Put down your books for a minute and think back to your childhood. Hands up who was told it was far better for your education if you sat and read a book than cultivated mud pies in the back garden or made a fort out of sticks for your plastic soldiers.
In the past play was seen as a trivial activity, but now scientists are beginning to find that play is just as crucial to healthy development as eating the right sort of food.
"If a child is deprived of play opportunities then they suffer cognitive, social and intellectual deficits," says Jeffrey Goldstein, a psychologist at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.
In fact, not playing with your favourite racing car can have severe consequences. Stuart Brown, a medical doctor and president of the Institute for Play in Carmel Valley, California, has found a strong link between lack of play and criminal activity in later life. Through interviewing some of the most violent criminals he has found that the common thread in their histories seemed to be a lack of play. Parents, think on.
So, while basking in the glow of nostalgia about childhood days, we want to know what toys and games you remember from that time. Was it a battered wooden car? A teddy bear? Or perhaps a doll with a wobbly eye who cried when tipped backwards?
And, if you could invent your ideal game or toy, what would it be?
