Posted by Chris Bensch on 02/21/2012
Is The Wizard of Oz imprinted on your memory? I had a fresh realization of all the ways the classic 1939 movie is ingrained in my own mind when I recently explored The Wizard of Oz exhibit at The Strong’s National Museum of Play.
Growing up in the 1960s, I eagerly anticipated the annual showing of The Wizard of Oz on CBS. Running on a Sunday night from 6 to 8 p.m., the movie made a perfect backdrop for my family’s dinner in front of the black and white television. Each Sunday evening, my mom would set out cold cuts and leftovers (always cold before the advent of microwaves) on the dining room table. We’d fill our plates from the buffet and carry our dinners to the living room to eat at TV trays. On an ordinary Sunday we might watch Lassie or Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color with our supper, but The Wizard of Oz made a special variation in our viewing routine.
Posted by Rick Sherin on 02/14/2012
Music is one of the first forms of play we engage in as infants, noted The Strong’s Vice President for Play Studies, Scott G. Eberle, in his American Journal of Play article, “Playing with the Multiple Intelligences: How Play Helps Them Grow.” Music plays a critical role in our development. Our subsequent education practically depends…
Posted by Jennifer Giambrone on 02/07/2012
In 2009, Mattel introduced two new Barbie dolls, Edward and Bella, to their Pink Label collection. I’m sure most recognize this famous duo as Bella Swan and her sparkly vampire beau, Edward Cullen, from the Twilight saga. Mattel released the dolls in conjunction with the November 2009 premiere of the movie New Moon, and has…
Posted by Patricia Hogan on 01/31/2012
In case you missed the media blitz, on November 10, the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong announced its 2011 inductees: the dollhouse, Hot Wheels, and the blanket. If you read my early November blog, you know that I thought the puppet, one of the 12 finalists for this year’s induction, was a…
Posted by Tara Winner on 01/24/2012
It’s 6:30 a.m. on a January morning in 1977 when the alarm clock rings to wake my sister and me for school. I crawl out of bed, look out the window, and notice that it snowed overnight. I can barely see the cars on the street with the thick layer of flakes covering them. I…
Posted by Jennifer Giambrone on 01/17/2012
As a kid, I had the good fortune of a basement playroom brimming with toys, from a massive pink Barbie Dream House to bins full of Lego bricks and even an air hockey table. Though I enjoyed all these toys, I gravitated to a box full of blank, hardcover books more than anything else in…
Posted by James Leach on 01/10/2012
I grew up in a world without LEGO minifigures. I received my first set of LEGO bricks as a Christmas gift in 1973—a wide, white box full of flat, green “grass” pieces, primary-colored bricks, and potential. I constructed houses with doors and windows that opened and closed. I built cars, both the ones illustrated on…
Posted by Lauren Sodano on 01/03/2012
Some folks have reported visions of sugarplums recently—I’ve worked so closely with museum artifacts that I’m hearing their voices. Call me the Toy Whisperer or just plain loopy, but I listen when the museum’s toys and games talk about their New Year’s resolutions. The artifacts have some ambitious goals for 2012, but this doesn’t surprise…
Posted by Carol Sandler on 12/27/2011
Recently, a museum guest asked me to tell her about the most interesting question I’d received as director of the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play. The answer was easy—I take great satisfaction in uncovering some elusive fragment of information that helps a researcher resolve an issue or solve a puzzle. As more information…
Posted by Nicolas Ricketts on 12/20/2011
I was eight years old in 1968 and, like many of my friends, I played with toy cars. That year, Mattel introduced toy autos called Hot Wheels. Unlike the toy cars before them, Hot Wheels rolled really fast either downhill or with a touch of a finger. Accessories such as track sets and collector cases…
