THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 5, 1995 TAG: 9512050043
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 201 lines
NINJA TURTLES and Power Rangers come and go. Star Wars figures come and go and come back again.
But take a walk this or any Dec. 25. You probably couldn't travel a block without passing at least one house where, amid the crumpled wrappings and emptied stockings around the Christmas tree, sits a new bicycle.
Or a stuffed bear.
Or a ball of some kind.
Or a board game like Monopoly.
Or a Barbie doll.
Or a box of spanking-new, sweet-smelling, even-the-plain-red-still-has-its-sharp-point crayons.
Christmas gifts like these are classics. They sell well year after year. Their continuing popularity rides out the tsunami of advertising for each new generation of trendy, must-have action figures, video games and movie-themed paraphernalia. This season, the hit movie ``Toy Story'' features decades-old toys like Mr. Potato Head and Etch-a-Sketch, and sales of those items are expected be even better than usual.
Such classic toys have endured through baby boom and bust, Nehru jackets and nose rings, Cold War and cola wars. They're given at Christmas by parents who get warm and fuzzy feelings thinking back to when they got their first Etch-a-Sketch.
Or big metal truck.
Or yo-yo.
Or tricycle. ``A good old metal tricycle,'' as Barbara J. Copeland puts it.
The Suffolk grandmother recently carted off a box containing an unassembled trike from Toys ``R'' Us in the Western Branch section of Chesapeake. The store was the only one she could find that still carried the old-fashioned kind of three-wheeler for kids, she said.
``The plastic ones and the fancy ones are nice, but they can't pedal them,'' Copeland said.
She generally avoids the newer, trendier toys when shopping for her 2-year-old granddaughter.
``I just don't think kids really play with them,'' Copeland said. ``I think they play with the stuff her daddy played with: blocks, Matchbox cars. . . . Yeah, she loves them.''
So, apparently, do many others. Or at least their parents do.
The Toy Manufacturers of America, the trade association for the toy industry, includes at least six ``classics'' on its list of the top-20 ``hot'' toys for the 1995 holidays: Barbie dolls, Crayola Crayons, Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, Monopoly and the card game Uno.
Kiplinger's magazine this month also predicted ``nostalgia'' toys and games will sell well, including Barbies, Hot Wheels, Monopoly and Clue, and the 43-year-old Mr. Potato Head.
The plastic spud - kids haven't had to use real potatoes for years - is a key character in the animated-movie hit ``Toy Story.''
You bump into a batch of Mr. Potato Heads, hula hoops and Tinkertoys just inside the door of the Toys ``R'' Us in Western Branch.
Walk into the nearby Kmart, follow the overhead sign reading ``TOYS'' and the first display you see is for Barbie and her pals. Just past it are stacks of checkers and chess sets, Chinese checkers, and Monopoly, Scrabble and Life games.
Next aisle: more Barbies. Next: puzzles and Lego building toys. Across the way: big yellow metal trucks.
Barbies and Matchbox cars - ``good stocking stuffers for kids'' - also are consistent big sellers at the Kmart on East Little Creek Road in Norfolk, said a manager, Tammy Guynn.
And at the Wal-Mart in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake, they can't keep Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars on the shelves, said toy manager Christopher T. Bennet.
Other perennial big sellers there include Duncan yo-yos, bicycles, balls - rubber, Nerf and those big, plain, air-filled playground ones - crayons, PlayDoh, Etch-a-Sketches and blow-up punching bags.
``Erector Sets - they've come back, and they're selling real well too,'' Bennett said.
Last year, plain building blocks were big at Bennett's store. And people continuously ask for Lincoln Logs and Tinkertoys, although his store doesn't carry them.
``And for children, people like the little rubber duckies,'' he added.
Barbie remains one of the two hottest sellers at the Toys ``R'' Us in the Lynnhaven section of Virginia Beach, said assistant store director Jim Morton.
The doll's appeal seems undiminished even after 36 years. ``If anything, it's continued to grow during Barbie's life,'' Morton said.
Sports equipment, metal Tonka trucks, bicycles, blocks, arts-and-crafts supplies, crayons and Chinese checkers all are annual strong sellers, as is Playskool's ``dog on a string.'' This is the pup that rolls along and wags its tail when you pull it.
