100 Years of Toys

What about LEGO? While the company has been around since the 1930s and the bricks have been around since the 1950s--and I imagine they have been popular ever since.

LEGO was my favorite toy--I still have mine from my childhood (and adulthood); I even have some my dad played with when he was a child.

My favorite toy my late brother and I had was a metal Tonka dump truck. We would take it down to my grandparent's house (they lived just down the road from us) and push each other on it on the sidewalk that went around their house. Our home didn't have a sidewalk. It was rather uncomfortable, metal ridges and all on the dump truck. And it became very beat up from riding on it and eventually was tossed in the garbage. Years later, after recalling to my parents that it was one of my favorite memories, my parents bought me a metal Tonka dump truck. I have it sitting on top of the bookcase in my bedroom. I see it everyday and think of my brother.

I wanted a chemistry set and a glass blowing kit. Never got them. "Those are for boys" was the typical mom-block for girls as "You'll shoot your eye out" was the classic mom-block for boys.