Each Christmas that I visit toy shops, I come across new toys and inventions that no one of my generation would have ever imagined in the 80s.

Playing outdoors with my brothers and sisters is one memory that always makes me relax, and brings those nostalgic moments back in my mind.

While I was playing war games with my schoolmates, my grandparents’ generation did not have many toys to play as their childhood coincided with the second world war, thus that generation became adults much faster after all that took non-sense that took place in Europe.

Virtual games have replaced ‘real’ experiences where one had to physically run to hide, rather than get killed and restart the video game within a couple of seconds.

Although creativity is questionable, nowadays’ toys can still impress me because of their eccentric design and provocative appearance.

Another aspect of today’s toys is that they are affordable in general, being made in mass production in Asian countries before being imported.

The question to answer though is whether all those new toys have anything else to be remembered of, other than being affordable by the majority of the people.

A today’s blaster toy would cost a fortune 30 years ago while it would be unthinkable 50 years ago due to its high manufacturing cost.

Getting a hadmade kite today is just a question of visiting a high-street shop and paying a bit of money, while my granddad would spend hours or even days to make one for his kids.

Today’s toys are just about what the consumer thinks when looking at them: impressive, colourful, bulky, noisy, and sometimes incredibly ‘smart’, so they do not leave many opportunities for the kids to explore something new or use their imaginations.

Each generation have their unique outdoor toys to remember and the right question is not which one had better toys available but what their impact was.

There’s no point trying to compare generations’ toys but there is definitely some meaning looking into the toys each generation was brought up with.