Have Fun With a Toy Hobby

by Owen Jones⁽¹⁸⁹⁾ Red Star

http://the-real-way.com

Someone who has a toy hobby is normally an adult. After all, all children collect toys - the more the merrier for them, but a person who has a toy hobby normally collects one sort of toy - like, say, train sets or a specific make of train set. These adults retain their childhood fascination with fantasy. They are not childish, but are childlike whilst they begin talking on the topic of or playing with their favourite toys.

Some toy hobbyists like to share their hobby with children, often grandparents come into this group, and some toy hobbyists do not, frequently single people who are scared that children may damage their frequently valuable collection.

These collections of toys can get very valuable, because people tend to collect the toys from their childhood, so a grandparent is mostly collecting toys from fifty or sixty years ago.

A favourite toy hobby for women is collecting antique dolls or dolls from other countries. Occasionally this interest in dolls will spill over into an interest for dolls' prams or dolls' clothes and they may start to create dolls' clothing and even their own clothing. Some women and some men as well get into manufacturing dolls and even dolls' houses.

Rag dolls are a distinct favourite both for the collector and the crafter because they are easy to manufacture and easy to mend. Teddy bears could also be put in the category of dolls. Many homes have a small collection of teddy bears if there have been children raised there and it is not unusual to see hundreds of teddy bears on shelves dotted around a house.

Lots of older men collect train sets or model cars. Hornby, Marxs, Marklin and Lionel come to mind for train sets and Matchbox and Dinky for miniature but detailed, die cast model cars. Tonka is famous for larger, maybe less detailed, model trucks, but people loved to play with their bulldozers, trucks and earth-movers as children.

More contemporary toys that have become collectible include Beanie Babies. Beanie Babies are childlike representations of babies. So there are baby kangaroos, baby elephants, in fact babies of every sort of animal you can think of and every one has its own distinct personality.

They are inexpensive and lovable and there are hundreds of them - exactly the blend that some collectors want. Teddy bear collectors frequently have a few Beanie Babies as well.

Other well-liked toy hobbies are flying radio-controlled, powered model aircraft and racing motor-powered radio-controlled cars and trucks. There are also hobbyists that collect or and make radio-controlled boats. Some collectors of radio-controlled aircraft, boats and vehicles may not like being referred to as toy hobbyists, but it is what they are after all.

Wooden toys have always been well-liked as well. A hundred years ago and further, all toys would have been manufactured of wood, particularly those of the working class and there are still a lot of parents and grandparents who like to give or manufacture wooden toys themselves. A toy hobby is a fascinating pastime for those who remember their childhood fondly and never really got out of the habit of playing.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with Silver Cross Rocking Horses. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Rocking Horses for sale.

Article submitted Saturday, December 18, 2010 & read 121 times.

Owen Jones writes on many subjects and is currently running several websites. He was born in Wales but now lives in northern, rural Thailand.

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» left by Jennifer Stewart (1 year 153 days ago.)

Toys used to be so beautifully made and well-crafted that I think they were worth collecting. Not so sure about the ones made today...
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