ep39: Favorite childhood toys or the aesthetics of toys

Arts & Entertainment with Chris & Randall

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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