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Which toy did you love as a kid? #TEDTalks

What was your favorite toy when you were a kid? Your answer might reveal more about you than you expect, says toy historian Chris Byrne. From Matchbox cars and Barbie to Rubik’s Cube and Squishmallows, he explores how playthings reflect cultural values and influence who you become as an adult.

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What was your favorite toy when you were a kid? Your answer might reveal more about you than you expect, says toy historian Chris Byrne. From Matchbox cars and Barbie to Rubik’s Cube and Squishmallows, he explores how playthings reflect cultural values and influence who you become as an adult.

32 Comments

  1. @silversprings62

    December 25, 2025 at 2:03 pm

    Spirograph. Etch a sketch. Twirl-o-paint. Easy bake oven. Operation. Monopoly. Life. I could go on and on!!!!

  2. @RoelCandaele

    December 25, 2025 at 2:12 pm

    😘💓🫶👍🌲🧑‍🎄🎁

  3. @bernardengelsen2235

    December 25, 2025 at 2:12 pm

    Shoulder mounted bazooka-blaster

  4. @darshan303

    December 25, 2025 at 2:14 pm

    We are brainwashed to not be happy and joyful when we grow up…Time to be children again…

  5. @billkingston4402

    December 25, 2025 at 2:22 pm

    Matchbox cars, should of kept the boxes, then moved on to AIRFIX 1 in 12 P 51 Mustang, get some, I am 57

  6. @XanderOShields

    December 25, 2025 at 2:46 pm

    Sega Genesis?

  7. @erents1

    December 25, 2025 at 2:50 pm

    Maria Montessori was obviously talking about her first bike. At 68 and a half years old, I mountain bike almost everyday through my backyard yard wilderness to the ocean. I never lost site, I am strong and the same weight as when I was 18, same waist size 30, no medication, just a joy for life!

    • @Kalibron850

      December 25, 2025 at 5:41 pm

      So you’re rich. We get it.😂

  8. @noname-pb9vj

    December 25, 2025 at 2:57 pm

    The toys we had are what we could afford.

  9. @thelordcomanderwhocriedwolf

    December 25, 2025 at 2:58 pm

    A teddybear, a clicker, my scooter and my very first bike❤️‍🩹

  10. @abauerle804

    December 25, 2025 at 4:00 pm

    Blankets to make a tent mansion

  11. @laurafortier9295

    December 25, 2025 at 4:16 pm

    Dude. I dont know what he’s talking about. That kid that he said we lost, I still have that. Id go out right now and get glitter eyeshadow, a twirly fairy toy and a barbie and be totally happy. Maybe some candy too. Lol!!! I love the adult stuff too but I totally kept that play side

  12. @gaudiummundi8412

    December 25, 2025 at 4:36 pm

    Man namedropped Montessori without deep investigation of her personality.

    • @m4nap4rt20

      December 25, 2025 at 4:51 pm

      Could you elaborate? I don’t have the Google

    • @kalistrand5420

      December 26, 2025 at 11:32 pm

      She created the schools to teach children dubiously identified as intellectually impaired to be good workers- so-called menial labor- so they wouldn’t be a burden on society. I think that she may have also been a eugenicist (believed in intellectual, racial and class hierarchies) but I’m not positive; look her up! 👍🏾

  13. @DeborahManlove

    December 25, 2025 at 4:44 pm

    Ultra Man at age 4, a little girl in 1972!

    • @victor-w6d2j

      December 25, 2025 at 5:23 pm

      how old were you when your favorite toy was a little girl in 1972?!?!?!?!

  14. @mihaeladumitrescu984

    December 25, 2025 at 5:24 pm

    My family stirred me away from the things that I liked. They always used to destroy my drawings, my lego buildings and whatever I invented myself, and shove math and languages under my nose. And while I was currious of nature and biology, I never wanted to be a doctor as much as they wanted me to be one. I love art, and I still want to create and perform, just that now instead of having it as a job, it’s considered a hobby and not enough people appricieate what I do. Not only that, but I’ve wasted my resourses on things that have no meaning to me just to please my family and simply to survive, but not any more, I have half a life left I want to live life as I was meant from the beginning. I want to do art full time.

    • @bradtm2000

      December 25, 2025 at 6:18 pm

      If there’s anything Sister Act 2 taught me is that if you wake up and the first thing you think about is singing, you are a singer. From everything you posted above, you are an artist. Don’t let others define you.

  15. @nokoolaid

    December 25, 2025 at 5:30 pm

    Work in the US society kills that in people. It’s almost as if it’s by design. It can start earlier, though, in school, which has been geared to allegedly prepare us for the yoke.

  16. @dinosimisides

    December 25, 2025 at 5:31 pm

    Gameboy color yellow one

  17. @goodmorning-nip

    December 25, 2025 at 5:41 pm

    Ants in pants game,…I kept the ants but lost the pants. The ants stayed around for some years and I always hopped them daily.

  18. @Lmnop913

    December 25, 2025 at 6:34 pm

    Zoob. Way better than Lego and kinnex

  19. @justuschickens-e8f

    December 26, 2025 at 12:07 am

    A Lincoln Log ranch and barn with Breyer horses.

  20. @jugglaassassin

    December 26, 2025 at 3:57 am

    Ninja Turtles. I’m 40 and they’re very much apart of my life

  21. @JenniferJaws5283

    December 26, 2025 at 4:01 am

    I loved my patches pinky stuffed alligator because my dad won it for me at the fair. It was bigger than me and I remember wrestling around on it . I didn’t really have toys that interested me, but books about sharks,whales and animals, exploring, crafts, music, baking – kept my young child’s interest. I loved going to my grandpa’s house and reading national geographic! I never got into Barbies even though I love clothes and shoes and excessories… But I have always had a calling inside me to see the world, the animal kingdom and different cultures.

  22. @mchammer5026

    December 26, 2025 at 6:22 am

    wow ted talks have really taken a tumble in recent years

  23. @Nurod-s6m

    December 26, 2025 at 6:24 am

    ❤❤❤

  24. @AllanJeffrey15

    December 26, 2025 at 10:04 am

    What kind of “play” does he have in mind.

  25. @AllanJeffrey15

    December 26, 2025 at 10:05 am

    I mean, adventure is definitely necessary but playing, I think not so much. Because, not playing all the time, I think is a sign of maturity

  26. @TheColourRedd

    December 26, 2025 at 10:26 am

    Barbie and winx ☺️

  27. @User35723

    December 27, 2025 at 12:16 pm

    rectangles/squares, legos

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