Hey, remember these? Golden Stamp Books, from the 1950s–one of my all-time favorite toys.
These books were a three-way delight. Each page had a short article or story for you to read, a line drawing for you to color–and, best of all, these brightly-colored stamps, pictured above, that you could paste on to the appropriate page. The one you see here, In Days of Old: The Story of the Middle Ages, was one of my favorites.
Golden Books published a whole series of these, and I had quite a few of them–stamp books on African animals, pirates, dinosaurs, and whatnot.
A kid could learn a lot from these books. They were “educational” without sacrificing any fun. Of course, you had to be able to sit quietly and contentedly for a little while, reading and coloring and pasting in stamps, and you had to be able to use your imagination: but I suppose that’s what made these so out-and-out wonderful. As you can see, I’ve never forgotten them, although it’s been going on 60 years since I’ve seen one.
I think there’s a lot to be said for being able to sit quietly and use your imagination. And it would be a better world if more people know how to do it.
I do remember such a thing, although I don’t know that it was the same brand. I was never particularly artistic, but I loved some of the activity books we had when I was a kid. Coloring books, connect the dots, the pictures that had embedded water color, so you could “color” a picture by brushing water over it. IMO, all superior to the sterile computer based games of today.
Oh, wow! “Painting” a picture just by brushing water over it–I remember that. It blew my socks off! I mean, was that magic or what?
Would you believe there’s still a version of that available? I got them for our granddaughter and she loves them! Instead of paper and a paint brush with a glass of water to spill all over the place, they’ve come up with a wonderful product. It’s a durable glossy thick cardboard themed flip book with outlines drawn in black. They supply a plastic two-piece that screws together. You fill it with water, and instead of a pen point, it has a brush that soaks up the water in the two-piece pen. When you ‘paint’ the picture, all sorts of other little hidden gems appear along with the main characters. They’re reusable countless times. Just let them dry and they’re ready to go. She’s had several of these for over a year now (she’s nearly 4), and she still absolutely loves them!
(If anyone’s interested in them, they’re available on Amazon and they’re a ‘Mellissa and Doug’ product. What a find! 🙂
Now that sounds really cool.
It is! And she’s never gotten bored with them – even though she knows what she’ll be uncovering. – and the bonus – they’re not electronic! 🙂
“they’re not electronic!”
Refreshing, to say the least.
That’s a great idea.
What stands out the most is that these activities were engaging in a way that computer games could never be. Much of what happens in our world today is tactile only to the extent that you interact with a computer. There’s a big difference between clicking on a link to a picture and and interacting with paper and a sticker or drawing, coloring, etc.
Just last night I was watching some interviews with Mike Rowe, the fellow that had the “Dirty Jobs” TV show. One thing that came up was the near total lack of communications skills in the Millennial generation. I think it’s directly related to smart-device use, texting, etc. None of these things are true communications.
I’ve noticed that the more gizmos we have for communicating with each other, the less we have to say.
Sorry Lee, I didn’t get that. Had a text come in, don’t ya know. Gotta get back to FarmVille on my Facebook account. TTYL. DTAWN (don’t take any wooden nickels). 🙂 🙂
The lines above are what is known as satire and indeed far too close to reality in our day. Distraction is a major problem and it is hurting our society.
Mike Rowe now has a show on TBN on the weekends called “Somebody Has To Do It.” It is very interesting. Rowe supports programs that help young people get involved in internships where they can actually learn a trade instead of spending years memorizing useless information required by college standards.
One auto mechanic is worth how many Gender Studies majors?
Infinite?