Mumsnet users share the childhood toys that make them feel nostalgic with BRIO

[EllieMumsnet]

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For many of us when we see or a hear a reference to a toy from our childhood, we are immediately transported by to a specific time when we were younger playing with that toy...queue all the nostalgic feelings. BRIO would love to know all the toys that give you that nostalgic feeling and what it is about them that makes you feel that way.

Here’s what BRIO have to say: “We just turned 130, yet we feel more vital than ever. And that’s a good thing when working with toys. Because just as play develops children, play has developed us as a company. Smart Tech is the latest integrated technology from BRIO which is adding extra layers of functionality and play value to our timeless toys. The Smart Tech trains can stop, turn around, go slower or go faster using the accessories that are in the range, bringing even more magic to the BRIO World. In a world full of technology and computers, traditional play is at the core of what we do at BRIO. Our Smart Tech range combines clever train technology with traditional play patterns, meaning as parents you don’t need to feel nostalgic for those classic toys as they’re at the heart of everything we do.”

Watch this video on the BRIO Smart tech Engine with Action Tunnel Set:

Is it the Troll Dolls that make you feel nostalgic as you remember spending hours styling their bright pink hair? Perhaps seeing your DC talking to imaginary people on your phone makes you remember you doing the same on your Chatter Telephone? Did you think of yourself as a highly-skilled chef with your Easy-Bake Oven? Would you just spend hours drawing out things on your Etch A Sketch? Or is it good old Play-Doh that always make you feel nostalgic whenever your child plays with it?

Whichever toys make you feel nostalgic, share them on the thread below and everyone who comments will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list) and another four MNers will win a BRIO Smart Tech Engine Set with Action Tunnels, worth £89.95 each.

Thanks and good luck.
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Polly pockets make me feel nostalgic my daughter plays with my old sets and now there’s new ones out she has got a couple put away for her birthday. I remember playing with them for hours, I always kept all the pieces neat and together like I did with my barbie and sindy dolls.

Polly Pockets, really wish I had kept mine to pass to my daughter but hopefully she will love the new ones!! Plasticine, especially the smell!! Baby born.

Puppy in my pocket. The good stuff not the rubbish ones that came out more recently. I didn’t really play with them as such (I am autistic and find imaginative play difficult) but I had a big table in my bedroom that I’d spend ages setting up as their world, using bricks (which my baby still has now) for walls. I also always nabbed any polystyrene packaging (the kind of weird shaped things that hold products in a box) and made them into buildings like swimming pools and schools and stuff like that.

I really regret selling them as a child 😭

I have memories of being absolutely determined that I would be The One who could draw a straight diagonal line on an Etch A Sketch.

I had a dolly surprise doll for Christmas one year. I loved her you lifted one arm and hair grew out of her ponytail and you then levered her other arm up and down to wind it back in again. I also loved polly pockets and I’m so glad to see the proper tiny sized ones have returned. I’m going to get one for my son for Christmas he’s obsessed with dolls houses!

I often think about how complicated toys are nowadays. I love that my children still play with Lego like I did growing up but it I don’t think the sets I had would impress them very much!
Strangely, as they’ve got a bit older they’ve stopped wanting the very detailed sets that are designed to make one single vehicle or building and prefer the regular blocks again so they can use their own imaginations.

To me its the Fisher Price telephone and the Fisher Price record player. I'm certain that I have memories of playing with these aged about 3.

Lego makes me feel nostalgic. I had many happy hours in my room playing with Lego friends.. I still have my Lego and I'll give it to my girls in time.. cannot wait!

Slinkies. I thought they were the most magical things ever. The joy when my kids got old enough to enjoy them too was immense. We all spend ages watching them slink down the stairs!

Showing my age here but fuzzy felt; a simple Velcro board and little felt shapes I could play for hours! My favourite was the circus one with elephants and a tiny circus master. So simple but great for imaginative play. In fact I saw some for sale on eBay and I’m tempted!

