Quirky Staff Discuss Their Favorite Childhood Toys

With the exception of tax lawyers and super villains, most everyone has a favorite toy from their childhood. For me it was Samantha, my American Girl Doll. Like all American Girl Dolls, she was accompanied by a six-book set of young adult fiction, following a year in the life of a young girl living during a particular period in American history. Samantha represented the turn of the 20th century, and came with different Victorian outfits that were described in detail in the books.

While I had Barbies and other dolls too, something about Samantha stood out to me. Perhaps it was our shared age, or the fact that she looked like a real girl as opposed to a supermodel, which made her seem attainable. Her wardrobe might also explain my current addiction to vintage clothing. Regardless of the reason, she was my favorite toy of all the ones I owned, and still lives in my childhood bedroom in Cleveland, Ohio.

I like reminiscing about childhood as much as the next person, but this story brings an interesting question to light: what elements make a toy endure as a child’s all-time favorite? To kick of our toy design series on a light-hearted noted, I decided to ask other members of the Quirky Staff what their favorite childhood toys were, and why they were so impactful.

Tammy Loh (Retail) – Cabbage Patch Kids: In 1982, Cabbage Patch Kids were the “it” toy, and Tammy and her sister were in on the craze. She has vivid memories of her mom and dad braving the aisles of Toys R Us and competing with mobs of other parents to get them these coveted cuties. Her first CPK was a blue-eyed blonde she named Eveda Ruth, though Eveda was later joined by a Chinese doll from the Passport Collection, which she named Amanda. Each of the dolls came with a unique backstory (Amanda even came with her own passport ID), allowing for greater character depth and a stronger bond with the owner. The effects of this bond are self-evident: Tammy’s parents saved all of her dolls, until she passed them on to her niece last year.

Jaime Yandolino (PR) – Cabbage Patch Kids Continued: Tammy wasn’t the only Quirky staffer who loved Cabbage Patch Kids: Jamie had an affinity for Xavier Roberts’ creations as well. Jaime not only owned her fair share of CPK dolls, but she was also discovered by a brand photographer in her apartment building’s elevator, so she ended up modeling for them too. She has fond memories of the unique baby powder scent they exuded: as the sense most strongly tied to memory, smell can be a powerful ally for a toy designer!

Julia Troy (Product) – Hasbro Glow Worm: Julia admits that her favorite toy of all time was the Hasbro Glow Worm. She wasn’t much into dolls when growing up, and preferred toys that were traditionally geared for boys, such as Hot Wheels. However, her Glow Worm trumped everything. It was her travel buddy and constant companion. Sadly, Julia’s Glow Worm met a tragic fate: while playing toss with it on a road trip, her sister accidentally threw it out an open car window, and Glow Worm was no more. To this day, the loss of Glow Worm is something her sister has never forgotten.  Now a high school teacher, she even shared the tragic tale with her class, after which they came to school wearing RIP Glow Worm badges, and even sent a photo to Julia to convey their sympathy.

Rod Jackson (Creative) – Sony PSP: As a child, Rod loved his Sony Playstation Portable. Through thick and thin, his PSP was always there when he needed entertainment, keeping him occupied during long shopping trips with his mom and boring assemblies at school. Now, a new gaming console and a series of games would be an ambitious project to submit to Quirky, but Rod’s attachment to his PSP demonstrates the killer impact of compact design combined with long-term replay value. Think of it as a constant stream of entertainment that you carry in your pocket.

Spencer Sharp (Legal) – Tonka Truck: Some kids lug a teddy bear or security blanket around with them. Spencer’s partner was Big Pete, his yellow Tonka dump truck.  Despite being the size of a basketball, Big Pete was Spencer’s constant companion. Toy in hand, he used to wait for the sound of the trash collector’s truck to come down his street, so that he could run outside and ask the operators how it worked. Eventually, they started to yell for Spencer when they got to his house, and let him empty the trash can into the compactor. More than firefighters or astronauts, these fellow were Spencer’s childhood heroes, and Big Pete was embodiment of them and their truck.

Jack Lukic (Tech) – Wind-Up Toys: Growing up, Jack loved wind up toys.  He was drawn to them because they were mechanically-powered, but ultimately quite fragile (there are few forces more powerful than a child’s fascination). Given that these were more delicate items, his mom kept them in a display shelf, and he was only allowed to play with them when supervised.

John Jacobsen (Product) – Capsela: Being an engineer, JJ felt the obvious favorite toy for him would have been a set of Legos, but he said that the more accurate answer is the Capsela modeling system. As a child, he was drawn to the technical aspect of the product, along with its futuristic, space-like feel. Moreover, he liked the simplicity of the geometric forms created by the capsules and connectors, a useful trait for an industrial design engineer in training. The set also benefited from nearly endless versatility: you could build any number of vehicles from the components, including amphibious models made with an ultra-cool set of pontoons. Remember, if you’re developing a toy for young architects or engineers, this diversity is key: the more options you provide a child, the greater the opportunity to exert their imagination.

Baron Nagy (Community) – Teddy Ruxpin: Before he grew to his full gargantuan height, Baron was a fan of Teddy Ruxpin, a teddy bear with a built-in cassette player that could tell a variety of stories. From a young age, Baron loved that you could change his cassette tapes so that Teddy could always tell you a new tale. He found that keeping the same toy fresh and exciting was much more interesting than other popular playthings, such as Power Ranger action figures, which would come out with a constant stream of new models instead. By continually going back to the same toy, he developed a much stronger bond with Teddy than he could with other playthings… awwww.

Steven Shaw (Community) – Miniature Vehicles: For this one, I had the pleasure of consulting with Penny Shaw, mother to Quirky’s Head of Community. Mamma Shaw recalled that young Steven was quite fond of miniature cars, trains, and trucks, several of which are pictured above. She remembered taking him to a train yard outside of London when he was only two.  The conductor was so impressed that Steven knew all the names of the different trains that he let him wear his hat. After that, Steven’s parents took him on many a field trip to train and trolley museums, cementing his love of vehicles. Not every gizmo can have this kind of effect on a child, but connecting with a common childhood passion is a tried-and-true method of making a toy more compelling.