Daddy's Train.

For me, this bright-colored vintage Fisher-Price train brings back fond memories of my childhood. My siblings and I had a train like this growing up. We spent countless hours upon hours playing with Little People--setting up worlds and enacting scenarios. In the house, outside in the sandbox, in leaf piles, those Little People were very special companions to us and entertained us for hours as we developed and explored our imaginative powers. This train is actually the same train that my husband and his eight siblings played with. It is definitely my son's toy of choice when he goes to Grandma's house. As I watch him play with it, I often envision my husband as a little boy, rolling it along the floor, making train sounds, and filling the cars with people and animals. This is a connection to a piece of my husband's past that bridges the past to our kids in the present. The power of play to connect people and generations never ceases to amaze me. Maybe one day my kids' kids--my grandkids--will also play with this little train. I would love to obtain a full collection of the vintage Little People sets--the house, school, zoo train, and school bus--to share with my grandchildren some day. While I love the new Little People, too, and have several sets for our children, there is just nothing like the classics. So, which toys bring back fond childhood memories for you? Maybe it's the Easy-Bake oven? Or the banana-set bicycle? Or the sit-n-spin? Or the Lincoln Logs? Or Tinker Toys? Whatever your special memories, I urge you to try to share some of the joys of these classic toys with your own kids. This past Christmas, we bought our kids Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs. I vividly recall evenings spent upstairs in my Grandpa and Grandma's attic building houses with the Lincoln Logs. And, sure enough, I still love building with Lincoln Logs and even moreso now that I can share this simple joy with my own children.