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Show $250,000,000 U. S. Toy Trade Changes Playtime Technique World in Miniature to Greet Youngsters This Christmas By JOSEPH W. LaBINE "When I was a kid . . .' Father speaking. When he was a kid, Santa Claus brought tin trains and crockery crock-ery dolls, tinker-toys and wooden wagons that somehow some-how fell apart the day after Christmas. So when Father walks through a 1938 toy store his eyes may well pop out at the baby doll that can be fed, bathed, powdered, dressed and rocked to sleep, or the streamlined automobile with exhaust pipe, electric lights and a horn to make youthful pedestrians get off the road. He may frown over "real" pianos and motion picture projectors, but these seemingly extravagant toys are really much more sensible than the tiddly-winks set Aunt Emma gave him for Christmas many years ago. Old World Imitates Us. ' The toy industrial revolution has made the United States a world headquarters for Christmas shoppers, shop-pers, who migrate annually from every ev-ery European nation just to see what's new in the American toy industry. in-dustry. Where a scant few years ago our own toys came from abroad, Japanese and German manufacturers man-ufacturers now copy our products. Often they attempt to sell cheap Imitations in the United States. The revolution wasn't spontaneous; spontane-ous; a dozen years ago struggling American toy makers protested when psychologists and educators told them that jacks-in-the-box may be amusing, but certainly not very instructive. Armed with fancy figures fig-ures about child behavior and the need for toys that would develop young minds, these self-appointed uplift societies forced their wares on toy manufacturers. For several years American youth was showered with Christmas gifts it was supposed sup-posed to like, but didn't. Sorely puzzled, the psychologists were slow to find a remedy: why not ask children chil-dren themselves what kind of toys they wanted? So they tried it, and discovered that American boys and girls like nothing better than imitating Mother Moth-er and Dad. That's why 1938 Christmas Christ-mas toys stress miniatures authentic authen-tic reproductions of trains, automobiles, automo-biles, baby buggies, bassinettes and airplanes. At Chicago's Merchandise Merchan-dise Mart, where the toy-minded visitor can get a comprehensive picture pic-ture of this new trend, it's quite possible that you'll see a preview of your 1940 automobile, ready for delivery to a 10-year-old driver long . before the real thing rolls off an assembly linel Age Is Important Factor. Briefly, toy manufacturers have realized that children need new toys and games to develop new abilities ' t ; r . I..V .. J ; x y.x - -A 1 Br i ! " " 1 Jf i ' If - 1 WHITTLED DOWN TO SIZE! Youngsters like to imitate Mother and Dad, so toy manufacturers responded. Above t The young man-about-town with his streamlined car, feature ing exhaust pipes and a classy paint job. Below: A Christmas morning mother gives her dolly a thorough scrubbing in the doll bathinelte shoicn at Merchandise Mart, Chicago. as they grow older, just as they need new clothes' to fit their increasing in-creasing stature. They've decided to give children sensible toys, playthings play-things built to stand abuse, to develop de-velop strong bodies and agile minds. Having made peace with the educators edu-cators and psychologists, they've enlisted en-listed designers, chemists, professional profes-sional inventors and engineers to help meet the new demand. When buying toys this Christmas, you'll be wise to follow the six objectives ob-jectives prescribed by experts, who say a ehild should have at least one type of toy from each classification: classifica-tion: 1 Physical exercisers. 2 Sense developers (color, texture, tex-ture, shape and sound). 3 Building toys, for self-realization and consciousness of ability to do things. 4 Make believe toys, devices for imitative play. 5 Handwork materials leading to arts and crafts. 6 Games that develop skill and encourage play with other children. But your selection should also bo guided by the table of values established es-tablished by the same experts. Tha correct toys for your youngster should meet these requirements: 1 Durability. 2 Stimulation of self-activity. 3 Correct toy for the given age. 4 Principles of aesthetics. ! Sanitation and hygiene. Zippered Teddy Bear! The latter factor is stressed by modern toy makers. For the very young child only vegetable dyes are used. Sharp corners have been eliminated and dangling appendages (too easily detached and swallowed) are taboo. There is emphasis on forms and materials that can bo kept scrupulously clean. Even teddy ted-dy bears are now made with a zippered zip-pered skin that can be removed and laundered, while many wood toys can also be washed. While adhering to these scientific principles, toy makers have not forgotten for-gotten that their young customers are primarily interested in being entertained. en-tertained. For example, it's much better for a child to develop muscle and co-ordination through a foot-propelled foot-propelled vehicle (like a toy automobile auto-mobile or tricycle) than by calisthenics. calis-thenics. Similarly, in the most pleasant way possible, toys reveal talents and aptitudes, often overcoming deficiencies. de-ficiencies. This is particularly true of the sense developers, elementary handcraft materials, musical and rhythmic toys, and all materials for simple graphic arts like crayons, water colors and printing sets. Tested 'Under Fire.' Every toy that finds its way to the Christmas tree this year might well bear the label, "Child Tested and Approved." After the inventor and child psychologists have perfected them, the playthings find their way to nursery and sand pile for thorough trial before being manufactured manu-factured in quantity lots. First, the experimenters want to discover whether their toy can stand up under un-der hard wear. Second, it must hold interest long after the novelty stage has passed, which was one serious fault with the toys yesterday's children chil-dren received each Christmas. By New Year's day they had usually been consigned to the closet. By additional experimentation they discover what age group most enjoys the toy, and it is manufactured manufac-tured accordingly. Many large stores are segregating their toy displays dis-plays by ages this year, a boon to the uninitiated uncle or aunt who doesn't know whether a three-year-old girl should have a dress-up doll or just a plain rag baby. As for the toy makers, they're happy about the whole thing. Says James L. Fri, managing director of the Toy Manufacturers of the United Unit-ed States: "By increasing the pur-posefulness pur-posefulness of playthings, their imaginative im-aginative appeal and educational value have been greatly enhanced, and consequently the market for toys has steadily broadened." & Western Newspaper Union. |