My absolute favourite was a paper doll with paper clothes, I loved to dress her in her trendy clothes My second favourite was Meccano ! What was your favourite ?
'Have Gun will Travel' was my all time favorite show, and I got the 2 gun set for Christmas around 1958. I would walk up to strangers and hand them the card that said I was Paladin. ( Then I would ask for it back. Heck, I only had so many! )
In my time, the most popular toy for girls is the walking doll and the talking doll. It is the size of a 5-year old child and girls with that kind of doll is surely a hit in the neighborhood. But that was just my dream. The talking doll and the walking doll are both expensive dolls that are reserved only for the wealthy which we are not. But I have this small doll that I cherished as my only toy which served as my companion in bed. It was actually a doll made of cloth which symbolizes the Igorot tribe in Baguio City. It is cheap but it can only be bought in that city which is 6 hours drive from Manila. PS. There was no Barbie doll yet. I don't know if there is in America already.
My X wifey said the same thing. She never had much and made some of her own paper dolls. She cut pictures of models and clothing out of old catalogs and magazines.
I think I've answered this question somewhere else in this forum already, but I'll do it again. My favorite toy was Robby the Robot, a toy that was based on the robot of that name in the 1956 movie, Forbidden Planet, and was later used in several other movies and television shows. There were several versions of the toy, but this one most closely resembles the one that I had. I think mine had a ray gun in one hand though, but I'm not sure. It would walk, lights in its head would flash, and it would say: I'm Robby the Robot, the mechanical man; I walk and I talk, and I do what I can. Eventually, we blew it up with firecrackers but, before that, I really loved that toy. A lot of my toys got blown up with firecrackers. I lived in dangerous times. Dangerous for toys anyhow. That's probably why intact toys from that era are so valuable. One of my least favorite toys was a pogo stick. We only had a few paved roads and no sidewalks. What was I supposed to do with a pogo stick?
I don't remember having toys when we were younger. Although at some time my dad brought home an old military surplus rubber raft.He filled it with water and we used it as a pool. That was pretty cool.
I like jacks and slinky. ng mostly.I like to play marbles until I played with my friend and she beat me bad! image from http://www.firebox.com/product/1905/Slinky image from http://www.ebay.com/itm/Classic-Metal-Jacks-Red- Ball-Game-Jax-for-Kids-/370985361094 I'd play for hours and enjoyed both. Being an only child with weekend visits of family with children my age growing up I played with toys that was a one person playing mostly.
It depends what age I was but jacks, paper dolls, skipping rope, my Madame Alexandra Doll/ with clothes and my Patty Pen doll were all favorites. Before those dolls it was my tiny tears and betsy wetsy dolls with clothes and a baby stroller. I also liked colorforms, my hula hoop, bike and roller skates. Also a few board games that I played with my friends. I might have had a Barbie doll but not sure.
@Ken Anderson - Sparky loves Robby the Robot @Krissttina Isobe - Oh yes, Jacks were fab, I was pretty nifty with the jacks
Almost forgot about marbles. Spent a good deal of my youth leaning over a circle in the dirt. Cat eyes, Steely's, Puries, and your best 'shooter'. Always play for "Keepsies"