact on price and if you’ve got the original box that can double the value. Corgi Toys first appeared in July 1956, manufactured by Mettoy Playcraft in Wales, as direct competition to Dinky Toys. Corgi’s initial sales gimmick was to include plastic windows and windscreens on all its cars.

The thing they both had in common was the sheer robustness of their build quality. They were all die cast metal, which is probably why they lasted so long and gave as much play value. It’s also probably why most seem to have survived to become valuable as an investment too!

Regrettably, the same cannot be said about today’s, mainly plastic, toy cars. If they were real, you’d be best advised only to get short term car insurance on them as it’s unlikely they would last any longer than 28 days!

The demise of Dinky Toys is another connection with reality as it mirrored the decline of Britain’s motor industry, with the firm folding in 1979. Most manufacture of toy cars nowadays is done in the Far East, in China. They tend not be exact replicas of actual cars you’d see on the streets, but lavish and sometimes outlandish visions with flashing lights or other features deemed to be essential to keep a modern generation of kids interested.

Do they have the same play value as their predecessors? Probably, although the child’s world in which they must now compete for attention is very different from the one 30 years ago. Will they have the same financial value? Unlikely, because they are probably not going to survive anywhere near as intact as their chunkier forerunners. However, if they give the same amount of pleasure as those crude but beautifully made Dinky toys, does how much they are worth to a collector really matter?

I sometimes wonder whatever happened to the  upright washing machines that people had when I was a child. OK so they weren’t very efficient kitchen appliances cleaning wise, took up space that’s available to use as a work surface if you have a front opening unit but they didn’t leak or flood the kitchen when they went wrong, you could take things out or throw extra things in mid-wash, even if you’re well organised you need to open the machine mid cycle from time to time, if you’re like me it’s almost every single time!

Alright, your integrated washing machines can wash your clothes in a trice while the upright’s central do-dad rotates gently from side to side at about 45 degrees hour after hour but that inefficiency meant that if you left things in your pockets they’d come out damp but unharmed the other side. The one I remember wasn’t even plumbed in, when not in use I think my grandma just covered it over with a tablecloth. To use it you had to pull it over to the sink, attach it to the kitchen taps with a hose to fill it, switch it on and wait as it sort of fidgeted your clothes clean. You had a pair of wooden tongs to push the clothes under the surface of the water like a sack full of kittens but my nan, safety conscious as she was never let you push the clothes under while it was going because it could “Rip your arm off!” She certainly had a very inflated opinion of this white goods’ death dealing capabilities. I could imagine Daddy Long Legs besting it in a fair fight and we all know how easily separated they are from their limbs.

When the weather was nice then the clothes would go out on the line, but in the winter or when it was wet there would be so many clothes horses shambling around the house it was like a dressed up dressage! Gran would never consider wasting money on anything as frivolous as condenser tumble dryers, (and her idea of an integrated dishwasher was putting a scouring pad on a fork if the washing up water was too hot) notwithstanding the fact I had childhood asthma and my granddad had emphysema, luckily their house was so draughty that the damp never really became a problem. Provided the clothes had been run thorough the mangle properly. There’s a thing. I’ve already started seeing toys I used to have in antique shops and things I used to use regularly my daughter will only see in museums of social history. Feeling old much? You bet!

While you probably shouldn’t trust kids with their own silver jewellery, they definitely enjoy making their own. There are a lot of make your own jewellery sets on the market (and I’m sure most of us remember badge makers, which are still going strong), but you can always come up with something home made. Popcorn, pasta and even cereal have all been used to make jewellery in my house (though in the latter cases what they’re made of usually results in them being eaten afterwards).

If you want something a little more permanent then you can always used something like coloured clay, which can be baked into the oven in order to make your little ones’ masterpieces last forever (excluding equally little accidents, of course).

You never know, though; it may easily rival your gemstone jewellery!

How much would you pay for a real dishwasher? £150? £200? £300, £400? It would be a question of choice dependant on budget and requirements.

Now, how much would you pay for a toy dishwasher? £30, £75, £100 even? How about £200? Would anyone really spend that kind of money on a toy dishwasher? There must be some people that do. If you look hard enough you can find toy dishwashers at this price on Google.

In fact Trifle Toys are selling their dishwasher products for £199.00* (see image below)

£200 Toy Dishwasher

Here are a selection of other toy dishwashers that are over £100 and close to the price of very cheap dishwashers from online electrical retailers.

Toys R Us – £129.99*

KidsKitchens.com – £120.60*

Amazon.co.uk – £119.99*

So what next for expensive Children’s Toys? I know most children love LCD TVs, toy washing machines and the like, but if you are anything like me, you might well find these prices a bit high. What ever happened to cardboard, paint and imagination?

*Prices correct at time of writing

It would seem with all of this new technology such as computer consoles and crazy programmes for kids on the television that smaller and smaller numbers of children are actually sitting down with their parents and building something from one of those model kits. Even easier constrictive sets like the popular Lego bricks are finding it hard to sell and it would seem that adults are more interested than kids. However is all of this actually having an effect on our children?

