Toys for life

One of the things I love about taking the kids to visit my parents is the excitement when they pull something new out for them to play with. It’s exciting for the kids because it’s a new toy they haven’t played with before. And it’s exciting for me because it’s an old toy, something they’ve kept from my childhood that I now have the pleasure of watching my children play with.

I’m constantly surprised by the longevity of those toys from the early 80s and 90s. Many of them seem to be made of tougher stuff than the new toys that we have. I’d love to do the same as my parents and hold on to a select few of the better toys once my children are finished with them, so that one day I can pull them out for my own grandkids to play with.

If there’s one toy in particular that I can see surviving the test of time, it’s the wooden train set, with all of the Thomas the Tank trains. This is a toy that seems to suit such a wide range of ages, and because it’s wooden, it wears well.

I’m not sure what others I can see surviving 30 years though. What toys have you got that you think will still be functional 30 years from now?