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

550 replies

EllieMumsnet · 15/10/2018 10:03

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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

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Mumsnet users share the childhood toys that make them feel nostalgic with BRIO
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57
DarkDarkNight · 17/10/2018 13:12

Keypers, I loved mine so much. Also Polly Pocket, Carebears and the original My Little Pony. Definitely an 80s child.

Loved the Big Yellow Teapot and the School in a boot, I didn’t have them at home but at school.

Hungry Hippos because I can remember playing it with all my brothers.

Eatmycheese · 17/10/2018 13:41

Guess Who
Victoria Plum
Get in shape girl
Mr Freeze
Spirograph
My Raleigh candy bicycle 🚲

BeeMyBaby · 17/10/2018 14:27

I still have all my poly pockets which I loved playing with so much, I tried to get my DDs to play with them but they weren't as enthusiastic as me with them. They do however like lego which also makes me feel nostalgic although I'm not so keen on the extreme girl/boy sets they have now.

MummyBtothree · 17/10/2018 14:40

Sindy dolls and cabbage patch kids!

SparkwoodAnd21 · 17/10/2018 15:58

So many lovely memories on here. Some I’d totally forgotten about, like Keypers! That was awesome. Also Big Yellow Teapot. Like others, I always wanted a Mr Frosty and never got one. Then, when I was 21, a friend gave me Mr Frosty and I gave him Play-Doh hair salon! Best Christmas ever. Now I have a child of my own, I get to play with everything again.

babycakes1010 · 17/10/2018 16:30

For me has to be Sylvanian families. Loved them so much and now it's all been handed down to my dd. Everytime I see her playing with them it takes me back to her age and I really hope she can pass them onto her own children one day

bogglebonce · 17/10/2018 17:30

Lego bricks, just the plain ones, 2, 4, 6, or 8’s and long thin ones, nothing fancy like there is now, I loved playing and building things using my imagination, I was very good at building houses.

Pixiepops · 17/10/2018 18:09

Fisher Price people bring back fond memories of playing with my brother. One was always little Pixie and the other always little Pixie's brother!

Cakeandmarshmallows · 17/10/2018 18:30

My little ponies!! I had various colours, my brother had a yellow one!!
Fisher Price pull along telephone with old style dial!! Now they look like mobile phones!!
Marble runs! Build your own marble run and duplo!!! My brothers duplo set was very well loved!!

Sammyislost · 17/10/2018 19:01

Polly Pocket!! I remember how much I loved mine, and wish I kept my collection!! I also had a lot of My little ponies too.

finova · 17/10/2018 19:05

My Little Pony and Care Bears.
We loved Lincoln Logs from the US wish they were more readily available here.

HopeGarden · 17/10/2018 19:19

I used to love playing with dolls. Mostly the She-Ra, He-Man and Thundercats ones.

And my marble run. DCs got one of those as soon as they were old enough to be trusted not to eat marbles.

I never had any Brio train sets as a child though, much to my disappointment. Our nearest toy shop always had a big set laid out and I desperately wanted one.
But we never got one. Because my parents had already got a Hornby set and didn’t think we needed another set.
The Hornby sets are great for adults, but they’re not nearly as much fun as Brio train sets for small children.

WowOoo · 17/10/2018 19:24

Weebles. Only those of a certain age will remember them. Round wobbly little characters.
I did love my horse too...just a plastic one.

Blazedout · 17/10/2018 19:26

Wooden blocks. My daughter plays with a set that I had as a baby. They have been played with by my three older children and now they are hers. Once she has finished with them they will go into the attic and kept for future grandchildren. They are timeless, gender less and have no age limit.

babster · 17/10/2018 19:34

I used to yearn for Girls World - my local toy shop had one with brown hair, which was a revelation when all other dolls in the 70s seemed to be blonde. I didn't get one though (it probably would have been rubbish anyway, because what's the fun if you can't colour its hair pink with the felt tips?). I still have my Holly Hobby doll (gratifyingly with brown hair, and lovely freckles) and my Nintendo Game and Watch, which my kids view as a museum curio!

stillwaitingforhogwartsletter · 17/10/2018 19:40

Dreamphone and sylvanians!! Child of the 80’s! Begged for the dreamphone game forever and was so pleased when I got one! Sylvanians were played with for years with my brother, I have kept them for my children too.

Blizy · 17/10/2018 20:04

For me it must be my "Big yellow teapot" I played with it all the time!
I also loved my Keyper.

Someaddedsugar · 17/10/2018 20:15

The fisher price phone that is still for sale today, albeit now looking very retro! We’ve just bought one for DS for Christmas, only to find my mum still has mine from when I was little so now he has two!!

LivingDeadGirlUK · 17/10/2018 20:57

The BRIO trainsets remind me of going to the early learning centre as a child, all the toys were out to play and I wanted a train set so much. My mother insisted it was a boys toy and wouldn't let me get it :( Snap with skalextric, my earliest Christmas memory was opening a skalextric sized box to be greeted by a doll and potty set lol

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 17/10/2018 22:02

I had a red haired Sindy called Nancy - I remember looking in my Santa bag and seeing her in there in her gold jumpsuit and roller boots and thinking "Santa is definitely real, no way my parents would buy this!".

gemima27 · 17/10/2018 23:12

i was an 80s child so there were many great toys, but i always wanted a mr frosty ...but never got one :( i wanted to be the chef and make those amazing looking drinks. what could be better than ice with flavoured syrup???? i found out they are selling them again...i have dropped hints, but still hubby or my parents havent bought it me :(

TellMeItsNotTrue · 17/10/2018 23:18

Brio actually, my cousin's set got passed down to eldest sister who passed it to middle sister who passed it to me, and it carried on after I was finished with it as the quality is fantastic and it's pretty much indestructible

Also love that Polly pockets are coming back but they aren't quite right so they don't evoke the same feelings despite being one of my favourite toys

No1PalitoyTreehousedweller · 18/10/2018 00:59

Nostalgic toys eh? Well you can tell from my username I was and still am a huge fan of the Palitoy treehouse. The chunky plastic secret house that popped up out of hiding and homed a perfect little family who had slide and swing designer furniture and a dog. My little family enjoyed many adventures fuelled purely by imagination (and Enid Blytons faraway tree books!) ahh those were the days!

PirateMermaid · 18/10/2018 01:06

For me it was My Little Pony and I love seeing my daughter playing with my 80s collection of these, mingling them in with her more modern ponies!

My 2 year old son is a Brio fanatic and plays with his set daily, but actually they are mainly family hand me downs, he hasn’t had any new bits himself although Santa is sorting that out.

FlukeSkyeRunner · 18/10/2018 07:18

A sit-on plastic lion 🦁 Recently saw one in the Sudbury museum of childhood...