what toys and games did you play in your childhood?

[anya921]

and to add to my post, My elder brother's favorite toy when he was little was a barbie and my mother says he used to take it every where with him. And he had played the role of little red riding hood when he was in kinder garden.  But once he started preschool he never played with dolls again. I know for a fact my parents didn't force him to give up his doll.  He loved all the boy sport and never liked play houses or hopscotch. He was the typical Golden child of the family.   

But my sister, we always played with Lego and we loved outdoor things as well as play houses and hopscotch. When she was in Junior school she used to play cricket with all the guys of her class. In fact she was the only girl in the school who did that and she was pretty good at it too. she never wore a single dress till she reached her teen years lol. But she was and is happy as a girl and she is straight as anyone straight person can be.

I used to play cricket and loved out door activities as well as Play houses and Hopscotch.  But I knew I wanted to be a girl since I can remember. we all used to climb trees in our front yard together. Guess we were very lucky to have very liberal parents.

I think this shows what or how you played will not determined your gender. Three children raised by same parents same way, but liked to play with different things and who exactly knew what their gender was.

[peky]

    hugs!

Seriously that sucks, kids are horrible (or was you talking about your parents?)

The beatings where mostly perpetrated -in order of severity and frequency- by the priests in my elementary and middle school, then by my parents, and then by male schoolmates.

By age 12 I was exiled to live in a farm by myself, I got to see my uncle 2 o3 times a month. This lasted until I was 14 1/2 YO. By then I have grown to be almost 6 ft -a giant by South American Standards- 185 lb and into martial arts, so nobody ever beat me again.

Yet, between the beatings, the lack of food and love, yeah, my childhood is something I would rather forget.

The good news is that to compensate I pured a lost of affection, love, and goodies, and protection on my children. I played -and I still do- with them with all kind of toys...from tea party with Mr Peeps and Ms Lavender with my daughters, to HALO 3 with my boys...LOL

At the end...their abuse did not poison my spirit or heart or mind...I won!!!!

[hazel]

The beatings where mostly perpetrated -in order of severity and frequency- by the priests in my elementary and middle school, then by my parents, and then by male schoolmates.

By age 12 I was exiled to live in a farm by myself, I got to see my uncle 2 o3 times a month. This lasted until I was 14 1/2 YO. By then I have grown to be almost 6 ft -a giant by South American Standards- 185 lb and into martial arts, so nobody ever beat me again.

Yet, between the beatings, the lack of food and love, yeah, my childhood is something I would rather forget.

The good news is that to compensate I pured a lost of affection, love, and goodies, and protection on my children. I played -and I still do- with them with all kind of toys...from tea party with Mr Peeps and Ms Lavender with my daughters, to HALO 3 with my boys...LOL

At the end...their abuse did not poison my spirit or heart or mind...I won!!!!

This seriously made me feel like crying at the start and then really happy for you by the end, despite all that hurt you have turned out to be a wonderfull person, enjoy your rep points sister!

[big kim]

Spoken like a heroine Peky.

[Elspeth]

My favourite toy car was a Renault Clio.

Not meaning to sidetrack this thread, but my first car was a '76 VW Golf/Rabbit.



If they had come in pink I would have bought it that color, but it was (very) used and not quite as pristine at the one in that image (but close). I got a lot of ribbing about the color from my alcoholic Army friends at the time -- I bought it at a time when I was starting to go stir-crazy in the barracks, living outside Washington DC. Also, having it made my children possible, as without it I would never have met the woman I married 2 years later.

[Nero]

I played with Hot Wheels, Lego, video games, and my sister. It was nice to share interests with her in most things.

I don't really feel like playing with those toys is a marker of gender... Your gender might be apparent in how you play with them, but it's really quite a non-issue. Building things out of Lego was a thousand times better than playing with dolls; when you play with dolls, you use your imagination, but when you build with Lego, you exercise your creativity.

Ah, the good old days...

Ah Lego. This was my favorite toy. Especially the castles and pirate ships. I had other castle and knights sets too. Anything medieval. Really, my parents never pushed gender stuff aside from forcing me into dresses for school and church. They bought me 'boy' and 'girl' stuff. Legos, Ninja Turtles, army type figures, Battle Beasts, action heroes, ponies, Cabbage Patch (showing my age here), swords, etc. Oh and toy cars with a big wooden ramp my dad built me.

Outside play normally consisted of same - pretending to be a knight or conquistador (especially a conquistador). Or sometimes I would be in the Vietnam 'jungle' in the mornings when the grass was wet. The main theme was I was always a soldier or rebel of some kind. If there was a girl around, I kidnapped her. (Not sure why, but my sister and cousin both loved this).

