Do we love our Toys or WHAT?  Just look at the movie franchise about "Toys."  The Toy Story films have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide, becoming the 20th-highest-grossing franchise worldwide and the fourth-highest-grossing animated franchise.

Now the word on the street (news & Internet) is that problems with the supply chain will affect our abilities to get the toys our kids want for Christmas this year. I have a couple of grandkids who won't want to hear that and you probably do too, so we need to be shopping yesterday!

WHAT TOYS DO KIDS WANT?

What's hot? What 's on the list of all the good and naughty boys and girls?  Good Housekeeping online has some thoughts:

"So, what trends are we seeing in this year's crop of the best new toys and games? Anything that helps enhance at-home learning, be it STEM toys, art kits or even fidget toysTikTok is at the top of everyone's mind, so lots of toys this year are meant to help kids create their video experience. With stress at an all-time high, there's also a spate of sensory toys out there, offering experiences like water play, music and new compounds to squish and stretch. And, as families spend more and more time at home together, family game night is even more important, so clear the table and get your game face on."

NOT ALL TOYS HAVE THE SAME APPEAL

OK, let's be honest, stem stuff and stress stuff sounds well-intended but stuff like that seems more properly headed to the naughty kid's stockings!   Cyndi Lauper told us back in 1983 that "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and I can assure you that boys do too, which brings to another Top Toy list reported by FOX News:

Check out these top 2021 recommendations on "Geoffrey’s Hot Toy List" and how much they currently cost at Macy’s:

Will any of these Toys have the kind of staying power required to make it to the Toy Hall of Fame? The Hall is located in the Strong National Museum of Play tasked with the mission to collect, preserve, and interpret the history of play.

I bring all this up as 1.) a reminder to get shopping NOW and 2.) to bring attention to the new class of Toys being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY has announced its 2021 inductees, and among them are American Girl Dolls, the board game Risk, and the worldwide, unbranded hit "Sand."

American Girl Dolls were created in 1986 and have been a favorite of kids since, and yes we have one at our house.  A sandbox was a part of creative Kate's early years and mine too. I was going to say sand is older than dirt but sand really IS dirt!!  We just picked up the board game Risk, inspired by a French board game, it has been around since 1959.

I have always seen Risk in stores and was interested to find out more about it but never did. Then last weekend Sara and Kate came home from a shopping trip and Kate (the Gator) was carrying the Risk game.  It was lots of fun (quite long) and I totally got destroyed by Kate who eventually beat her mom for the first family WIN.  Something of which she will ALWAYS remind us!

We attended Kate's 7th grade(I know, ALREADY!!) 7th-grade Paren-Teacher conference and the teacher had nearly a dozen Risk games in his classroom. Turns out he used to run a Risk league and he had all kinds of good things to say about Kate the game and what it teaches kids about strategy, planning ahead, regrouping, etc.

Looks like Kate picked a winner and now a Hall of Famer!  With Christmas coming, maybe you should too!\

SEE: 30 Toys That Defined the '70s

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