Friday, February 17, 2012

Lincoln Logs



I have always loved Lincoln Logs. I could play with hours. I don't love Legos or Tinkertoys, but give me a bucket of Lincoln Logs! Tevan loves to play with me while Kaebryn is napping. So we decided to take on a project of a little town. I love them and my kids love that I will play with them!

Here is a history of Lincoln Logs pulled from ideafinder.com


In the 1910s, American builders were busy on construction sites in the city and in the playroom. Introduced just after Tinkertoys and the Erector Set, Lincoln Logs were yet another construction toy to make it big during the decade. John Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, brought out the line of sturdy, interlocking logs in 1916. Wright claimed that the foundation of Tokyo’s earthquake-proof Imperial Hotel, which he saw while it was under construction, inspired the shape of his logs.
Lincoln Logs turned out to be a toymaker’s dream.

The original sets were an instant success, and after World War II, sales of Lincoln Logs got another boost from the baby boom. The sets were popular among postwar parents because they were more sophisticated than plain building blocks but still challenged children’s powers of concentration and eye-hand coordination. Ironically, Lincoln Logs—long a favorite of proponents of educational toys—were among the first toys to be promoted on a television show, 1953’s Pioneer Playhouse. The ads targeted affluent parents, who were most likely to own a television set and to buy educational toys. Sometimes a toy that has had a previous life returns to catch the eyes of children at just the right moment in history.

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