Are the Golden Years About to Return?

Author：佚名 Source：none Hits：93 UpdateTime：2008-10-18 23:22:06


In the nineteen sixties when I was a child, between the ages of one and ten, I didn't get many toys and nor did many other kids come to think about it. But the toys we did get, lasted for years and they had to really, because parents couldn't afford for them to break within a week or so of giving them. That's probably why the majority of the toys were natural wooden toys, you see they could take a knock or two without breaking, plus at that time plastic was only just being introduced and wasn't anywhere near as popular as the kids wooden toys. I can remember having a hobby horse and wooden trucks with bricks, but if your mum and dad had really good jobs or had a bit of money you could get the ultimate, the wooden rocking horse. When I look back at these years it is probably the wooden toys that I remember the most, possibly because we did have them for a longer time period or maybe because they never let me down, they just didn't break.

But as time went on plastic did become the dominant force in toy manufacture because of its ease of molding into shape and its relative cheapness, thus giving rise to mass production. Unfortunately though plastic has a tendency to break easily and can't be repaired like natural wooden toys can. The majority of plastics also have the big problem of not being very environmentally friendly, they just can't be disposed of and will lay in the ground indefinitely. Wood on the other hand is bio degradable or it can be turned into alternative products such as wood chippings for paths and gardens, all of which is environmentally friendly.

Now that oil prices are forever rising and the environmental issues concerning oil and its bi product of plastic are always in the headlines, could the golden years of wooden toys return? It very much looks like it is going to happen. No, it already is happening. There are more and more web sites growing with wood in mind, not just furniture but toys too. In fact some high street furniture stores sell wooden toys at the side of their furniture because of the explosion in popularity. Can you imagine the wooden toys outselling the furniture? It can and does happen.

Wooden toys in their basic forms aren't around as much these days because the master wooden toy maker has a lot more technology to help him carve and finish the toy to a high standard, but that does not mean all toys will eventually be made from wood, it wouldn't be easy making a video console. Yes, the majority could possibly be made from wood but an alternative to fossil fuels for the rest will have to be found.