"We're fortunate that this thing didn't end badly"
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A joyride ended safely for a 2-year-old South Carolina boy who was found driving down the street in the middle of the night in a battery-powered toy car.
Sumter County Sheriff's spokesman Ken Bell says the boy was wearing a diaper and gray jogging pants when he was found early Sunday by a woman who took him to a nearby house to call authorities.
Bell said deputies followed the tracks of the toy car back to the toddler's house. He said the boy's parents were surprised when deputies showed up at their door.
"We're fortunate that this thing didn't end badly," Bell said. "He could have been struck by a vehicle. He could have been picked up by a person. We're very fortunate a Good Samaritan took him to a home where there was another good person who called law enforcement."
Bell says deputies are working on the case with the Department of Social Services, but he said there's no sign of neglect and it doesn't appear charges will be filed.
National Museum of Play
The 2016 National Toy Hall of Fame finalists.
National Museum of Play
Two engineers created bubble wrap by accident in 1957 while attempting to make a new type of wallpaper. They soon discovered that the clear plastic sheets made great packing material for fragile items, and consumers also quickly saw the entertainment value in repeatedly popping the bubbles.
National Museum of Play
Care Bears began as a line of greeting cards for the American Greetings Corporation in the early 1980s but evolved from 1983 to 1988 into a brand featuring mini-dolls and plush teddy bears.
National Museum of Play
Fisher-Price first offered its wooden Little People in the 1959 Safety School Bus. Made of brightly painted wood, the small figures were designed to help small children imagine big adventures at the Little People school, airport, service station, amusement park, zoo and farm. During the 1990s, Fisher-Price added arms and legs to the figures.
National Museum of Play
A retired solicitor’s clerk developed Clue during World War II and originally introduced it in 1947 under the name “Cluedo.” The game invites players to deduce a solution to the murder of Mr. Boddy, which occurs under different circumstances in each game. Clue remains one of the best-selling branded board games of all time.
National Museum of Play
Coloring books appeared in America as an outgrowth of European educational reforms, but McLoughlin Brothers, a New York printing company, is credited as the coloring book’s inventor.
National Museum of Play
Developed in the 1970s, Dungeons & Dragons plunged participants into imaginary worlds of magic and monsters. It required players to role-play without a board or other defined game space, asking them to rely on their imaginations. Dungeons & Dragons heavily influenced the computer video game industry, inspiring the earliest text-based role-playing games to the more modern massively multiplayer online role-playing games.
National Museum of Play
From its initial production in the 1960s as a foam ball safe enough to throw indoors, Nerf toys quickly multiplied into balls for every possible sport.
National Museum of Play
With roots tracing back to the 18th-century French parlor table game bagatelle, modern mechanical-action pinball machines are fast-paced games that challenge players to use flippers to aim, control, and fire steel balls across a playing field filled with a maze of ramps and obstacles.
National Museum of Play
Introduced in 1965, Louis Marx & Company’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots features two fighting robots in a boxing ring. Players manipulate levers that control the robots’ arms, punching the opponent to knock its block off and win the round.
National Museum of Play
Ancient cave drawings in Europe, carved figures from Crete, and ceramic vases from Greece depict humans on swings. Once intended for wealthy Europeans in the 18th century, the swing became a playground staple for children by the early 1900s.
National Museum of Play
Hasbro, Inc. introduced Transformers, a toy line of action figures that change their shapes, in the mid-1980s. They marketed Transformers with an elaborate back story supported by a Marvel comic book series, a cartoon television series, animated movies, electronic games, consumer goods and even its own cereal.
National Museum of Play
Created in 1971, Uno (Spanish and Italian for “one”) belongs to the shedding family of card games in which players seek to dispose of the cards in their hands.
