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 Five Time-Honored Toys - Tweaked for Today's Kids

1. Jack-in-the-Box

Little kids love surprises, but let's face it, sometimes that clown head popping up ten inches from your eyeballs could be a little creepy and frightening, especially for the youngest among us. The obvious answer? Less traumatic characters popping up to greet little guys and girls - like a bear, a bunny, a pony or well-known, beloved figures like Curious George. These modified music boxes are springing up at a store near you.

2. Crayola Crayons

No book, paper or wall was safe at any house with Crayola Crayons around. Every surface was fair game, and some of us (though probably a very small percentage) grew up to be great artists and designers because of this creative outlet. Sometimes it was a struggle for dc gay pride 2007 tiny hands to manipulate the round sticks of indelible color - they would roll around or slip from our fingers - but somehow we managed to produce great works. Today's tots, even as young as age two, are now able to get a really good grip on their crayons because Crayola has developed triangular, easy-to-hold crayons for budding artists. Thankfully, most kids are too short to reach the ceiling…

3. Legos

Who cared if our Lego structures resembled anything close to a building or a robot? We were happy just to snap and unsnap those colorful, interlocking, plastic pieces into place. As we grew older, our Lego creations became more sophisticated. Some of us never outgrew our passion for Legos, so entire Lego cities and most anything imaginable have been dc gay pride 2007 continue to be built by aficionados. Now kids are introduced to Legos through sets that contain see-through blocks for windows and tiny characters that add life to their Lego creations. And it's still just a snap to put something together!

4. TinkerToy

It's nice to know some things never change - much. TinkerToy Construction sets have been around since 1914 and have been a staple of playtime ever since. With simple, round sticks of varying sizes and colors and spools with holes, we could make the most wondrous things - from a basic box to complex machines. Just dc gay pride 2007 what you could have done with the latest addition to the TinkerToy cylindrical container - fun plastic shapes that can make curves! Maybe your kids will let you play with their set.

5. Slinky

A simple coil of metal that provided endless hours of mindless fun. Just making it move from one side to the other, listening to that "slinkity" sound, was mesmerizing. Still is, apparently. And making it walk downstairs or topple from the edge of a desk - sheer heaven! Did you know that "Slinky" is a Swedish word meaning traespiral, or sleek or sinuous? So free web hosting have they done to make it even more kid-friendly? Well, now it comes in several sizes to fit smaller hands. And it's made of plastic, so it's less likely to get tangled up. Nothing did in a Slinky faster than the frustration of trying to untangle that mass of metal. One little bend meant the end of poor Slinky.