Portal:Toys

The Toys Portal

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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Sindy is a British fashion doll created by Pedigree Dolls & Toys in 1963. A rival to Barbie, Sindy's look and range of fashions and accessories made her the best-selling toy in the United Kingdom in 1968 and 1970.

After Marx Toys' unsuccessful attempt to introduce Sindy in the United States in the late 1970s, Hasbro bought the rights to Sindy and remodelled the doll to look more American. As a result, the doll's popularity declined; in addition, Barbie manufacturer Mattel filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, which was settled when Hasbro agreed to remodel Sindy's face. During the 1990s, Barbie's share of the doll market continued to grow while Sindy's diminished, which led to Sindy being delisted from major retailers in 1997. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images -

The following are images from various toy-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Rows of pink girls' toys in a Canadian store, 2011 (from Girls' toys and games)
Image 2Kondapalli Toys (from List of wooden toys)
Image 3Paintings of girl with dolls (from Girls' toys and games)
Image 4Girls assembling a puzzle (from Girls' toys and games)
Image 5Detail from Children's Games by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1560), showing Flemish girls playing popular games of the era (from Girls' toys and games)
Image 6Various spinning tops (from List of wooden toys)
Image 7A young boy playing with a toy dump truck at the beach. (from Boys' toys and games)
Image 8A girl in Udaipur playing "Jungle Child" (from Girls' toys and games)
Image 9A bauernroulette game (from List of wooden toys)
Image 101970s No. 2 Meccano set (from Construction set)
Image 11Lego bricks are a construction set example. (from Construction set)
Image 12A bead maze (from List of wooden toys)
Image 13A matryoshka doll taken apart (from List of wooden toys)
Image 14Wooden unit blocks, a type of toy block, in a wooden wagon (from List of wooden toys)
Image 15Tartu Toy Museum (from Toy museum)
Image 16Girls in Barbie Fashion Show in Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from Girls' toys and games)
Image 17A gee-haw whammy diddle in use (from List of wooden toys)
Image 18A ball-in-a-maze puzzle (from List of wooden toys)
Image 19Kiddicraft and Lego building blocks in different colors. (from Construction set)
Image 20Girls playing in a park in the Netherlands (from Girls' toys and games)
Image 21Jeujura wooden construction set (Swiss chalet) (from Construction set)
Image 22A puzzle of dexterity, a type of mechanical puzzle (from List of wooden toys)
Image 23A peg wooden doll from Val Gardena, 1850 (from List of wooden toys)
Image 24Burr puzzles (from List of wooden toys)
Image 25Interlocking disks enable the construction of high-symmetry models such as that of C
₆₀ fullerene. (from Construction set)
Image 26Hello Kitty Dreamcast set, 2009 (from Girls' toys and games)

Selected image

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 the design for the water playground at Chelsea Waterside Park was criticized because local residents thought that the sprinklers resembled sex toys?
... 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 Korean brick toys, colloquially called "Korean Lego", often feature themes of "war and danger", including sets such as military vehicles?
... that before becoming a voice actor, Kikunosuke Toya was the keyboardist of an all-male Princess Princess cover band in high school?
... 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 akabeko (pictured), red cow toys from the Aizu region of Japan, are believed to ward off disease?

...that fingerboards are reduced scale model figures of skateboards that are featured in videos and used as 3-D visual aids for skateboarders to understand potential tricks and maneuvers?

...that Merrythought is the last remaining teddy bear manufacturer in the United Kingdom?

Subcategories

Toys

Indexes of toy topics

Toys by material

Toys by period

Toys by type

Lists of toys

Toy culture

Toy industry

Promotional images for toys and games

Toy stubs

Related portals

Topics

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

Parent projects: Arts • Entertainment • Visual arts • Games

WikiProjects

Main project: Toys

Sub-projects: Board and table games • G.I. Joe • Lego • My Little Pony • Transformers

Related Projects: Animation • Anime and manga • Biography • Comics • Film • Fictional characters • Media franchises • Music • Television • Video games

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Article requests : Barbie Queen of the Prom, Eve The Second Genesis CCG, More...
Assess : Rate the Unassessed Toys articles and Unknown-importance Toys articles.
Expand : Expand the doll pages, Expand Larami article
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Toys
By type	Art Boys' Construction set Doll Action figure bobblehead Cymbal-banging monkey Puppet Stuffed Educational Electronic game Fidget Girls' Gun Mechanical Model car Office Optical Scale model Skill
Industry	Toy advertising Toy Industry Hall of Fame National Toy Hall of Fame
Organizations	American International Toy Fair Toy Industry Association
Related topics	List of toys List of wooden toys
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