Toy Story Playland - A Look Inside The American Toy Box

Our European readers may not be familiar with some of the American classic toys that can be found throughout the all-new Toy Story Playland, opening August 17, 2010 at the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris. Here is brief introduction.

Lincoln Logs are little notched, interlocking wooden logs to build all kinds of toy structures. They come with little doors and windows to complete a miniature log cabin.

Lincoln Logs sprang from the imagination of John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It originated in 1916 and has been around for multiple generations.

Tinkertoy Construction Sets are the invention of Charles Pajeau (1914). Inspired by watching children play with pencils, sticks and empty spools of thread, Pajeau developed several basic wooden parts which children could assemble in a variety of three dimensional abstract ways.

The cornerstone of the set is a wooden spool with holes drilled every 45 degrees around the perimeter and one through the center. Unlike the center, the perimeter holes do not go all the way through.

Barrel of Monkeys is a toy game first created by Lakeside Toys in 1965.

To play, dump the monkeys on a flat surface and pick one up by the arm. Use the other arm to hook the other monkeys. You're a winner if you can get all 12 pieces hooked.