. . . and survived.
Is Happy Fun Ball in the museum yet?
Posted on 11/13/2005 5:16:29 PM PST by Cagey
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Forget the fancy toy: The box it comes in can be much more fun. Spaceship, castle, haven to daydream in, the cardboard box was enshrined Friday in the National Toy Hall of Fame along with Jack-in-the-Box and Candy Land.
No kidding, grown-ups.
"I think every adult has had that disillusioning experience of picking what they think is a wonderful toy for a child, and then finding the kid playing with the box," said Christopher Bensch, chief curator of the Strong Museum. "It's that empty box full of possibilities that the kids can sense and the adults don't always see."
Low-tech and unpretentious it may be, but the cardboard box has fostered learning and creativity for multiple generations - a key qualifier for inclusion in the museum's seven-year-old hall of fame. And its appeal as a plaything or recreational backdrop is universal.
All over the world, "packaging is something that's accessible to kids, whether that's cans or tins or wooden crates," Bensch said, and the cardboard box "makes a point that you don't have to spend a lot, have a certain income level or charge it on your credit card to have your kids have a great play experience."
The museum, which boasts the world's largest collection of toys and dolls, acquired the hall in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Ore.
So far, 34 classic toys have been enshrined, from Barbie to Mr. Potato Head, Legos to Lincoln Logs, Slinky to Play-Doh and Crayola crayons to marbles.
Candy Land, a board game decorated with a sweet-treats trail and destinations such as Gumdrop Mountain, was created in the 1940s by a San Diego polio victim, Eleanor Abbott, who wanted a pastime for children recuperating from illness.
Jack-in-the-Box, the jester who bursts open his box lid when a compressed spring is released, appears to have originated in the 16th century. The toy is loosely based on Punch, the dynamic puppet in the "Punch and Judy" show.
The corrugated cardboard box, which quickly came to dominate the shipping industry in North America, was invented by a Brooklyn printer, Robert Gair, in 1890.
Strong Museum, the second-largest children's museum in America, is aiming to wrap up a $33 million expansion next summer that could double its attendance to nearly 700,000 visitors a year. The 23-year-old museum contains more than 70,000 toys and dolls and features circus memorabilia, children's books, household furniture, miniatures and various objects of American culture dating from the 1820s.
. . . and survived.
Is Happy Fun Ball in the museum yet?
This museum could complete its collection by adding the cardboard tubes that wrapping paper came on. Those cardboard tubes got as much play time as boxes.
Army brat bump, for that.
Boxed=boxes
Took forever to find those pics, too!
This is big news at my house. My eleven year-old daughter just finished her Social Sciences project on "What Do Children Learn From Toys?" A major part of the project was based on the (then) 31 toys in the Toy Hall of Fame -- and the idea came from an article in AirTran's in-flight magazine about the THOF taking nominations for the 2005 inductees.
I just picked her up at school (I'm playing Mr. Mom today) with a copy of this article on the front seat. As she approached the car, she was alread shouting: "Awesome, Dad. The cardboard box! The cardboard box made it into the Hall of Fame today!" (Her teacher had already shared the information with her).
Getting into the THOF has become an obsession for some adult collectors of certain toys. Two years ago, after Raggedy Ann had been passed over for four years in a row, a consortium of Raggedy Ann collector clubs circulated petitions and even convinced Good Morning America to join their (successful) quest to get Raggedy Ann into the THOF. Emboldened by that unprecedented success from lobbying, this year they pushed for Raggedy Andy's induction. Those Raggedy Ann/Andy people are serious about their obsession.
Apparently, Hot Wheels collectors took a page from the Raggedy Ann playbook and circulated petitions this year, to no avail.
Finally, my whole family has scratched its collective head over how Mr. Potato Head became one of only 34 toys in the Toy Hall of Fame. The Toy Hall of Fame is specifically for toys with a long history and special meaning to children. Toys are picked for four reasons. First, the toy must be easily recognized, respected, and remembered. Second, the toy must have been popular for more several generations. Third, the toy must help with learning, creativity, or discovery when the child plays with it. Fourth, the toy must have greatly changed play or the way toys are designed. A toy may make the Toy Hall of Fame for this reason by itself.
