Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
I ordered these in the mail when I was a kid, Didn't work worth a darn. But I SO looked forward to getting them..
Favorite toys you remember
- Thread starter Magical Realist
- Start date
sculptor
Valued Senior Member
I had a magnifying glass.
I read that one could start a fire with a magnifying glass
so
I went across the road to the edge of the swamp
and applied the magnifying glass to a tuft of grass on the edge of the swamp
and
it worked
the tuft of grass burst into flame
and It spread quickly to the rest of the swamp
oops
so
I called the fire department
they came
but
there wasn't anything that they could do
so
They watched it burn
and
chatted
and I listened
and the fellow in charge
asked me how it happened
so
I told him that I had read that one could start a fire with a magnifying glass
so I tried it
and it worked
more than i had expected
oops
so
i called him
I read that one could start a fire with a magnifying glass
so
I went across the road to the edge of the swamp
and applied the magnifying glass to a tuft of grass on the edge of the swamp
and
it worked
the tuft of grass burst into flame
and It spread quickly to the rest of the swamp
oops
so
I called the fire department
they came
but
there wasn't anything that they could do
so
They watched it burn
and
chatted
and I listened
and the fellow in charge
asked me how it happened
so
I told him that I had read that one could start a fire with a magnifying glass
so I tried it
and it worked
more than i had expected
oops
so
i called him
Gawdzilla Sama
Valued Senior Member
Sixty-nine years ago I got a toy bow and arrow set for Xmas. Red, white and blue stripes painted on it. Rigged it up and prompt shot my brother.
Two years later I got a "tool kit" for Xmas. I found the screwdriver, looked around, saw the cover plate on an outlet had a screw. Mom intercepted me.
Two years later I got a "tool kit" for Xmas. I found the screwdriver, looked around, saw the cover plate on an outlet had a screw. Mom intercepted me.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
I got a Mortimer Snerd ventriloquist doll one Christmas with an LP on how to practice throwing your voice. After a year or two of bashing my brother and sister with it in fights the head finally came off.
sculptor
Valued Senior Member
My brothers and I had a bow and arrows. We would try to shoot straight up in the air. The winner would be the one who got the arrow to land closest to him.
At three years of age, my paternal grandmother's Christmas gift (I didn't know it was from her at the time) was a teddy bear as big as I was. I hated it, but my mother said the angels who left it under the tree would be hurt if they saw me crying. The following year, I had pneumonia and stayed at that same grandmother's apartment (close to the hospital, far from my baby brother). She bought me a set of tiny zoo animals. I played with them for years, built enclosures with rock and water features, later a fleet of circus wagons and a big top - privately, when the little brother was down for his nap; he shoved everything in his mouth and I didn't want my zoo slobbered-on.
Gawdzilla Sama
Valued Senior Member
Gawdzilla Sama
Valued Senior Member
That came out better than I had hoped for.
One year for X-mas, my brother & I got these plastic cavalry sabers. Surprisingly sturdy for plastic swords, as I recall.
We ventured outside & built as many snowmen as we could, and ran around the yard hacking the things to bits.
Those were the days...
We ventured outside & built as many snowmen as we could, and ran around the yard hacking the things to bits.
Those were the days...
Seattle
Valued Senior Member
One year I got a Mattel Vac-u-form. It was an injection moulding system. It came with pieces of plastic the size of a slice of cheese and a hot element that was plugged into the wall. It softened the plastic, you swung it over a mould of a car or boat and after it cooled you cut it out, painted it, glued it on a chassis. What could go wrong with a kid and melted plastic and a burner?
I also had a chemistry set. I learned to take a glass tube, close off one end, fill it with gunpowder from a firecracker, put a fuse in the other end and boom. I remember secret decoder rings, Chinese finger cuffs, BB guns...
I also had a chemistry set. I learned to take a glass tube, close off one end, fill it with gunpowder from a firecracker, put a fuse in the other end and boom. I remember secret decoder rings, Chinese finger cuffs, BB guns...
Pinball1970
Valued Senior Member
Thomas Salter in the UK IIRC. My introduction to science or one of the main ones, by the time I went to secondary school (12-16 in the UK) I knew all the basic laboratory glass wear /kit and many of the available (safe-ish) salts.
The Chemistry teacher was impressed, my class mates were not.
I learned a few important lessons those early weeks.
One Xmas present I had till it fell apart was the 1979 Guinness book of world records.
I still remember many of the track and field records, so many from Mexico 1968, made me curious.
The later editions once the internet kicked in were unreadable, just pages and pages of pictures, screen grabs of web pages and stacks of web site links. Hardly any explanatory notes compared to 1970s archaic version.