This past holiday season, classic toys — the ones we loved and played with as kids — were de rigueur gifts for all the children on my shopping list.  I had just finished writing a book on the 50-year history of a classic toy — the Easy-Bake Oven — and decided to limit my shopping list to toys that had made it into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York. The good news was that many of the toys on my list were still being produced and available at traditional toy stores and online retailers. What surprised me was how many of the toys from my childhood had been redesigned – resulting in some of the “new and improved” pale facsimiles.  That’s right, I’m looking right at you, Lite-Brite, with your LED flat screen!  Here are my top 5: 1. BIG WHEEL Then: Growing up in rural Massachusetts in the ’70s and ’80s, the Big Wheel was a big deal. On my street this toy “low-rider” with a huge front wheel was …