Other toys in the THOF are things like bicycles, jump ropes, marbles, jacks, roller skates, rocking horses, Frisbees, Monopoly, Barbie, SCRABBLE, Tinkertoys, LEGO, Slinkies, Silly Putty, Erector sets, jigsaw puzzles, Play-Doh, Crayons, Etch-a-Sketches . . . but Mr. Potato Head?
I remember when they were packaged with a styrofoam potato. After the second time you stuck a facial feature in the styrofoam, the holes in the styrofoam were too big to use it again. After the second real potato you used, Mom told you to quit wasting food. As a kid, Mr. Potato head was one of those toys you played with for two days and put in the back of the closet until it was time to give your old toys to Goodwill.
The cardboard box was long overdue! Viva the box! It's time for a petition to kick Mr. Potato Head out of the THOF; although I suppose I would be called tuberphobic for suggesting so.
Based on the criteria set out above, what would Freepers nominate for the THOF?
I'd nominate:
The game of Clue.
The Big Wheel.
Fisher-Price Little People.
The Easy-Bake Oven.
Your turn.
. . . And I'd nominate:
The baseball glove.
The red rubber playground (kick) ball.
The cap gun.
The politically correct have been successful in keeping the cap gun out of the THOF, and fought the inclusion of G.I. Joe in the THOF successfully for several years before he finally made it in in 2004.
Sorry, looks like G.I. Joe made it...sweet!
Lite Brite's a definitive possibility. I know it's been around at least three generations, most people from those three generations can identify it by name, and most have played with it. Finally, I think most child development "experts" would find it educational.
I'd say the Rubik's Cube was really only a significant toy for one generation (actually, only a significant toy for about two or three years), and probably wouldn't meet the criteria for induction. I'd consider it more of a fad -- but unlike the Hula Hoop fad (Hula Hoops are in the THOF), Rubik's Cubes won't continue to sell a million or so a year for fifty years, like Hula Hoops.
Yeah! Refrigerator boxes were great.
I would nominate Battling Tops. My fave as a kid.
Both the Slinky and the Duncan Yo-Yo are in the Toy Hall of Fame (see my post re: my daughter's social science fair project for why I know this).
The Slinky contains 80 feet of wire and was invented by a man who was trying to come up with a device to cushion a ship's instruments while at sea.
The yo-yo is an ancient toy, dating to at least 500 B.C. My daughter's project included a picture of a toy yo-yo from ancient Greece. The name, "yo-yo" (if I remember correctly), comes from Filipino slang meaning "come-come." In the 1920's, Donald Duncan saw Pedro Flores, a Filipino bellhop, playing with one and selling them. He bought the company, invented the slip-center string that allowed the yo-yo to "sleep," and the fad began.
We've lived the Toy Hall of Fame for the last three months in my house.
I played with Mr Potato Head all the time. My family was big on baked potatoes and you need to pierce the skin for them to bake properly so that was me helping in the kitchen, grandma would put the washed potatoes on the kitchen table with my Mr Potato Head parts and say "come play in here for while". Although my favorite toy of all time was the Hotwheels launcher (rubberband powered thing to shove the cars on the tracks), I'd get a bunch of Sunday morning newspaper rubberbands and setup my tracks on an angle and try to launchthe cars over the breakfast bar, good manufacturing never managed to break that thing, smashed my fingers pretty good a couple of times though.
You wouldn't happen to work for the Idaho Department of Tourism, would you? ;)
Hotwheels (and Matchbox) cars keep making it into the list of finalists, but never quite make it into the THOF.
just had a grandmother who figured out how to make my play time useful. Of course I hate the new plastic Mr Potato Head, there just aren't enough holes for the add-ons so you can make a serious radioactive mutant.
Hotwheels should have been a first lister.
I was thinking of calling you just that. Hahahaha
I'd guess that Mr. Potato Head made it because it's been around so long and it's kind of goofy looking. Or perhaps, Idaho has a strong lobby implanted at the THOF.
Thanks for your interesting insight.
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