Toys, what were your favorites?

Now I don't know about you but my favorite things to play with as a child might surprise you and again they may not.   First off, there were not a lot of toys and in particular absolutely no electronic games, cell phones, play stations, etc..  In fact here is a list of my top 5:

1. my toy truck
2. rocks
3. dirt
4. nails and boards
5. bow and arrows

So let me tell you how this worked.  

The toy truck was used in the dirt and rocks where I made small tracks to run my truck on.  The best dirt was very fine and dry as you can make very smooth roads with.  Of course the rocks helped build up obstacles and small hills and just added to the adventures.

The nails and boards were probably the best and maybe the most often used.  When dad and I tore down old houses or barns for folks we would remove the old nails by putting them in Folgers Coffee cans.  Did I mention that my mom used to always get asked if she was the Folgers lady on TV?  If you are too young the story is Folgers used a Mrs. Olson to do all their advertising.  My mom would always answer their comment which I am sure was a joke by the person asking, "not me, but it is my sister".  She would never correct them.  Back to the nails and boards.  Any boards we could use for a later project, like when we built our new house on Beaver Creek, were saved and placed in the barn/Quonset.  I though you might not know what a Quonset was so here is a pic.  Anyway, any extra boards I would take and build something with my imagination.  One of my favorite projects was in the tree outside my window where I slept.  We had a huge elm tree and I built a tree house where I spent many hours playing and expanding.  The great thing about those boards and nails is I could build anything I could think up.  Like, airplanes, a club house, and I especially liked to take those boards and build tunnels in the hay barn.  Great times!

Bow and Arrows which I have previously written about was a Christmas present from my folks.  I believe it was opportunities to learn incredible skills.  One of the very first things I had to do was learn about leverage to bend the bow every time I used it so that I could get the string placed correctly on the bow.  You probably cannot imagine the problem but it was huge for a little guy (that is a relative term as I was always big).  Then I had to learn how to place the arrow on the bow and pull back the string to maximize the force and distance plus the accuracy of the arrow and of course I had to aim it as well.  The hard part or the painful part was when you let go of the arrow and string and the string would whip your arm if you did not hold the bow properly.  Man, it really hurt!

So what is the point?  or what do you learn in the Osage?

1. expensive toys don't create the fun and innovation, it is the boy
2. little things and simple things teach great lessons in life like logic, innovation, confidence, endurance and ultimately character
3. give a child tools to create and imagination will be created
4. The greatest gift you can give a child is his imagination and creativity (not counting his knowledge of the goodness of God)

Well, thanks for listening,

gary 

gary@thepioneerman.com

If you would like a copy of my book it is available on Amazon and all profits go to Wings (www.wingsok.org) to support adults with special needs.  Get a copy and make me happy.

thanks,

gary