Why ‘slow toys’ are a gift for future generations

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2014/oct/23/slow-toys-gift-for-future-generations

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Ever sighed at the thought that toys today just aren’t as good as when you were a child? Bemoaned plastic rubbish that breaks after half an hour, or fetched your beloved wooden Fisher Price record player from the attic to show the kids how toys should be made? So has Thierry Bourret – but he decided to do something about it.

Inspired by the growth of the slow food movement, Bourret - a French toy distributor - decided to start a campaign to change the mindset of toy consumers and the industry itself. The resulting Slow Toy awards are now in their third year, celebrating those toys whose timelessness appeals even to kids brought up on iPads and online gaming.

“A slow toy, like a train set, really does last a lifetime and it can be passed down the generations,” says Bourret. “My own favourite was a very traditional blue scooter, made from metal. I have wonderful memories of playing with it as a child and going on endless adventures. I still have it and it is in fantastic condition – I’ve now passed it on to my son.”

This year’s awards shortlist includes wooden toys – a doctor’s set, a fire engine and a wooden cash register, complete with paper receipt roll. There is also a multi-model Meccano set, a finger puppet theatre, an animal ride-on toy and an ingenious magnetic wooden-block building set.

For the first time the awards also celebrate “craft” toys – ones that may not meet the attic test, but still stimulate imaginative play. Calafant’s simple white cardboard models, that kids can colour in, paint, accessorise and then play in, get the nod here.

Yes, there is an element of nostalgia in all this, but toys are big business too – the market was worth £2.9bn in the UK alone last year, according to industry analysts the NPD Group. And some of the most successful – generation after generation – are precisely what Bourret would call “slow toys”, including the Etch-a-Sketch and the yo-yo.

John Lewis, which has sponsored this year’s awards and will be selling all the shortlisted seven online, has cottoned on to this. Its own bestsellers include the ubiquitous Frozen merchandise, but also a wooden “cake mixer” and high chair – plus huge amounts of Lego and Playmobil – perennial bestsellers and attic-worthy themselves.

“I want the Slow Toy Movement to be something parents really consider,” says Bourret. “There is no denying that technology is advancing by the day and new-tech toys are being launched weekly. I just do hope passionately that alongside these toys, slow toys carve a place in the market too.”

And, of course, that they make it on to the all-important letter to Santa.