The children of the 1960s did not have computer or console games, or the latest app for their mobile phone, in fact computers at the time were the size of large rooms, and mobile telephones did not even exist. Electronic technology for the child existed only in television shows such as Lost in Space and Star Trek.

No robot with the latest in artificial intelligence technology, no, just a simple wind up toy for them, which funnily enough are still popular with very young children. A recent resurgence in everything retro (an interest in things from the past), from retro robots and the retro space hopper, to retro telephones has led to the formation of a whole industry to cater for it.

Toys available in the 1960s allowed for the children to be more physically active than they do these days. With comprised ofof the era such as Hoola Hoops, which consisted of a large ring of plastic about 5 or 6 times the circumference of a child's waist, the youngster would step into the ring and place the hoop on their waist, then would make the hoop spin around their waste with a hip twisting motion.

Another excellent play thing from the 1960s, which only just made it in the 60s as it was first created in 1968 in Italy, was the space hopper. This fun toy was an hollow ball of rubber with two handles, that a child sat on and was able to bounce around their garden. This device suffered a severe decline in interest by the 1980s, but since the late 1990s it has been able to make a major comeback thanks to being made popular and a must have at festivals, concerts and other outside events.

Of course the child of now, although these toys and play things are still readily available, tend to now prefer the micro chip world, and have the computer portray a virtual person physically exerting themselves. In the last few years, there has been a push by game console companies to add real life physical activities with that of the virtual one portrayed by the computer (the words computer and console being interchangeable in this context).

The Nintendo Wii is currently the most popular games machine out of all the current ones for this genre of video game. They have managed to successfully get both kids and grown ups interested, to put it mildly, with games that actually required real life physical exertion on their part. But, and there is a wee but, this all still occurs within the four walls of their home, and therefore they are not exposing themselves to the fresh air of the great outdoors.

Okay, I suppose, for those people who are deep inside an urban environment, but for any who could get out and experience the health benefits of a rural or at least semi rural setting, this is still not being achieved (unless they open a window).

The play master and its reels was the closest a child of the 1960s could get to the modern video technology found in mobile telephones and computers available to the 21st century child. This toy, if you can call it that, took the shape of a camera of the time, and it came with circular disks of plastic that had film clips placed in a circle going around the edge. These were placed in the view master, and by pressing a button or lever you could mechanically, not electronically, move the reel around to view each slide in turn, much like a slide show.

Therefore, the child of the 1960s, although starved of the super fast technological environment that a 21st century child has, still found plenty to amuse themselves with, and more than likely had a healthier lifestyle thanks to the way they engaged with the toys of that period in time.