When you think back on your childhood, it’s easy to remember those great classic toys you had so much fun with. I’m not talking about Nintendo Wii and Sega, but more along the lines of Silly Putty and Tonka trucks. Those were good times. I’m going to try to see if I can think of some of these great toys.

Raggedy Ann doll. Remember those? I guess they still sell them but I bet they aren’t made as well! Not much is anymore, sadly. These dolls used to be very popular.

Speaking of dolls, remember that doll called Crissy that had the hair that would “grow?” You could push a button on her stomach and pull her hair out longer, and then you could turn a knob on her back to make it shorter. Very low tech but very cool at the time. As dolls go I suppose I liked her pretty well. But actually it was my mom who liked the dolls I think. She would always buy them for me but I preferred stuffed animals.

I also preferred the plastic horses and cowboy and cowgirl figure set by Marx. The horses were Thunderbolt, Storm Cloud, , and Flame, and the figures were Johnny, Jay, Josie, Jamie, Janice, and Jane West. I played with those horses and figures every day for years, both me and my cousin would spend hours inventing scenarios with them. Those were probably some of my best-loved memories of my childhood, the hours spent playing with those horse and cowboy/cowgirl figurines. Now those were classic toys. Whey they are not made anymore, I have no idea.

Easy Bake Oven was one of the classic toys. I’m sure they probably make something more high-tech now but those ovens were pretty cool. My friends in the neighborhood and I used to trade toys sometimes, and I ended up with an Easy Bake Oven in one of our trades. I can’t remember anything that came out of it being exceptionally yummy but we had fun with it. Didn’t burn anything down either!

My neighbor had one of those rocking horses on springs which, for some unknown reason, my parents never bought for me. Looking back, I wonder why as I was so horse crazy.

Big Wheel was another of the classic toys. Those were fun! Again, I did not own one but my relatives did and I loved riding on it. Nowadays kids want motorized 4-wheelers and things like that. A Big Wheel was much more fun.

But still, the Johnny West horses and figures were the best in my opinion. Now if I only knew what ever happened to mine.

Marx Thunderbolt