A big part of a child’s life is the toys they play with. In Hamburg Area High School students and staff remember playing with a wide variety of toys when they were kids. Whether it was an action figure, a doll, car, or it was playing dress up, they all remember how happy they were when they played with them. 

     One of the popular dolls were the Barbie dolls. Since Barbie came in many different outfits, the students remember dressing her up as their favorite part of Barbie. Ruth Handler is the inventor of Barbie. She wanted little girls to play with Barbie to help them decide what they want to be when they grow up. Barbie got her fabulous name from Handler’s daughter, Barbara.

     Another toy that was popular with the girl students is Polly Pockets. Similar to Barbie, Polly Pockets were figures that could be dressed up. They would come in a small container and when opened it was a house, job, or store that could be played in. Polly Pockets were the perfect road trip toy because they were so small and easy to take along. Sadly in 2012 Polly Pockets were discontinued in America, but they can still be bought in Europe and in South America. 

     When the students were kids their favorite thing to collect was Pokemon Cards. They loved to see new cards and tried their hardest to get rare ones. A lot of students remember having Pokemon card battles with other students during recess. During the battles they had, the victor would get the loser’s cards that were defeated. It was a great way to get new cards, but it was a major problem with the school. Pokemon card battles were not allowed during recess anymore since there were too many fights over cheating or unfair activity happening.

     Toys are the first way kids learn how to pick things up, put things down, use their wide imagination, and inspire their lives. The toy that helped freshman Landon Poulios use his imagination was a Peppa Pig play house. He watched Peppa Pig as a child and was amazed at the lessons they were teaching him and his brother. One Christmas their parents got them a Peppa Pig play house and they were very excited to play with it. Landon would always be the little brother George Pig and also include other toys that were not in the Peppa Pig franchise, such as Batman, Hot Wheels, and even his plushies.