Tinkertoys still alive after 95 years!

(cc) photo credit: daryl_mitchell

Anyone remember Tinker-Toys? This was was one of the great toys of past generations which allowed kids to be creative. I use the past tense here because I assumed Tinkertoy was extinct, replaced by newer, “better”, plastic-er, modern products. Well to my surprise, it’s still available! And what’s even more shocking is that it’s still made of real wood, at least for certain parts. If you have a young child, I wholeheartedly recommend Tinkertoy. Don’t worry about the splinters… it’s all part of the fun.

The Tinkertoy Construction Set was created in 1914—one year after the A. C. Gilbert Company’s Erector Set—by Charles H. Pajeau and Robert Pettit in Evanston, Illinois. Pajeau, a stonemason, designed the toy after seeing children play with pencils and empty spools of thread. He and Pettit set out to market a toy that would allow and inspire children to use their imaginations.

-Wikipedia

Tinker-Toys like Legos, Pipeworks and Play-doh (which I used to call “Clay-do”) are great toys because they let kids build things from their imagination. You could make an argument to put Lincoln logs into that category but how creative can you really get with a log cabin? Ever try to build a car or space ship out of Lincoln Logs? Not gonna happen.

Pipeworks was an amazing toy from the 80’s. What other toy enables you to build things like soccer goals, wagons, chairs, cars, even little houses on a scale that you can actually use?! […as long as you are 3 feet tall] Bring back Pipeworks, Playschool!

Also, this shirt is really cool… (just sayin’)