At early ages, the distinction between hobbies and toys is sort of fuzzy. But I will start here
because I sense that those things we did with toys laid a foundation in our minds that guided our later choices for hobbies.
My favorite toys in the 6-10 year range were Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets. These were similar to modern Legos in that they started with a set of construction materials and an illustrated booklet showing things that could be built but any young mind could imagine things that were not in the in the book.
I think I got a small Erector Set as a Christmas present when I was about 7 or 8. It was supplemented a year or two later by inheriting the biggest set sold from Billy Murray who lived next door to my grandmother at 2116 Glenway Ave. in Covington. Billy was a couple of years older than me but we often played together when I visited Grandma. He retired from Erector Sets when he got a bicycle and a trumpet. His monster set had all the fancy accessories including electric motors, transmissions and probably 500 parts in a steel case that I carried with me when my parents visited their friends so that I would something to play with. It let you invent your own toys, remodel them as you saw fit and then dismantle them to recover all the parts and start over with something else. I’m not sure the set below is the one I had but it is close.