I don't think toy manufacturers have any idea...

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I don't think toy manufacturers have any idea how children play with their toys.

My youngest brother and sister (ages 11 and 9) have decided that Barbies are best suited to a dystopian society (i think based on the Mattel logos stamped on barbies) and in the living room have them all arranged into a heirarchy on the floor. They explained that the classes were king & queen, royal advisor, Secret Police, rich people, poor people, and slaves. They're talking about cyberwarfare and deciding who will be the Propaganda Director.

Previously, my sister's Barbies have been: in a gang (idk if my sister actually knows what a gang is), holding a farcical election, and performing a play about a Nazi death camp.

My brother doesn't seem to care that he's playing with Barbies.

Do most kids not do these things?

 

[Svrtnsse]

That sounds awesome. Creative use of available resources.

 

[pmmg]

Well, when I was young, which was too long ago , my friends and I used to go out and swing broom handles at each other using trashcan lids for shields. We were playing knights even then. I had Mego figures of Batman and Robin (removal cowl even ) Barbie was cool and all, but she was the wrong scale for the Mego's. She went more with GI Joe, which I was not into.

My kids...well, their figures suck cause few if any of their limbs even bend. But they were never into figures. They have been lured in by the hypnotic glow of a warm screen and the sweet ambrosia of the internet. True story, My daughter had a friend get on her bike and pedal to our house so she could stand at our front door and trade Pokémon with her on her Nintendo DS. After which, she got back on her bike and went back home so they could play together on the internet. Like, being in the same location and doing something together was just too foreign to them.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

My sister is a interesting being.

She has already declared herself an agnostic at age 9. My whole family is Christian.

She has a huge crush on Kylo Ren, and has his action figure and Legos. I should mention that he joins her Barbies in their dystopian autocracy as one of the secret police. I don't know much about what her Lego figure of Kylo is up to, but he does have a therapist, from what i've overheard (probably good) and a baby cradle because "he's a man child." I mean, I agree with all of it, including the crush.

She asked for a pistol, a motorcycle, and a tarantula for her birthday. She didn't get any of them. She constantly hounds my parents about getting her a tarantula. She thinks they're adorable.

I think kids can be very interesting, and no one does the fact justice when they write child characters...but again, i guess my sister isn't very usual.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Well, when I was young, which was too long ago , my friends and I used to go out and swing broom handles at each other using trashcan lids for shields. We were playing knights even then. I had Mego figures of Batman and Robin (removal cowl even ) Barbie was cool and all, but she was the wrong scale for the Mego's. She went more with GI Joe, which I was not into.

My kids...well, their figures suck cause few if any of their limbs even bend. But they were never into figures. They have been lured in by the hypnotic glow of a warm screen and the sweet ambrosia of the internet. True story, My daughter had a friend get on her bike and pedal to our house so she could stand at our front door and trade Pokémon with her on her Nintendo DS. After which, she got back on her bike and went back home so they could play together on the internet. Like, being in the same location and doing something together was just too foreign to them.

I'm only seventeen, which means i was not a kid too long ago. I played in the dirt, always. Built mud huts and temples and dug rivers and carried buckets of water to make the rivers flow. Also I used sticks as swords and guns. I was not very materialistic. Most of my toys were animal figurines.

 

[ThinkerX]

One of my younger quasi relatives (nephews boy, age 9 or 10) is counted as 'gifted.' Normally, I'm a wee bit skeptical of such claims, but...

A few days ago, the boys mother noticed he was sleepy and cranky during the daylight hours. She was concerned, but overwhelmed with a whole bunch of other stuff, like her husband recently re-enlisting in the army. Then the kids younger brother ratted him out:

Turned out he'd taken four broken Nintendo's, taken them apart, and used the pieces to make one functional Nintendo - with no instructions or advice from anybody. That completed, he proceeded to stay up all night for several nights in a row playing the thing.

 

[CupofJoe]

As a kid, after the weekend family grocery shop, I spent many an afternoon playing in a cardboard box. As in Calvin & Hobbes, that box could take me anywhere! Spacecraft, time machine, submarine, car, stagecoach, even a prison cell once I remember...
Kid rarely play with toys the way the adults think they will/should.
There as a piece on the radio that said 30% of all Action Figure were bought by collectors and not for children. That is what I think is wrong with toys...

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

As a kid, after the weekend family grocery shop, I spent many an afternoon playing in a cardboard box. As in Calvin & Hobbes, that box could take me anywhere! Spacecraft, time machine, submarine, car, stagecoach, even a prison cell once I remember...
Kid rarely play with toys the way the adults think they will/should.
There as a piece on the radio that said 30% of all Action Figure were bought by collectors and not for children. That is what I think is wrong with toys...

Boxes are the best.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I resemble that remark, only more years ago, LOL. My dirt castles and caves were populated by dinosaurs (ruled by the mammals... sabre tooth tigers and mammoths) and other days plastic knights ruled the day. Plus I had access to boxes, lots of boxes, as my parents had a small retail store and I got to build castles, or spaceships, or a batcave, with those too. Plus my dad and uncle indulged me by making cardboard helmets, shields, and armor. I think my favorite sword finally got trashed a few years back, a branch with a nice hilt, which I used colored electrical tape to wrap for a better grip and strength. That sword slaughtered thousands of orcs... err, weeds... growing around the creek.

I'm only seventeen, which means i was not a kid too long ago. I played in the dirt, always. Built mud huts and temples and dug rivers and carried buckets of water to make the rivers flow. Also I used sticks as swords and guns. I was not very materialistic. Most of my toys were animal figurines.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

I still play with toys from time to time.
When I was younger, I played with my cousin, outside, with mud and grass. Inside, it was wooden blocks, Thomas the Tank Engine and Playmobil all the way. Sometimes I would play by myself, with my vast collection of stuffies, but I loved playing with my dad the best. Later, I moved on to Lego and, once we got a Wii, played Smash Bros. with my dad, to much hilarity every time.
But, my cousin grew up and I didn't. I still have my old toys, though I'm giving away a lot of my Playmobil and Lego [but I'm keeping my favourite stuff, for later, as well as Thomas tracks and trains]. I still have two laundry bags full of stuffies.
To quote the Fourth Doctor: "What's the point of being grown up if you can't be childish?"

 

[Guy]

She asked for a pistol, a motorcycle, and a tarantula for her birthday. She didn't get any of them. She constantly hounds my parents about getting her a tarantula. She thinks they're adorable.

The gun and motorcycle I'd be cool with, but a tarantula is totally out of the question.

 

[Penpilot]

 

[Grandalfus]

Indeed. But the behavior of parents can be far worse. I once gave dozens of children at a banquet perfectly suitable talismans of agility. You should think the mothers would have been happy, but now I receive hate letters almost daily.