nice! and are you now an engineer? :-)
Thank you @JayElf! Your comment made me happy, so this morning I made some comments on other posts. This shows me how incredibly important these play experiences were to our growing up. I am going to look for you now!
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that was my mom’s favorite from her childhood- and as kids we were repeatedly given fun kaleidoscopes because of her memory. nice !
I am finding so many old memories in this thread. @KatiaCristian, I was very sick as a kid and my mom gave me a paper doll that had a magnet in her body. She drew paper dresses for the doll that matched my own dresses, and taped a paperclip on the dress so it stuck. I think this was my first experience with physics!
@RachelSpace :-) haha It is so fun to see you here! It was nice to learn this one thing about your teenage years and how it inspired you to become the influential educator-scientist you are today. (I’m on a Fulbright here at the Federal University of Paraná Brazil and we have a 4 day holiday, so I am just digging, digging into this course! :-) Rusty (from GLOBE Observer)
Cathrine, you made really good use of these dolls-and I can see from your narrative that they were part of a very influential pastime that brought you to where you are today!
Veronika, I can tell you are about the same age as my daughter, because she had the same passion and some of the same stickers! As a mom, I was a bit judgemental, thought that it was a silly (and expensive) hobby but from your description I can see that it had meaning for both of you- and was important, far beyond the pages of the stickers.
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Even better, a STEM teacher.
Playmobile figures! (Hopefully the image uploads…I just cut and paste a sample from the web). I remember creating backstories, adventures, relationships, challenges, and epic moments for all these characters when I was younger. Being able to change the story, challenge, and arc with each time I interacted with the figure was important and I can recognize now the creativity that would have gone into the stories and the evolving nature of those stories. Plus I wonder how influenced I was by my environment and how much of what I was learning, experiencing, and dreaming I channeled through these figures.
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As I read all the responses up to this point, I kept thinking ‘Oh yes - me too’! Reading, Lego, jigsaws, etc, all part of my childhood. But then I thought about the hours I spent drawing Spirograph pictures. Perhaps the start of my still growing fascination with geometry, symmetry, pattern, LOGO when I first met it 30+ years ago, fractals, especially Sierpinski-like ones, and now returning to the ideas of LOGO in turtlestitch. Now I would probably want to work out mathematically how Spirograph works - I never did then!
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My childhood object was a small metal swingset my dad put in our backyard. It had a yellow plastic slide, monkey bars, two ladders, a swing, and two rings to hang from. At the time it seemed gigantic, but it was probably no more than 5 feet high.
That swingset, in my mind, was a fighter jet, a tank, a spaceship, a pirate ship, a submarine, a race car… whatever I needed for the story I was building in my mind that swingset served as a set. I probably played on that swingset for 10,000 hours and staged countless dramas on it.
To this day I am a very imaginative person. I love to take something mundane and turn it into a story, complete with a cast of characters, a battle between good and evil, etc. I think those thousands of hours in the backyard were training my brain to take something literal and turn it into a story.
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Eu tinha um jogo de bingo, com cartelas de papelão e peças redondas de madeira. Não me lembro de jogar bingo com ele, mas ele era ótimo para fazer construções: eu adorava construir ruas, viadutos usando as peças de madeira como vigas, e ficar testando com meus carrinhos de ferro.
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Hi, when i was a child I used to like cooking which made me use the tomato soup can to prepare different types of food. I use to enjoy that a lot
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@rusty your son’s description reminded me of the Introvert Playground in Denmark ( schhh…Introvert Playground ), made by the awesome members of a secret club, who work with play as an art form 
Hi JayElf! Wow, that is truly fantastic! I never thought about playgrounds being extroverted places to play and what an amazing thing, this Introvert Playground. Thanks for sharing this with me. It looks really cool- I know it would have been a loved playspace for my kid…
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My special childhood object is magnetic “Etch A Sketch” and I still have it. I remember taking this everywhere with me and spending days making art while listening to music. It helped me relax and be with my thoughts when I needed to be alone.
I think it helped me learn to appreciate art and also it helped me work with both my hands working together at the same time. Now I can write with both my hands and also I can work on multiple things in parallel.
I still have it, although it’s bit dusty.
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Thanks for sharing this essay - very interesting and enlightening.
For me, my childhood objects were Legos. Not surprising for most, I guess, that have an interest in coding, STEM overall, architecture, etc. It was powerful not only to create but deconstruct, which allowed for constructive criticism of my work. What could have been built/designed better? Flaws? Areas of opportunity in size, length, color, and/or purpose? This object could be this or that - how do I see or define it, and why?
So, I find that Legos helped me be a critical thinker. Inquisitive yet intentional about discovery. Interestingly enough, my two young sons are how I were with Legos. Eerily similar approach. Kismet I suppose!
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I loved these growing up! I’m so glad they are still relevant to this day for many children!
Oh yeah - I recall being frustrated trying to draw curves on the Etch-a-sketch, so preferred drawing with pencil and paper - even when riding in the car! 
Say, did you ever “black-out” the screen to see the inner workings?
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My aunt was an architect and my fond childhood play memory is making doll furniture with her. I also loved to see her project models, almost magical the time we shared, she left me with a yearnings to design create toys.
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