Gaming

Personally I have no problem at all with kids sitting down and playing video games but this should really only be done at certain times and they should not be there all of the time doing it. The great thing about model kit building is that kids need help with it which is where the parents come in but with something like gaming it is often the kids teaching the parents on what to do which is why on the most part gaming is called unsociable. Although I do not believe this to be true because of things like Xbox Live I have to say model building with the parents would be much better for a child.

So if you can why not get your child a model kit and sit down with them to build it, if this is something you know will not happen then consider getting them one of those RC helicopters or RC Tanks.

If you are still stuck on what to get your child/children this year then think about something that they can learn rather than something that will be used for a couple of days over the Christmas period.

Guitars are actually a great gift for a child that is wanting to learn how to play instrument and is actually prepared to try and learn. If you are after something for a kid that just wants a bit of a mess around on an instrument then I would reccommend you get one of those drum kits instead.

Although these are sometimes very expensive items, a lot of the time you can go around a nd pick up quite cheap items for the kids which is always good to do around this time of year. Kids will love recieving gifts like this for many reasons.

Size

Think about roughly how big a present like this will look underneath a Christmas tree. It looks pretty awesome thats for sure and a child will light up when they see just how big one of their presents looks.

Noise

Kids love making a racket when it comes to playing with their things and just think how much noise they can make when they are smashing those symbols on their drumkits or of course playing that guitar our of a loudspeaker. It is just something that kids love doing and you really do not want to deny them their fun, it would be a crime surely?

Conclusion

Of course something like this is going to set you back a bit of money but what with Christmas on it’s way next week and still no present in mind for your kid why not go after something they will really enjoy playing with over the course of the next year. Well at least for the next few weeks?

Is it just me or are toys not made the way they used to be. I remember when a toy would last you a good 10 years before anything would go wrong with it. You could drop your wooden toy car from the top of a multi-story car park and the most damage it would receive would be a few minor scratches to the paint work. Try dropping a modern toy car from any height at all and it pretty much atomizes. You spend weeks looking for all the bits and pieces that have cracked, smashed and fallen off.

There is an argument to say that toys these days are more technical, they do more stuff and therefore there are more parts to go wrong. I don’t buy this however as some of the more simple toys made these days like Barbie dolls are more fragile than Nicole Richie.

So why are these toys being made to a low standard? Well, as you might expect it comes down to money. Some of the better retailers only sell quality toys, but most are just interested in the bottom line and so have all their toys made in the Far East and using materials that you wouldn’t even want your bin liners to be made from.

The answer? If you’re buying for a girl, hunt around for the best gifts for her on trusted websites, where you know you’ll get quality. You can do the same for boys, but take into account that boys are more aggressive with their toys so they need to be made of tougher stuff.

Dolls houses that are intended for children are very different from those that are intended for adult dolls house enthusiasts.

Dolls houses for girls and boys are generally much simpler than those designed for the collector. They are often made from wood, sturdy and robust with no small, removable parts.

Dolls houses for adult enthusiasts can often have small, detailed decorative parts that could easily be broken off by a child. These clearly present a choke hazard making this type of dolls house completely unsuitable for children.

Dolls houses are fantastic learning toys for boys and girls. They encourage imaginative play and provide a way for children to interact with one another and with adults.

I posted a question recently on answer bank and was really surprised at the response.

My question was what do you reckon was the best toy you ever owned?

First reply was etch a sketch, I  too had one of those and got hours of fun out of it.

Next up was Hungry Hippos probably one game that most people have either owned or heard of.

Someone else said it was a yo yo and another juggling balls which kept them amused for hours.

Football was mentioned utilising Mums washing line to make  your own makeshift goalposts in the back garden. Also a boomerang.

Another real old favourite was lego which I suppose really took over from mecano.

For the girls there was of course Sindy, My Little Ponies, and of course Barbie Doll.

The strange thing is if you notice out of all the replies there is only one game which requires more than one to play.

Wonder what that says about our childhoods or do we just  prefer our own company? Maybe we were simply just used to amusing ourselves better, thats my theory anyway!

I suppose when I look at all the different toys what strikes me most is the lack of computer games. It seems that the good old fashioned traditional toys are the ones that seem to stand the test of time and its those we remember best!

What do you think?

Many town and city centres are rapidly changing as an increasing number of people turn to the internet for their shopping. Traditional toy shops are one type of town centre outlets that appear to be dieing off.

When I was a lad I loved to go into our local town with my mum and dad just to gaze in amazement at the bewildering array of fantastic toys in the window of the town’s toy shop. If we were to go inside I can recall being so excited that I would nearly wet myself. How times have changed.

While there are still a few national chains with outlets in some cities and towns, the smaller, local, independent toy shops have all but died out. Replaced by out of town warehouse style outlets and, of course, the internet.

Shopping for toys online, whilst being immensely convenient and economical, lacks the magic that a visit to the local independent, traditional toy shop used to have. Children can’t really appreciate or even understand a toy until they have touched it and maybe taken it for a test-play. From a child’s perspective the internet can’t really compete.

What’s the answer? Well there isn’t one. While grown-ups seek convenience and economy, children miss out on the magical experience that a visit to their local toy shop used to be.