For kids: Eames elephant

In 1945, Charles and Ray Eames came up with an idea for a menagerie of plywood animals that included an elephant, a frog, a seal, a bear, and a horse. Unfortunately, only the elephant made it to the prototype stage, and it proved to be too difficult and costly to mass produce. The two prototypes were displayed at the Museum of Modern Art from 1945-1946, and the only one that survives today is in the care of the Eames family.

In 2007, Vitra released a limited edition of the plywood elephant in natural and red stained maple. All 2000 sold out immediately at $1900 each, turning them into instant collector's items. In 2009, Vitra released a second series of the elephants in plastic. They are available in white, light pink, ice gray, classic red, and dark lime and are currently priced at $330.

From vitra.com and nikkiikkin.com

One of the two original prototypes
nikkiikkin.com

Vitra plywood Eames elephants
miniaturechairman.com

Vitra plastic Eames elephants
vitra.com

For kids: Pingy Penguin by Eero Aarnio

Eero Aarnio, the designer of the iconic dog, has also created other lovable animals, including Pingy Penguin. Aarnio tells a story about the first penguin he made and describes the Pingy design:

I have always been amused when I see on TV or in the movies a group of penguins dressed in "tuxedos" waddling along in the Antarctic. As a young boy I made my first penguin out of paper pulp (papier-mâché). My mother dried it above the woodstove in our apartment and when it was dry I painted it black and white.

For years this 20 cm high penguin lived on top of the cupboard in my childhood home. Unfortunately my apartment was destroyed in the 40's during the bombing of Helsinki and the penguin was lost in the mayhem of war. Penguin chicks are covered in grey soft feathers and will turn black and white when adults, but I have used the liberties of an artist and allowed this particular penguin chick to have black and white feathers. The shape of the head and the profile with the cute beak have the right proportions and the eyes have the realistic almond shape characteristic to penguin chicks. This little penguin has perhaps had a little too much to eat and therefore has the round belly, but this particular rotund shape allows it to mimic the realistic waddling movement, which makes it so lovable and cute.

From designeeroaarnio.com

nest.co.uk

Eero Aarnio with Pingy Penguins
unicahome.com

For kids: Eames House of Cards

Charles and Ray Eames took play seriously, and their most successful toy was a set of colorful cards that could be built into three-dimensional structures. The sets, created in 1952, are still being made and are available in small, medium and large sizes.

monpetit-art.com

Charles Eames with House of Cards
miniaturechairman.com

The Do-Nothing Machine and other Eames toys

Charles and Ray Eames believed in taking pleasure seriously. Linda Cervon, who grew up in their neighborhood, recalled that Charles Eames would suspend ropes from the ceiling of his studio so neighborhood kids could swing on them, knocking down cardboard structures he had built.

Charles and Ray are known for their furniture designs and architecture, but they were serious toymakers too. One of the most interesting of these was their solar Do-Nothing Machine. Designed in 1957, it was described in Life magazine as a "twirling, tinkling toy run by sunlight." It was made of aluminum strips and silicon cells which generated enough electricity to set the machine in motion. The Eames Office originally asked Cal Poly for help on the project, but instead the university sent a team to see what the couple had already achieved. As it turned out, this toy that did nothing at all was a forerunner of today's solar powered machines.

Charles Eames with the Do-Nothing Machine
life.time.com

Notice at 1:31 in the video that follows that there was a part of the Do-Nothing Machine shaped very much like one of the Eames Walnut Stools.

The Do-Nothing Machine in action

youtube.com - Uploaded Aug 1, 2013 by the Eames Office

Take a look at several other toys created by Charles and Ray Eames, and let the child in you be delighted.

Plywood elephant
architectmagazine.com

Bird costume
eamesdesigns.com

Giraffe costume
eamesdesigns.com

Rooster costume
eamesdesigns.com

Kids playing in an Eames construction
eamesdesigns.com

Charles Eames working on a design assembled with pipe cleaners
eamesdesigns.com

Prototype of The Toy
weekenderonline.wordpress.com

Ad for The Toy
eamesdesigns.com

Charles Eames and a House of Cards set
monpetitart-boutique.com

Charles and Ray Eames making a film featuring their creations
wn.com

What were they thinking?

