THE CHALLENGED | JUNE 6 PROMPT | TOYS FROM OUR PAST

The Toy in the Red Steel Box

The toy I remember best growing up

Photo by Aedrian Salazar on Unsplash

The Prompt — June 6: What was your favourite childhood toy? Did you share it with friends and other siblings, or was it ‘off limits’ to them? Did you or your parents save it as a keepsake? (Vera-Marie Landi)

My Response — In the late fifties, my parents gave me a red steel box. Inside the box were hundreds of pieces of steel in various shapes with holes, a small servo motor, and a collection of nuts, bolts, and washers.

The red steel box was an Erector Set. It was the ultimate construction toy of the time.

The toy replicated commercial construction, helping kids develop mechanical engineering skills with an emphasis on geometry. Sounds pretty boring, but they were very popular and exciting to work with.

As an adult looking back, I wonder why anyone would give a five-year-old kid a box full of different parts, a few printed ideas, and expect them to have the patience to build something?

Things were different 60 years ago. We could focus our attention better than kids today.

I built small things at first, such as little ladders. As long as I had a picture, I figured out how to build it. My parents would draw simple stick-figure items, and I would turn the picture into an Erector Set masterpiece.

Eventually, I got good enough and built small amusement parks, windmills, boats, and construction cranes.

As I grew into my teens, my interests shifted towards girls, music, model building, and photography. I still managed to pull out my Erector Set to build things.

I’m not sure kids these days have the patience and fine motor skills to do what I did in the sixties.

People have always questioned me about why I didn’t follow my young engineering skills and become a civil or mechanical engineer.

The simple answer is I was more interested in communications, broadcasting, and mass media.

My little red box of steel pieces eventually got absorbed into my dad’s workshop.

I wish I still had it today. They’ve become collector items.

Here’s a short video clip about Erector sets:

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Thanks to Vera Marie Landi and the Challenged publication for a fun and interesting writing prompt.

© 2026 All rights reserved, LJ Bentch

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