This year, tech toys dominated the exhibitions, with drones becoming more and more popular. Companies are striving to produce the coolest flying toy – some are voice activated, while others are controlled by the wave of a hand.
Meanwhile, STEM toys (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) made a strong showing, along with a new genre of STEAM toys. These aim to teach STEM by using art. Traditional toys were still popular, as was collecting – fuelled by the rejuvenated Star Wars franchise.
Our favourite toys
So, these are the trends in new toys, but what about when you were young? The Premier Childrenswork team recall what toys they played with as children…
Jamie
When I was five, Thunderbirds’ Tracy Island was THE toy that Christmas. You couldn’t get them anywhere. Needless to say, when my parents’ Island-hunt came up short, I was devastated. Fortunately, Blue Peter intervened and my childhood was saved by some papier-mache and Anthea Turner, as the show talked my mum through making our own Tracy Island, step-by-step. The VHS recording of the show was the hottest property in Droitwich Spa and got passed around from house to house. When the creation was finally revealed (after weeks drying in the airing cupboard), the landing was so crowded that my sister ended up being knocked down the stairs!
Alex
I was a Lego kid (not literally). I had bags of the stuff, and I’d make anything and everything – houses, TV studios, my church… But there was nothing I liked better than to sort it all into colour and size, sticking all the pieces together in single-coloured sky scrapers. Needless to say, there wasn’t much for an eight-year-old boy to do in Bolton in 1984.
Ruth
Play-Doh, Fuzzy Felt and Stickle Bricks were among my favourite toys, but nothing beat pretending to be a librarian with my twin. We made our parents buy a date stamp and ink pad and we’d swipe the ‘barcode’ (with a lidded pen) and stamp the date of return in the front of all our books!
