Meanwhile, I have also been working on some submissions for a next newsletter, which I will include here shortly. Depending on when you publish that newsletter you may want to slightly edit the introduction. Here goes:
Wintertime & Christmas Holidays can be a fun time to examine (and play with) some of the Toys in the Toy Hall of Fame. Some of the original inductees (1998-99) are:
The Box (For example: Children building a fort with empty cereal boxes.)
Etch a Sketch
Glass made Marbles
Erector Set
Hula Hoop
Lincoln Logs &
Frisbees
Playing with Toys is an important part of aging. Younger children use toys to discover their identity, help with cognition, learn cause and effect, explore relationships, become stronger physically and practice skills needed in adulthood.
Author and Poet William Blake observed:
The child's toys and the old man's reasons are the fruits of two seasons.
Frisbees were invented by Walter Frederick Morrison after he and his future wife Lucille had fun tossing a popcorn can lid after their Thanksgiving Dinner in 1937.
Frisbee has developed into numerous games including the popular Frisbee Disc Golf. A free 18 'hole' course is available in the rear section of the Centre Hall Prairie Park one mile up Brush Valley Road. Bring your own frisbee.
The Aerobie
The Aerobie - invented by Stanford engineering lecturer Alan Adler in 1984 - is an especially aerodynamic next generation of the Frisbee. For years the Aerobie held the record as the farthest object thrown by Mankind. Frisbee champ Scott Zimmerman even threw an Aerobie across Niagara Falls!
Lincoln Logs
-were named after Abe Lincoln who was born in a log cabin. John Wright, a son of well-known architect Frank Lloyd Wright developed this popular toy.
Note: History teacher and author Dr. James W. Loewen observed one of his students remark that "Abe Lincoln was born in a Log Cabin that he built with his own bare hands!"