The Toys Portal
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A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pets. Toys can provide utilitarian benefits, including physical exercise, cultural awareness, or academic education. Additionally, utilitarian objects, especially those which are no longer needed for their original purpose, can be used as toys. Examples include children building a fort with empty cereal boxes and tissue paper spools, or a toddler playing with a broken TV remote. The term "toy" can also be used to refer to utilitarian objects purchased for enjoyment rather than need, or for expensive necessities for which a large fraction of the cost represents its ability to provide enjoyment to the owner, such as luxury cars, high-end motorcycles, gaming computers, and flagship smartphones.
Playing with toys can be an enjoyable way of training young children for life experiences. Different materials like wood, clay, paper, and plastic are used to make toys. Newer forms of toys include interactive digital entertainment and smart toys. Some toys are produced primarily as collectors' items and are intended for display only. (Full article...)
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R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) is a toy robot accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was key to the NES's launch in October 1985, as a redesign of the Family Computer Robot which had been launched in July 1985 in Japan for Famicom. Its short lifespan yielded only two games in the Robot Series: Gyromite and Stack-Up.
Following the North American video game crash of 1983, Nintendo alleviated that fearful retail market by rebranding its Japanese Famicom video game console as the Nintendo Entertainment System—a new platform focused on R.O.B. to further reclassify the system as a uniquely sophisticated toy experience instead of simply as a video game console. Computer Entertainer called R.O.B. "the world's only interactive robot". (Full article...)
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Jeujura wooden construction set (Swiss chalet) (from Construction set) -
Lego bricks are a construction set example. (from Construction set) -
A matryoshka doll taken apart (from List of wooden toys) -
Rows of pink girls' toys in a Canadian store, 2011 (from Girls' toys and games) -
A ball-in-a-maze puzzle (from List of wooden toys) -
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A gee-haw whammy diddle in use (from List of wooden toys) -
Hello Kitty Dreamcast set, 2009 (from Girls' toys and games) -
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1970s No. 2 Meccano set (from Construction set) -
Detail from Children's Games by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1560), showing Flemish girls playing popular games of the era (from Girls' toys and games) -
Paintings of girl with dolls (from Girls' toys and games) -
A bead maze (from List of wooden toys) -
Girls in Barbie Fashion Show in Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from Girls' toys and games) -
Girls playing in a park in the Netherlands (from Girls' toys and games) -
Burr puzzles (from List of wooden toys) -
A bauernroulette game (from List of wooden toys) -
Interlocking Disks enable the construction of high-symmetry models such as that of C
60 Fullerene. (from Construction set) -
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A girl in Udaipur playing "Jungle Child" (from Girls' toys and games) -
An infant boy playing with a toy dump truck at the beach. (from Boys' toys and games) -
Girls assembling a puzzle (from Girls' toys and games) -
Constri (from Construction set) -
A puzzle of dexterity, a type of mechanical puzzle (from List of wooden toys) -
Tartu Toy Museum (from Toy museum) -
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Various spinning tops (from List of wooden toys)
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A rubber duck is a toy shaped like a stylised yellow-billed duck, and it is generally yellow with a flat base. It may be made of rubber or rubber-like material such as vinyl plastic. The yellow rubber duck has achieved an iconic status in Western pop culture and is often symbolically linked to bathing. Various novelty variations of the toy are produced.
Did you know...
- ... that Elizabeth II's childhood toys at 145 Piccadilly included 30 toy horses and a farm set collected from Woolworths?
- ... that "Toy Town" was said to have "almost destroyed" the happy hardcore scene?
- ... that the design for the water playground at Chelsea Waterside Park was criticized because local residents thought that the sprinklers resembled sex toys?
- ... that Taylor Swift released a demo containing lyrics that were trimmed from the final version of her song "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys"?
- ... that before becoming a voice actor, Kikunosuke Toya was the keyboardist of an all-male Princess Princess cover band in high school?
- ... that the Roman emperors Augustus and Claudius may have had an affinity for gambling?
- ...that The Brady Bunch actress Maureen McCormick was one of the many people who voiced the 1960s toy Chatty Cathy?
- ...that The Lego Group produced 381 million tires (example pictured) in 2011, making it the largest tire manufacturer in the world?
- ...that Merrythought is the last remaining teddy bear manufacturer in the United Kingdom?
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Topics
| By type | |
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| Industry | |
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Types: • Doll • Vehicle • Puzzle • Teddy bear
Industry: • American Specialty Toy Retailing Association • Birmingham toy industry • International Union of Allied Novelty and Production Workers • Kiddicraft • Play value • Toy safety • Toy store • Toyetic • Wooden toymaking in the Ore Mountains
WikiProjects
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- Arts • Entertainment • Visual arts • Games
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- Toys
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- Board and table games • G.I. Joe • Transformers • My Little Pony
- Related Projects
- Animation • Anime and manga • Biography • Comics • Film • Fictional characters • Media franchises • Music • Television • Video games
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