Top 10 Children’s Toys 1960-1970:[1]
Hot Wheels – Barbie’s creator’s husband, Elliot Handler, invented Hot Wheels while experimenting with free-rolling wheels in 1968. The cars became revolutionary because of their speed and tricks. Artist, Rick Irons, who worked for Mattel at the time created the car’s logo.
LEGO – Originally a Danish toy, they were brought to the US in 1962. But it’s history starts in 1932 when a carpenter in Billund, Denmark set up a business that manufactured wooden toys. He named his company LEGO using the letters in the Danish word that means “play well” (leggodt).
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water" house in Bear Run, PA is one of the most popular LEGO products and retails on Amazon for $70 (it usually goes for about $100).
G.I Joe – There isn’t a clear story as to this toy’s origin. The G.I. Joe figure was designed by Walter Hansen and Phil Kraczkowski and sold in 1964 with uniforms of all four branches of the US military. In order to market it to boys, the words “action figure” was used instead of “doll” because boys didn’t play with dolls.
Easy Bake Oven – Introduced in 1963 by Kenner Products, now a division of Hasbro, it was originally turquoise in color and had a fake stove top with a lightbulb heating the oven. In 1968, General Mills began their Betty Crocker line for children to use in the ovens. Today, children can cook food on low settings.
Back then.
Today (more or less).Etch-a-Sketch – Invented in Germany by Arthur Granjean in the 1950s, it wasn’t until 1960 that the company Ohio Art mass-produced it for people in the US.
Super Ball – Distributed by Wham-O in the summer of 1965, these balls could bounce over buildings making them instantly popular.
The Game of Life – Lithographer Milton Bradley made his fortune by selling portraits of Abraham Lincoln; however, when Lincoln grew a beard, no one wanted his paintings anymore. Bradley went nearly bankrupt until he began selling copies of a game he designed called The Checkered Game of Life. Milton Bradley, the company, was born! The Game of Life was released in 1960 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Milton Bradley.
Sea Monkeys – This is weird. Harold von Braunhut noticed that sea monkeys have a natural form of suspended animation when removed from water and began marketing them as pets. I always thought Sea Monkeys were a made-up toy but apparently they’re really a creature whose official name is Artema nyos and they are related to the bryn shrimp. Huh, learn something new every day.
Barrel of Monkeys – Introduced in 1966 by Lakeside Toys as S-shaped hooks, they were changed into monkeys with S-shaped arms. In 1968, the cardboard tube used to store the monkeys was changed into a plastic barrel. Today, Milton Bradley owns the game.
Operation – And who said school as a waste of time? In 1962, college student, John Spinello, created a toy with metal holes and lines drilled through the top. It came with a metal rod intended for players to put it in between the openings without touching the sides. If it touched the side, a bell would sound. Spinello sold the game to his godfather and it eventually made its way to Milton Bradley where the game was redesigned to become what we know today as Operation.
The buzz used to always scare the crap out of me.
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