Other people's toys

There was nothing sneaky about my playing with my three daughters' Brio train set. Wore out the knees of several pairs of trousers crawling around the floor working out the best circuits

When I was little, I had a large doll's cot which became a bus when a little boy came to play. As I wasn't really keen on dolls, this was fine by me. My uncle made me a lovely green wooden engine during the war when there weren't many toys available and one very prized possession was a second hand trike. I used to play with my kids' Lego once they had gone to bed.

No. It was always dolls for me. Loved my dollies. Playing schools with them, pushing them in my dolls' pram, giving them their tea. Boring kid wasn't I?

My tricycle (which was blue, BTW!) had a 'boot' and was much envied by the boys on our road!

Hated dolls. They always seemed to have scary faces. However, my brother's cars, that was different. My grandson talks about the faces on cars and trains whenever he sees them. I mean real trains, not just Thomas and friends. He even has a favourite bullet train because of the shape of its face.

My tricycle had a boot too Ana I can remember bombing around the streets on it until I took a sharp corner and someone had parked their car (cortina) on the pavement and both my nose and my lovely trike were right offs! I can remember my "auntie" (my mums friend) grabbing the driver by the scruff of the neck and threatening to "knock his bloody block off" happy days

Yes, they were great for bombing about on, weren't they? Very sturdy.

I hope your nose wasn't a complete write-off, gillybob!

You had tricycles ? I did love my red scooter but would have given anything for a tricycle.

Didn't have a brother but the boy who lived down the hill had a go-cart made from bits and pieces, pram wheels, etc and it was steered with a skipping rope. I really was

I was one of five siblings (3boys, 2girls). We had one scooter and one trike (big enough for up to about eight years old) between us. My dad made 'bogeys' (karts) for us too out of old pram wheels and bits of wood. We shared them all out in the back "ten-foot" (Hull name for a back lane).

Unisex toys for me. I did have a doll and dolls pram but I loved my sisters Bako and my childrens Lego.

When I was 6 I was given a bike which was kept on a stand in my bedroom which I shared with my brother (overcrowded post war London housing). I got up early and used to like to whirr the back wheel round using the pedals- on this day I decided to stop the wheel by sticking my hand in it - you guessed it chopped the top of my finger clean off!! It was sewed back on but I have a very funny looking finger with not much feeling in it! Needless to say I was in big trouble with Mother for upsetting her!! Other than that all I can remember is a rubber giraffe which was lovely and bendy.

I had other things on my mind when I read the title if this thread

My mum would insist my brother allowed me to play with his Lego when he was out with his mates.
I think DH got far more enjoyment out of our two's k'nex (plastic construction sets) than the children.

I had a lovely dolls pram, which was taken apart and the wheels used to build a go-cart with my male friends. My go-cart went really fast (I thought so anyway). I fondly remember my roller skates too. I was a very oudoorsy sort of girl and once tore my best Sunday skirt when out climbing trees. My Mother was not at all impressed.

I would have liked one of those trikes with a "boot" on the back. I have always had a succession of trikes and bikes, including now, but never one with a boot. I could have put my dollies' food shopping in it.

Yes; it was the boot that I was most envious of, and I've been wondering for the past day or so what I would have put in mine! But then again I was quite happy riding my pretend horses everywhere [I drew a series of horses in a book and had to decide which one I would ride each day].

We also had a big, sturdy sledge which my uncle had made for my older cousins. At a pinch all three of us could sit on it which made it go even faster. It was indestructible unlike the flimsy plastic ones on sale here every winter.

ninathenana what sort of toys were you thinking of?!

I always wanted a Meccano construction set however my parents didn't consider it appropriate for a girl and I received a twin dolls pram instead. Didn't have a brother so never got my hands on any construction toys until GS came along and I now play with their Lego. But have always hankered for some Meccano.

I had a mix of things - a toy ironing board and a chemistry set - Betta Builda (white bricks, green roof tiles, red windows and door frames, loved that) - doll's pram and doll's pushchair - a scooter.
One aunt gave me a hairbrush set every Christmas (think it was meant to be a hint - still have messy hair.)

During the war there weren't many new toys available. We had either handed-down toys or home-made. My mum was good at dressing dolls that were inherited from cousins. The only construction toys were at granny's house round the corner - traditional wooden bricks of varying sizes. As far as I remember there were dogs' toothmarks in them.

I've always been very interested in houses/domestic architecture and, when I was a child, our family used to visit friends on a Sunday where there was a boy about my age. I remember the two of us visiting a nearby site where a housing estate was being built. We must have been about 9 years old. Shock horror, we were able to creep in to a half-finished house (no H and S, no hard hats, of course) and climb the stairs and see just how it was built. My idea of heaven! The only problem was that he chivalrously held my hand, but he had warts on his hand and I really didn't like that, but it was worth it for the fun we had. But, best of all, he had a set of Bayko and so we could then build our own little plastic house! I have always longed for a set of my own and must admit that I'm thinking of buying a lovely set available on Ebay at the moment... Is this really what 60-something-year-old ladies should be hankering for? It's my birthday soon so maybe I could give it to myself for a present

I've got some Bayko; the sort of toy that gives elfandsafety nightmares. Whereabouts do you live, Joy; you could come and play with mine if you're nearby [I'm East Midlands ]. Sometimes we just long to see the toys from our youth, don't we. I bought my grandson a sit on/push along cuddly dog because I'd always wanted one when I was a child. And I bought the children a toy farm to give to me as a Christmas present as they didn't want one but I did. There had been a photo of all of my dolls that somehow disappeared when my mum died [the other photos were still there]. Will never know what happened to it but how I'd love to see it again. She probably threw it away when I left home at 17 [something that had made her very sad].

Lego! I loved my children's Lego. Also a beautiful musical instrument that my grandmother bought for my little sisters when they went to stay with her. I was farmed off to the other grandma who seemed to think that all I should do was have my haircut, go shopping because she didn't like the clothes my mother bought me, and sit in front of the fire and read all day, often aloud to her. I was so jealous, my sisters always had a wonderful time and that cage of beautiful little tinkly bells of all different sizes that you struck with little hammers epitomised all that I felt I was missing out on, as my mother was often ill.