From time to time, I have conversations with a friend just a few years younger than I am about how concerned our society has become with safety. Occasionally, I even opine that we're a little too concerned. It's as if we're trying to eliminate every single element of risk from daily life.

However, I started thinking back to some of the toys we had as kids growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, and I have to admit that I'd never buy these for my grandsons. What were our parents thinking?

I didn't have this exact Space Jet gun, but I had a similar one. They shot sparks that have been known to set many a pile of dead leaves on fire...and a few other things, I'm sure.

Spark gun
gunaxin.com

I did have one of these toy sewing machines, and, yes, they did really sew...with a real needle. Crazy, I know.

Toy sewing machine
rubylane.com

I'm not sure when this particular brand of yard darts came out, but I remember that my brother had them or something very similar in the 1960s. These things were insanely dangerous, because the wind could catch them and take them far from where you had aimed. I remember my brother trying frantically to retrieve one that was sticking straight up in the neighbor's roof before they complained to our parents. I guess it was lucky it was just sticking in the roof and not in the neighbor's kid's head.

Pointed metal yard darts
momversation.com

The mania for western movies and television shows made BB guns and knives popular. I guess our parents thought that as long as they had pictures of heroes and heroines on them, we couldn't shoot or poke our eyes out.

Knife sold as a "toy"
urlesque.com

I did have one of these toy irons, which used "real electricity" and really got hot. Maybe that's why I spend so much money today having my clothes dry cleaned.

Toy iron
vintagekitchentoys.com

The most disturbing "toy" of all is this Atomic Energy Lab that came with four types of real uranium ore. A Geiger counter could be purchased separately...I guess to see how much radiation had seeped into your skin while playing with your new lab set.

Atomic Energy Lab
orau.org

Geiger counter
orau.org

If we survived playing with our toys, even a trip to the Dairy Queen could be dangerous. Check out these spoons we used to eat our ice cream while rattling around loose in the back seat with no seatbelts on. Talk about poking your eye out!!!

Plastic spoons
lobsterlu.com

Back in the day: Easily entertained

A trip to a toy store these days boggles my mind. It's hard for me to believe that young children today really need all the expensive, high-tech toys on the market, especially when I see how much fun my grandsons have making a bird feeder out of a plastic soda bottle or drawing with erasable Crayons on a laminate tabletop.

When I was a kid growing up in the 50s, entertainment was much simpler. Instead of watching movies on a long road trip, I passed the time playing with one of these.

Sliding number puzzle
artskooldamage.blogspot.com

A piece of sting could entertain me for hours...and there were still some tricky moves I never mastered.

Cat's cradle
tumblr.com - simplejustin

When friends came over, there were no movies to rent and no computers to play on. We played Chinese checkers or Sorry.

Chinese checkers on metal board that turned to store marbles
life123.com

Sorry board game
etsy.com - revivecrafts

I must have made a million potholders for my mother and my grandmothers. It was my entry into the world of crafts...and, hey, a kitchen can never have too many potholders, right? Even ugly ones.

Making a potholder with stretchy loops
flickr.com - penmarklet

Another favorite alone-time activity was playing jacks. Nothing was quite as satisfying as a successful "tensie." For those of you who have never played, that means picking up ten jacks in one swipe.

Jacks and ball
etsy.com - sweetkate

An intense game of Pick-Up Sticks could also keep me occupied for hours, taught me patience and honed my manual dexterity.

Pick-Up Sticks
boardgamegeek.com

Give me a few pop beads, and I could make you a fashionable necklace and bracelet set. I blame these for my jewelry addiction.

Pop beads
pinterest.com - Diana Finlay

Or give me a piece of notebook paper, and I could tell your fortune. Pick a color...any color.

Foldable fortune telling game
instructables.com

Sunday morning comics were the best for Silly Putty. That stuff was magical.

Silly Putty
imremembering.com

And, yes, I remember a time when I thought looking at a set of Viewmaster slides of national parks was really exciting. Like I said, I was easily entertained.

Viewmaster
etsy.com - birdiesattic

But did you notice? Not a single electronic device in the lot...and I don't particularly remember my childhood as deprived.  In fact, I remember all these activities very fondly, which is why I'm enjoying doing simple crafts, playing old games and reading books from my childhood with my grandsons. Playtime doesn't have to cost a fortune to be fun.