Jan 22, 2021
ep39: Favorite childhood toys or the aesthetics of toys
Chris and Randall discuss the aesthetics of toys through the lens of their favorite childhood toys.
MIT paper on toy design which incorporates Piaget's stages of
development
http://web.mit.edu/barryk/Public/Toys/PlayPyramid.pdf
Wikipedia's toy article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy
***
Randall's aesthetic toy categories:
Physics toys: Balls, construction sets, blocks. These toys allow kids to understand the properties of the physical world.
Arts/crafts: Drawing, sculpture. These toys help kids understand themselves better and allow them to communicate with the outside world.
The adult artist creates for similar reasons as the child artist. When a child has poor access to language, arts and crafts become more
important.
Games/puzzles: These toys allow children to explore abstract concepts and invisible rules and forces. They allow children and adults a level of
social interaction that is otherwise unobtainable. Problem solving is involved as well, social skills, negotiation, communication.
Dolls: This includes any scale models, figures, toy cars, action figures, etc. Children are trying to learn about the world by modelling and
simulating it. What is a child doing when playing with a doll or toy car? They are creating a simulation of the universe. They are probing it
from different angles, seeing what happens when they perform different actions. Kids who play with dolls activate their social brain. Just like a
scientist creates a simulation to understand the weather, a child creates a simulation to understand the world. World building is frequently the
ultimate activity of childhood play.
Costumes: self-explanatory
***
Topics discussed:
Piaget's Stages of Development as they relate to toys
blocks
Legos
Construx
Fisher-Price Chatter Telephone
cloth books
books
stuffed animals
Gund
Steiff
Toy Story (1995)
Harry Harlow's experiments
Lincoln Logs
Tinkertoy Construction Set
Giant Tinkertoys
FAO Schwarz
Toys "R" Us
Battleship
cheating
video games
Dungeons & Dragons
Recon
Risk
water guns
BB guns
paintball
Laser tag
Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
Robot combat
Randall's aesthetic categories (see above)
Train sets
Chris' giant train set
remote control boat, plane, rocket
kites
Nerf pool
Bop Bop 'n Rebop
pinball
Ping Pong
Foosball
fireworks
Bang snaps
Cherry bombs
smoke bombs
Black snake
cap guns
Etch A Sketch
Crayola Crayons
Lite-Brite
Magic: The Gathering
Checkers
jigsaw puzzles
Puzzle Zoo
Ravensburger
Monopoly
action figures
Strawberry Shortcake
Barbie
Dressy Bessie
Dapper Dan
G.I. Joe
Action Jackson
Six Million Dollar Man
Toy soldiers
Star Wars (movies)
Planet of the Apes (movies)
Diener Inc.
KRYGO 5
Hot Wheels
Matchbox
Corgi toys
Rudolf Steiner
Waldorf toys
M.U.S.C.L.E. Figures
costumes
Halloween
Pith helmet
spacesuit
monster masks
cowboys
Knott's Berry Farm
soldier vs princess
Frozen (2013)
Pirates
toys as brain hack
recorded October 5, 2020
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