Tim Krohn
The Free Press
August 26, 2007 12:25 am
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There’s been a near panic of late over toys. Millions of them — from Sesame Street to Thomas the Tanker — have been recalled in recent weeks because of threats like lead in the paint or choking hazards.
I’m not sure when toy recalls started, but it must have been after I was a kid. Danger and toys seemed pretty much synonymous back then.
I got a Creepy Crawler set when I was about 8. It was an oven, about the size of small tissue box, made of cast iron. You poured different colored liquids into metal forms and slid them into the oven to cook and harden to a rubbery finish.
The stove, being made of metal, heated up to about 300 degrees — on the outside. The metal trays were a lot hotter. You pulled them out with a little handle and dropped them in water to cool.
Sometimes you’d take them out too soon and splatter scalding rubber on yourself. If you forgot they were in there, black smoke would pour out of the machine as the rubber burned.
In spite of searing burns, it was my favorite toy of all times.
Later, they came out with edible goop. You cooked up the bugs, let them cool and enjoyed a delicacy that tasted like — well, flavored rubber. I’m not sure what the ingredients were but I’m guessing they wouldn’t pass FDA regulations today.
I bought my son a Creepy Crawler set about 10 years ago when he was young. A nostalgia thing. I was thrilled to see they still sold them.
Except the stove was made of plastic. It had a bitty little heating light inside, about the size of a small Christmas-tree bulb. There was a timer to shut it off automatically. A heat safety shut-off switch. A door that wouldn’t open until the machine cooled down for half an hour. Warning logos everywhere about the dangers associated with it.
It worked OK, but it didn’t seem as fun.
On the danger scale, my old Creepy Crawler set wasn’t even close to the first lawn dart games that came out. They were called Jarts. They had big plastic fins and heavy, sharpened brass tips. You stood 30 or so feet from the person you were playing against and threw them in the air toward the other person trying to hit a plastic ring on the ground.
Yes, it was like throwing missiles at each other, but Dad gave us proper safety training before he gave them to us:
“Don’t let these get these stuck in your head.”
Then there was a toy, that came out in the early 70s. It was two hardened, glass-like balls about the size of a lemon. They were attached to about 10-inch-long strings and connected to a ring. You moved the string up and down getting the glass balls to smack into each other.
We quickly figured out that if you timed it just right you could whack the heavy glass balls on your brother’s or sister’s head. They also shattered occasionally, sending little bits of glass shrapnel around the room.
When we couldn’t buy dangerous toys we made them. Potato cannons fueled with lighter fluid or white gas. Home-made crossbows. Homemade fireworks.
I suppose today’s safety-conscious parents are doing the right thing.
Still, the element of danger adds a measure of reward and enjoyment.
So spend some quality time with your kids and build a toy together. I suggest starting with black powder, six-penny nails, Super Glue, clothesline wire, tin cans and something randomly grabbed off the garage shelf.
Then, let your imagination run wild.
Tim Krohn is a Free Press staff writer. He can be contacted at 344-6383 or tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com.
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