Each TOY or GAME has a STORY to share with kids.

Today, it’s the FRISBEE’s turn to tell its story (with a little help from Grandma Sharon)…

WHAT is the FRISBEE:  The Frisbee is concave plastic disk designed for gripping in one hand and sending it soaring through the air.

WHO invented the Frisbee:  The “model” for the Frisbee concept was a metal pie plate.  (Grandma Sharon remembers sending her Nana’s old records soaring through the air, but the records always busted into pieces if they hit a tree, which was often!)

But the pie plates were loud and wobbly and got beat up pretty badly.

1948, two Los Angeles bottled gas business partners, Walter Frederick Morrison Warren Franscioni, invented a plastic model of the soaring metal pie plate.   They called it the Flyin’ Saucer.  When the partnership split and the men parted ways, Morrison continued manufacturing the saucer design, but called it the Pluto Platter.

In 1955,  Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud” Melin,  the owners of a new toy company called WHAM-O, thought the Pluto Platter was an awesome design and bought the rights from Morrison.

WHEN was the name Frisbee invented:  The name FRISBEE came into being from the Frisbie Baking Company in Bridgeport, CN.  As the story goes,  college students at Yale yelled the word FRISBIE to warn passers-by that a Frisbie Baking Company metal pie plate was coming their way.

Richard Knerr and Spud Melin liked the name Frisbie better than Pluto Platter… and with the misspelled word FRISBEE when it was trademarked, a toy icon was born.

WHERE was the Frisbee invented:  Let’s just say at the Frisbie Baking Company in Bridgeport, CN!

WHY was the Frisbee invented:  Frisbie-ing with pie plates was FUN.  Frisbee-ing with Frisbees is still FUN.

HOW do you play with the Frisbee:  1) Grip it with the thumb on top and the index finger under the rim; 2) Throw in a relaxed manner.

If tossed correctly, the Frisbee remains aloft long after gravity would normally have pulled it back to the ground.  The path of the Frisbee is so extraordinary that people once thought it was attached to an invisible wire.

The Frisbee does take some practice to master, as you will see in this video of Grandma Sharon’s attempt at Frisbee-ing:

Yep.  I need a lot more practice!

Grab a Frisbee and head outside with your kids and grandkids.  Tell them about the Frisbie Baking Company and the metal pie plates.  Ouch.  Kids love hearing stories about things… especially stories as interesting as the Frisbee’s!

Join me here each day in July for TOY STORIES on 365 Days of Literacy for Kids! A little fun, a little learning and a little “ta-dah!