Remember Colby or Psalty?
September 30, 2012 20 Comments
All right, all of you who grew up in church listening to Psalty the Psalm Book or Colby the Computer – you might enjoy this. For those of you who don’t know, Psalty and Colby were famous characters that a lot of churches showcased to kids, kindergarten -6th grade. Keep in mind, this took place around the turn of the decade from the 80′s-90′s. I remember our church would have our music director play the part of the famed characters – painted face and costumes and all – and the middle-school kids would play the ensemble cast, singing and dancing out Bible lessons and putting on “the church even of the year” for the little kids. Christian book stores also sold a lot of merchandise featuring these two separate characters.
I asked Sarabeth the other day, “If they brought back Psalty or Colby, do you think they’d be just as popular today?”
Her response?
“No. But maybe if they made a Timothy the Tablet.” She’s right. Kids today couldn’t relate to a giant psalm book or a desktop computer. So then we started throwing out some other ideas just for laughs.
Like Nikki the Nook.
Or Kit the Kindle.
So we want to invite you guys in on the fun. What are some fun ideas that would be popular with kids today that would be relevant to today’s young culture? Also, if you happen to have some personal photos of your days with Psalty or Colby, show your age and send them to me to adoptingjames@aol.com and I’ll post them in about a month. Voters will vote on the best picture and that person will win a free advanced reader’s copy of my book THE MAN IN THE BOX (totally unrelated, but I just wanted a reason to give one out). Have fun!
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Hahaha! I went to a Psalty concert in Minneapolis when I was 7 and was led to Christ through a prayer
First step in my testimony!
That is awesome. Shows that God can use the silliest things to draw us to Himself.
Now I feel really old. In my day sword drills were all the rage and then we sat down and glued macaroni to paper plates.
Sarabeth recalls the sword drills. Did you go to a private Christian school?
No Southern Baptist Sunday School from cradle roll through the College Department.
Haha! Thanks for the memories
Psalty’s reach extended to Australia too and we use to listen to him on cassette during family road trips.
“Colby the Computer” didn’t make it here (never heard of him). But I’d suggest he may have a better chance than Psalty with the tech savvy kids today. Although he may need to be upgraded to “Ian the iPad”.
“Ian the Ipad”… I love it! Yeah, my wife had never heard of Colby either. Glad Psalty made it all the way down under.
I listened to Psalty cassettes, too! AMy little sister and I (goodness, we couldn’t have been older than 7 and 4 years old, then) once made little puppets on Popsicle sticks of Psalty, Charity Churchmouse, and other characters from… I’m not even sure what that story was called, anymore, but we loved it at the time. (No photos taken, alas, though we did get it on video, which is probably the only reason I know today that this happened.) And I can still remember a bit of some of Psalty’s songs.
(“I cast all my cares upon You. / I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet.
And anytime I don’t know what to do, / I cast all my cares upon You.”)
(“It’s not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit. / It’s not by might, nor by power, saith the Lord…”)
Wow, this *did* turn nostalgic. (: I’m just glad I never had to see Psalty live; watching a giant psalm book dance around would have been more traumatizing than simply listening to his voice.
Agreed! Psalty used to freak me out too. But good stuff, nonetheless.
The Rettinos have reconnected with me on FB. Psalty is alive and well!
Hi – Psalty is alive and well. And, Ernie Rettino (my husband) and Debby Kerner Rettino (me) are still writing and recording music, including a new Psalty album called, “Faith It! God Loves Me.” You can download it on iTunes, or if you are looking for Psalty Pstuff you can find most of Psalty’s CDs and DVDs at http://www.psalty.com. We have received thousands of messages from all over the world from parents who grew up with Psalty when they were kids and want the music for their own children. Ernie and I are working to facilitate keeping Psalty available for the next generation. Kids don’t mind the fantasy of a big, blue, singing songbook. They still enjoy the albums, singing along, learning about loving God and others, and hiding God’s Word in their hearts as they commit the songs to memory. Imagination is something that technology has not managed to kill. In fact, we incorporated a technically updated story in our, “Faith It!” album.
I think some of the ideas people have offered on this page are fun. To quote one of your respondents, “It’s not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirt… .” Technology is a tool – I am writing to you now because we can quickly communicate with each other using this tool. Imagination is a gift we have from being made in the image of our very creative God.
And, Peter and Hanneke Jacobs, the creators of Colby the Computer, are close friends of ours and still very involved in ministry and recording.
That is amazing! Thank you guys for your wonderful ministry all these years. Thousands of people around the world have great memories and have learned wonderful lessons in fun ways because of you. I speak for all of us when I say how grateful we are to you. Do you do any work with the folks over at Focus on the Family and and the Odyssey gang?
I’m thinking iVan the iPhone.
I look back to all the flannelgraphs I had in Sunday School and you can see how many changes have taken place!! I hope keeping up with the times doesn’t short change the pure message our children need to hear. Great blog.
Flannelgraphs… I do remember.
Oh wow!…I grew up on Psalty, we had all the albums…and yes I said albums…LOL. As sabbath keepers, it was the easiest way for my Mom to keep her children ocuppied on Saturday afternoons when all the other neighborhood children were outside playing…LOL I tried to introduce it to my daughter, but she wanted no parts…SMH. My brother and I were also forced to dress alike and sing their songs for special music…LOL. My brother hated it…needless to say I’m the only one who still sings…LOL
Guess you had to be there to enjoy it
Do you remember Carmen and the purple cat by any chance? I liked that one a lot too. (Still do.)
Wow! I don’t think I ever knew of Colby, but it has def been a long time since I’ve heard anyone mention Psalty. I actually had a Psalty plush! Good memories. Great post!
As for other items… Xavier the Xbox, Peter the PS3, Daniel the DS (for the gamers out there)
Those are funny ideas!