Sophomore Jordynn Bloss enjoys spending time with her family and friends, but when she was younger she had a collection of Barbie dolls like most young girls. Now, her Barbies sit in a bin in the basement collecting dust. Barbie and Ken aren’t the only thing in the toy box.

It is likely that these dolls will not be touched by the next generation because of what some call the toy evolution, where technology is used as a toy.

“My favorite toys when I was little were Barbies; I could act things out and dress them up the way I wanted,” Bloss said. “Plus the girls in my neighborhood played with them. We would all get together and play with our Barbies all day.”

Barbies were inducted to the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998, which is an organization that awards toys that have inspired creativity. Many franchises used the popularity of a toy to create other items that related to the toy, such as books, movies, and backpacks.

“When I was little there were Barbie toys and movies and books and shirts and a bunch of other things that made them really popular,” Bloss said. “Barbies were the toy that every girl wanted to play with.”

Legos took over the toy industry in the ‘90s and were inducted into the into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998. Legos had a famous advertisement that said “play more.”

“Legos were my favorite toy when I was younger. I was really into Star Wars and would buy the Lego sets,” junior Kyle Laskowski said. “I enjoyed playing with them because you could buy different sets to build Lego models.”

As kids mature, so do their toys. Hanging out becomes a common hobby, as do video games, which replace the classic toys now left in the long-forgotten toy box.
“Instead of playing with toys, I play Warhammer and 40K,” Laskowski said. “Normally I will play just about any video game.”

A lot has changed over 10-15 years. Technology has evolved, creating apps to help children learn.

“Everything is so different now from when we were kids,” Bloss said. “Little kids play with phones and computers and iPods and iPads, what we are playing with as teenagers. Kids don’t play with toys anymore, they play with technology, which is really scary and weird compared to how we grew up. It makes me think that kids are missing out on some fun things that we used to do and I’m sure our parents think the same about how we grew up.”

Technology as a toy will continue to advance well into the future, creating new and more exciting toys and opportunities. Kids will play with Legos and Barbies but technology serves as another option for a childhood toy.