Essay #4 Prewriting- Childhood Toys
One of my favorite toys of the 90’s was my water baby doll. You could fill the doll up with warm water or cold water to make the baby weight heavier than a normal doll. They felt like the weight or a real baby. My sister and I always used to play with them. They were made of rubber so they could get wet unlike other dolls. We would give them baths and put lotion on them all the time to make them smell like a real baby. We had so much fun with them.
Unfortunately, we also had a few bad experiences with them. My sister and I would leave the water in them for long periods of time, so eventually the water would get old and moldy. It was not the best idea to do. When we would take the water out of it, the water would be a black grey color with black specs of mold. Sometimes the skin of the doll would even turn a different color. Overall, the doll was one of my favorite toys to play with.
When searching new popular toy items, I could not find water babies as part of any lists. Dolls are still a popular item, but the thing I noticed was many of them are electronic. It seems that the idea of just putting water in a doll wouldn’t be as fun as a doll that talks, sleeps, or eats. I found them on the toys r us website. They look nothing like the original one, but they must still be popular in the sense that people buy them. Their faces are more realistic now then they were back when I was a little girl. Many of the clothes seem more realistic also. Everything is updated, even the funnel you had to use to fill the baby up with water.
Something new that I have noticed many of my little cousins really like to have are webkins. My cousins ranging from about 4 to 14 are playing with them or buying them. This stuffed animal is not just any stuffed animal, in the fact that you can use them on the Internet also. You can take care of them on the internet but feeding them and giving them houses. All my cousins love to do this. When I was a kid, computer games were just beginning and that is all we really did on the computer.
Many new toys seem to be electronic. Now they even have a digital camera for children 3 and up. Seems like this world has come to almost everything being electronic. I looked at the top toys for Christmas on toy r us.com, and I went through them and say about eighty percent of them were electronic. It is weird to think about my life as a kid, and I can’t think of many toys that were electronic that I played with. It was not until I was a little older when they came out with dolls that could so other things than be dressed up.
Today, there are many things that can contribute to a popular toy. Advertizing is huge because no a days many children are watching tv. So, if they see something that looks fun they will want it, even though the toy will be one they play with only once. Electronic toys are also very popular, so that could be a contribution. All computer games, for example the wii, bring in a lot of money. Because of the United States worrying about obesity in children, there are a lot of toys that have to do with physical activity. Dance revolution and the wii are two examples of that.
This Christmas if I was still young, I would be asking for the electric nail printer. You can put your finger in the machine and it prints our patterns with the use of your computer. It looks fun and girly. I think it is popular , because it is appealing to girls. They get to make their nails have patterns or even pictures. Once again, it is something that is used with a computer. Times have really changed since I was a kid it seems like. Every girl wants to play dress up, and act as if they are getting their nails done like their mom. This looks fun.
Some toys maintain popularity, because they simply continue to update their product. They have to keep doing this to be able to compete with other toys and companies. Other toys are just a fad that theu go through because they were newly invented, but they lose popularity so nothing was changed.
9:45 am - 11-4-2009
Well i was never one to play with dolls, but i did not not like them. I found it interesting that you liked to pretend to have a real baby at such a young age. But I never even knew that they had a nail printer for your own nails. That just goes to show technology is on the rise, but if i was a girl I would probably love that too.
2:04 pm - 11-4-2009
Great job using details to describe your favorite childhood toy. I have never heard of it before but after reading through your paragraphs i feel like i know what you’re talking about. I agree with you when you say that children’s toys today are mostly electronic.
11:01 pm - 11-4-2009
I have never heard of that electric nail painter, but it sounds cool. I paint my nails so much and it takes so long and im right handed so of course my other hand looks way crappier than the other. So that would be a great toy to have, i agree. :]