Dplo, quints dolls, cricket, little tikes house, old style short brio trains

Barbie. I made her an entire apartment complex in my wardrobe, complete with flock wallpapered walls and brown nylon carpet (thanks Dad!). My sister and I used to play with her and "Derek" (the weirdly named rockstar version of Ken) in there for hours. Incidentally, I thought my Barbie had been thrown away, only to spot it in a photo of my niece's bedroom last month. My sister apparently 'rescued' her from my parent's loft a few years back and gave her to her daughter, who absolutely loves her - even though she now smells of mildew .

Sylvanian families does it for me. My mum kept mine and my dc and niece and nephew have all played with them. They now live in two dolls houses at my mum house and at mine. My dd also has some of the newer additions. Can’t believe mine are about 30 years old they’ve lasted really well and still hold their appeal.

I absolutely loved Sylvanian Families when I was little - I remember getting the Bakery for Christmas one year & I was SO excited! It was all I played with for months after! I just loved all the little plastic cakes, buns & bread loaves - seeing these tiny little detailed models was fascinating! I wish I had kept it for my LO to play with :)

Tiny tears and baby alive. And books. So many books Enid Blyton, Chalet school, the Jill pony books. Secret Garden, white boots and the Gemma books by Noel Streatfeild

Cabbage Patch Dolls and Duplo Train set make me feel nostalgic. I clearly remember going to the big Toys R Us near us and picking out my cabbage patch doll, I loved her and still have her now, however she is a little worse for wear after all those years playing. I'm sad I won't get to take my daughter to Toys R Us to do the same but will use a different toy store when she's old enough.

I loved my duplo train where you had to construct the engine and then add the carriages. I would spend hours pushing it along the black tracks. I also remember a yellow crane with a red grabber on the end I used to use to load the train before the little blue man drove it away.

Pogz, tamagotchi and playdoh for sure. My son loves Brio now so maybe Brio will be his?

Didn't really have much toys growing up tbh but I do remember having played with my little brothers' He-man figure toy. If there is mention of the cartoon on tv just brings me back the memory. How I wish I had toys of my own but it was the norm in my house that the girl doesn't get any toys but my brother get all the latest toys.

Fisher Price record player and stickle bricks when younger.
Sindy as a pre-teen - I would save up my pocket money to buy outfits for her, and spend many many hours making her a house, car, shop out of cardboard and junk.

Lego technic and Popple/Pobble (can’t remember which) as a teen.

Oh here the toys of my childhood: my Barbie doll and her bathroom with which I flooded my carpet ... Her ferrari and the moped I used the helmet to pretend that my Barbies were pregnant. There is also the classic wooden brio train I played with my brother, and that my children always love.
There is also a book, one of my first, which I remember when I drew on it and why ...

I'm with Urbanbeetler on Matchbox cars! We had quite a collection and the jewel in the crown was the fire engine. We spent many happy hours playing with them and inventing stories around them.

Rainbow Brite! I had the doll, toys, bedding, wallpaper!!!

Also My Little Pony & Care Bears - which my daughter has now too! Brings back lovely memories.

Nintendo DS, Tamagotchi, Dance Mat's, Scooters, Silly Bands, Wii, Furby's, Doodle Bear, Pokemon Cards, Pixel Chicks, Care Bears and Polly Pocket all make me very, very nostalgic 

On Saturday mornings, my parents used to take me to a shopping centre and leave me in WH Smith whilst they did the food shop. I always used to play with the Weebles which were always set up in a display - usually the Weeble playground but sometimes other things, possibly a school. I desperately wanted my own Weebles, but my parents wouldn't buy them as they said I was too old. Happy memories though!
Also feel nostalgic about my Enid Blyton books, which I used to read over and over again.

There are so many!!

Keepers I loved the smell of them and they felt so special with their tiny key

Saddle club books (I know not a toy but I loved a book!)

My glow worm with the light up red tummy

My little pony specifically rainbow pony!

My he man sword..... I have the power of grey skull!

My husband was obsessed by brio and he is so excited we had a baby this year to pass it all on to.