I think most kids just play with whatever's put in front of them. And they want whatever's popular. If it's on tv and their friends have it, they want it. If they're around mostly boys, they're going to want the boy stuff. And vice versa. I begged for a Cabbage Patch because everyone else had one not because it was a doll or whatever. (of course it may have also been because the girls repeatedly said I looked like one and how adorable that was. I just ate that ->-bleeped-<- up.  )

[LilDevilOfPrada]

WE HAVE FOUND THE BEST TOY TO GIVE CHILDREN!! LEGO

[Nero]

WE HAVE FOUND THE BEST TOY TO GIVE CHILDREN!! LEGO

Definitely.

[Brooke777]

My son loves his legos. Granted, so do I.

[FullThrottleMalehem]

I was into more toys aimed at boys. My parents insisted on getting me barbies but I really didn't have the interest, but also didn't have the heart to tell them I just wasn't that interested. My sibling who is a bit homophobic and cis was the one playing with the dolls I got oddly enough.

[Kevin Peña]

As a kid in Ecuador, I didn't have toys.

Now my dad works in the postal service, so until we had more money, my toy was bubble wrap. Lots and lots of bubble wrap. 

Now it consists mostly of used video games and a few weapons. 

Oh ya, and a huge stuffed animal collection. 

[Simon]

My mother is extremely religious but my dad was a hippie. Everything was gender neutral until I could choose what I wanted. I had dinosaur sheets, conan the barbarian, He-Man, G.I. Joe, Teddy Ruxpin, My Pet Monster, Thundercats, TMNT, cars, etc. Almost everything I had was bought at yard sales with the little bit of pocket money my grandma would slide me in the car weekly.

My childhood was spent playing outside by myself. I grew up in a rural area and there was no children to play with. I still remember my Rambo play set. It had an emerald Buddha, plastic bowie knife, and a few other items. I would run around shirtless in the woods (it was great being an androgynous flat chested little kid) near the creek for hours just making up scenarios in my head.

[Kevin Peña]

My mother is extremely religious but my dad was a hippie.

Okay.... How in heck did that happen? 

My childhood was spent playing outside by myself. I grew up in a rural area and there was no children to play with. I still remember my Rambo play set. It had an emerald Buddha, plastic bowie knife, and a few other items. I would run around shirtless in the woods (it was great being an androgynous flat chested little kid) near the creek for hours just making up scenarios in my head.

Ah, yes. I played with sticks too.

[Simon]

Okay.... How in heck did that happen?

I dunno but the marriage didn't last, lol.

[PixieBoy]

I liked lego a lot. I also had a lot of stuffed animals that I had named (Blue Thunderfoot the dinosaur, Nonoraurus the rhino, Black Mary the spider...). When playing with other kids, I had these very elaborate pretend-games, my characters were mostly outsiders who had trouble communicating with others (one character I played was a elf boy who was mute and could only communicate by playing on a flute he'd carved from stone in the cave he lived in). I also liked to play stone-age man, I smashed rocks against each other to get sharp-edged things and would often contemplate cutting my long hair off to make bow strings and other useful items with it (I never did do that for fear of my mother's reaction, I was very afraid of her and had reason to be). I remember wanting to move to those caves in France where modern people live the stone-age life. I also wanted to be an astronaut (what kid doesn't?).

[Sarah Blomsterhatt]

I played alot with Lego I remember, that special pain you get by stepping on a Lego, nostalgia...I remember trying to build large, complex creations, normally with a violent undertone. Also at the age of four and onward I played alot of computergames, something which I have never to this day stopped. I loved my childhood, I did what I wanted to do, I played with what I wanted to and never cared what others thought of me. Something which I find more difficult now.

[aleon515]

I'm too old for legos. I think they had been invented they just weren't sold in the US then. I had lincoln logs (less good) and lots of blocks. Played with blocks constantly.

--Jay

[ReverseRainbow]

I had some of both typical toys, barbies and toy cars, stuffed animals and legos. I really loved dinosaurs and science related things though. Anything with dinosaurs, the scarier, the better. XD

[lydia_s]

Unfortunately I got hit hard with my family assuming that I was as boyish as possible due to my toys. I always played with Hot Wheels and die cast models of cars. Just about as soon as I could walk I helped my brothers and dad work on their cars. Couldn't read but if you asked me to grab a 10mm deep 1/4" socket I gave you exactly that. My first word has long been rumored to be Audi (my dad had an '84 Audi). And I believe I was the only 8 year old with a supped-up Power Wheels. It was a '76 Mercedes 240, tan. It had rubber tires, four speeds, and was powered by a starter motor for a GM 350ci. It was so awesome. Wasn't too dangerous but it went pretty fast.

[Justin 21]

I never played with any what is considered to be female toys. Unless you class destroying my sisters barbie dolls as playing I was always playing with any and every kind of army or police toys anything that had to do with guns.until.my teens then I went in to a model building phase but even then they were all military planes and tanks and stuff