The Retro Toys Blog

If you want to go really old-school, playing a toy theatre is a great way to do it. Yeah, kids now have TV, Netflix, tabletes and phones. Nothing beats the good old-fashioned toy theatre, trust me!

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If you liked our article about retro computers, you may want to check also this one. We have collected some nice vintge TV sets for you:

1. Intellivision video game console, Rank Arena TV set

Here you've got two in one: a retro TV and a retro game console. This Rank Arena TV Set is probably from the early 1980s or the end of 1970s. I can't see the model very well however - it looks like black & white, but would be odd to not be color TV since there is a game console attached.

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Cams, cranks, gears, wood, springs, and what not. That's what comes first in my mind when thinking about the toys from my childhood. We had also some toys made of plush, but they were all factory made. Our grandma's were knitting socks and pullovers but noone I know had the idea to knit toys. Who knew they'll be so popular 30 years later? Now with the rise of all kind of handmade stuff knitted toys are blooming. And you can also make yours, as long as you can knit.

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If "music box" sounds like a phone app to you, you may want to read this. I know it sounds odd, but people actually enjoyed physical music boxes that had just one melody. Or, at best, a couple of melodies. And such music box toys are available even today for a few bucks.

But What's a Music Box?

It's a mechanical instrument that generates music by rolling a cylinder with a set of pins on it. These pins hit strings and generate sound. Music boxes used to be big as tables and had interchangeable cylinders. Nowadays this kind of music boxes are in museums. But much simpler and smaller ones are available as toys you can buy and give your kids. And, to my surprise, most kids will enjoy them pretty much. Regardless of all the electronic devices with a lot more functionality they have.

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Toys that fly? The RC airplane industry is huge. But we don't talk RC here. We love the good old mechanical stuff. Can airplanes be mechanical? Sure. Some of them even fly. Let's see:

Free flight airplanes

Free flight airplanes don't have that much (or any) mechanics in them. They are just light static aircraft models that are thrown by hand or kind-of trebuchet and let the wind bring them away. The most important thing about them is to be light, robust and aerodynamical. There are often no moving parts in them. Some have rotating propeller like the one on the picture below:

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