``Amazing as it is . . . in today's high-tech time, we still sell a lot of `walking dogs,' '' Morton said. ``Parents remember. They still remember that value and enjoyment and buy it for their kids.''
All this isn't to say everything remains exactly the same.
Barbie now comes in new flexible-dancer and ``Baywatch''-lifeguard versions. Crayons come packaged with tracing templates and in travel sets. Plastic bats and balls include devices that toss the ball in the air for you. Some Tonka trucks talk. You can play Monopoly on your computer.
But some things don't change. Like teddy bears.
``Everybody has to have bears and dogs,'' said Jeanne R. Allen, manager for 13 years of Waterside Zoo in Norfolk. Bears remain her most-popular seller Christmas after Christmas.
``There's always a market for stuffed toys,'' Allen said. ``They're very cuddly. They peak over the top of stockings very well.''
Carol J. Neclos of Southampton County recently was finishing her Christmas shopping for her four grandchildren. She was looking for toys ``that are educational and will last.'' While she said she couldn't avoid picking up a few video games, she mostly bought card and board games, puzzles ``and the old standby: a doll baby. Nothing special - doesn't walk or talk.''
Many child-development experts agree that, nostalgia aside, time-tested toys are the way to go.
``Many newfangled toys don't stimulate a child's creativity,'' said Irma Van Scoy of the University of South Carolina. ``The toys do the work, and there's no room for imagination and make-believe.''
That's why all too often the exotic new toy Mom and Dad shelled out big bucks for is gathering dust by Dec. 26 while the kids play with its packing box.
Van Scoy recommends balls, bikes, puzzles, building blocks and, like Neclos, plain dolls.
``When in doubt about choosing a toy, parents should look back to their own childhood and recall the toys they enjoyed,'' she said.
Parents often are instinctive that way, said Anastasia P. Samaras, director of teacher education at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a children's-play expert.
Parents usually want their children to have what they believe is good for them, and that's why they often return to the toys they remember having fun with, such as sidewalk chalk and marbles, Samaras said. Research shows that simple toys that require imagination and play-acting do more for children's language and social skills.
``I think we have seen for ourselves that those toys do help children learn, and they like to play with them,'' Samaras said. ``We find the old-fashioned toys that seem to benefit children more allow them to pretend more. . . .
``Maybe that's why Barbie stays around.''
Samaras suggests building blocks, play money, paper and pencils, and markers and - toy stores won't like this - homemade play kits with dress-up clothes and props to create pretend schools, restaurants, businesses and post offices.
Copeland, the Suffolk grandmother, agrees with the experts. She's done her own research with granddaughter Ashley. The girl's favorite toy: worn, multi-colored wood blocks.
``A good old can of blocks. She plays with that more than anything,'' Copeland said. ``They were my son's, and he's 23. So we got our money's worth out of those things.'' ILLUSTRATION: Barbie:
Introduced in 1959
Manufactured by Mattel
$15
Crayola Crayons:
Introduced in 1903
Manufactured by Binney & Smith
79 cents for box of eight; $3.29 for 64
Matchbox cars:
Introduced in 1954
Manufactured by Tyco Toys
under $1
Monopoly:
Introduced in 1935
Manufactured by Parker Brothers
$10
Mr. Potato Head:
Introduced in 1952
Manufactured by Playskool
$6
Some ``classic'' toys and games still on the market, with year of
introduction:
Parcheesi game - 1867
Teddy bears - 1903
Erector Sets - 1913
Raggedy Ann - 1914
Tinkertoys - 1914
Lincoln Logs - 1916
Yo-yo - 1929
Lego building sets - 1930
Scrabble game - 1931
Sorry game - 1934
View-Master 3D viewer - 1937
Chutes and Ladders game - 1943
Slinky - 1945
Tonka trucks - 1946
Candyland game - 1949
Clue game - 1949
PlayDoh - 1955
Frisbee - 1957
Hula Hoop - 1959
Etch-a-Sketch - 1960
G.I. Joe - 1963
Easy Bake Oven - 1963
Twister game - 1966
Hot Wheels cars and racing sets - 1968
Nerf balls - 1970
Uno card game - 1972
Source: Toy Manufacturers of America
by CNB