Before having two little boys, I had long since forgotten how important “collecting” is to children. Did you have a sticker collection too? It’s hard to find a child of the 80’s who didn’t!
However, collecting is much more than just assembling like-products. Children’s collections, whether they are stickers, stamps, cars or baseball cards, provide inspiration, knowledge and skills. They give children a sense of responsibility; a justified reason to spend their allowance wisely, and a sense of victory and accomplishment as hard-to-find items are crossed off their collector’s list.
(While I had multiple “Grape Stuff!” jelly on toast stickers, the “Looking Good!” gumball machine Scratch-n-Sniff sticker evaded me. I officially stopped collecting some 30 years ago, and it still bothers me.)
In addition to (obsessively) collecting Disney Cars 1:55 Die Casts by Mattel, the boys have recently started a new collection: Disney Planes 1:55 Die Casts by Mattel.
Yes, they’re based on the most popular characters from the movie, and are perfect for recreating all the great scenes. But if you’re looking at the figurines and thinking, “So What? They’re just planes…” – believe me when I tell you, they’re so much more….