Books about Playthings from Amazon.com

Ages 5 - 12. This book is filled with fun and effective activities to help children calm down and control impulses, focus, concentrate and organize their thoughts, identify and verbalize feelings, channel and release excess energy appropriately, and build self-esteem and confidence. Most of the activities take no more than 10 minutes and can be played just about anywhere-
while a child is waiting on line, riding in a car, or even getting ready for bed..
Price: $17.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

With over 800 full color photographs and almost 200 catalog pages and vintage ads, Nippon Dolls & Playthings will become THE guide for your newest hobby. Valuable historical information is provided, as well as answers to frequently asked questions, and backstamps information. Handy doll and plaything inventory sheets are an added bonus, and accurate pricing information assures collecors that they have correct values. In addition, facts on deciphering Nippon bisque head doll marks are included. The hundreds of photos showcase not only all-bisque dolls, but composition dolls, children's porcelain items, bisque head dolls, and celluloid dolls and toys. 2001 values. AUTHORBIO: Joan Van Patten has written hundreds of trade paper and magazine articles and is a contributor to Schroeder's Antiques Price Guide. She has been on the board of the International Nippon Collectors Club since its inception.As co-founder of the INCC, she also served as its first president and was a director of the club for many years. Joan edited and published the Nippon Notebook and the INCC Newsletter for five years. REVIEW: This book is the fourth in a five-volume set by noted Indian relics authority Lar Hothem. The hundreds of arrowheads and artifacts featured will be invaluable to collectors, and the book has no repeats from his other volumes..
Price: $47.55 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) was a German educator who introduced the concept of kindergarten This book is a collection of fifteen essays, originally published in German in 1861, on the value of different stages of a child's play.

Froebel found an educational value in every phase of the child's play, and in every object that engages its attention. Froebel finds all that the child does significant and of educational importance. In fact, he is the great pioneer and founder of child study as well as of the pedagogic theory of intellectual values..
Price: $30.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In early America, most children had only a few toys and parents received advice from family and friends on the best ways to make and use toys. By the early 1900s the Industrial Revolution was producing a new world of toys and giving more parents the wealth to buy them. Mass media also sang the praises of these new factory-made, store-bought toys, but that began to change as early as the mid-1900s when the mass media was used to inform parents of the many dangers of children's toys. Many encourage violence, sexism, racism, and some are actually unsafe and unhealthy.

The development of children's toys from early America to the present time and the shifting opinions of them expressed by parents and the mass media throughout this time are the main subjects of this book. The first section discusses the many problems with toys, while the second puts these problems in historical perspective. How have these problems changed, and are still changing today? Might today's toys be about to enter a time when they will be better than ever? The third section argues that many media toy watchers are biased toward the negative, giving toys more of a black eye than they deserve, and considers the challenges that face today's parents as they try to choose the best toys for their children..
Price: $39.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Raised by an occult worshipping, incestuous mother, a bastard son becomes a man only to carry on in his own sadistic torture undeniably honoring the mother he hates. In 1978, one man boiled over with sickness, working for the Burlington Northern Railroad, ravishing the farm girls of Western Illinois, while another man must sacrifice his beloved belief in family or sacrifice one of his own, thirteen year old, Jennie Grace. The Bastard's Plaything shows you the wicked circle of abuse, progressing from generation to generation, if left unchecked it can become deadly. The circle could have easily been broken, saving innocent lives. One action, one event can change a person's entire life, not just yours. Thirteen year old Jennie Grace is a survivor, a fighter, and her mind has no choice but to become just as strong in this emotionally charged, suspenseful, action packed novel..
Price: $7.45 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $2.80 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In the 1950s and '60s, fine-quality Japanese-made toys flooded the market and sold popularly at five and dime stores worldwide A top-notch Japanese manufacturer of these toys was Toplay Ltd., recognized by their T.P.S. trademark, who also made toys for importers like LINEMAR, Cragstan, Frankonia, Rosko, and Mego. Over 265 motorized, wind-up, battery-operated, tin, plastic, animal, and platform base toys are featured, including authorized editions based on Popeye and Walt Disney*r characters. Information on manufacturers, the trading and import companies, dates of production, patent drawings, dimensions, descriptions, and original packaging are included. A price guide and identification of over 200 Japanese trademarks complete this useful guide..
Price: $37.96 [Notify me when price goes down.]