What toys did you love when you were a kid?

[zoebartlett]

Door Knob Solitaire started a thread in the Family forum and I thought I''d do a spin-off on that one. What toys or games, etc. did you grow up with?

I was born in the early ''70s but I think I remember more from the ''80s. Here are some things I loved:

Strawberry Shortcake stuff -- dolls, figurines, etc. I was even SS for Halloween one year. So was my sister...she copied me.
Smurfs -- I loved watching the cartoon and I had all the little "collectibles." I also had a Smurf birthday cake once.
Cabbage Patch dolls -- I had a regular one and a preemie.
Holly Hobbie
Raggedy Ann and Andy -- my parents still have the oil painting of RA & A we had growing up. It hangs on a wall upstairs in between my sister''s and my bedroom.
Joan Walsh England (or is it Anglund?) -- I used to have her books and we still have a few Christmas tree ornaments that look like her characters
Roller skates
Huffy bike
Banana seat bike
Nintendo
Christopher Pike books -- scary!
Nancy Drew books
Babysitter''s Club books
Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, and Beverly Cleary books -- I even wrote to Judy Blume and I got a letter back. I''re now it was from her assistant but it meant a lot to me at the time. I had written a book ("Beth and the Read-a-thon Race") and asked her to read it. I was so proud of myself! Okay, the title is somewhat, well, nerdy, but I loved it at the time.

 

[neatfreak]

Easy Bake Oven and Cabbage Patch dolls! Ohhh and I ADORED my rock tumbler...maybe that's where the addiction started.

 

[TravelingGal]

I loved those choose your own adventure books. I always had my fingers in different places in the book to make sure I didn''t die. I was a cheater!

Anyone remember that big giant barbie head? You could do her hair and makeup? Except you never wanted to use the crap that came with the doll...you wanted to use mommy''s REAL makeup which inevitably left poor barbie''s face stained with rouge lipstick.

And don''t get me started how her hair handled real perming solution!

 

[Harriet]

I never got the Barbie head. Did I miss out on much?
Does anyone remember Fluppy Dogs?

 

[zoebartlett]

Harriet, no, I don''t think I know Fluppy Dogs.

TGal -- there was a huge barbie head??? Where was I when this was in the stores? I always wanted my very own mannequin (sp?) head, like the kind you see wigs on top of. I never got one though. My mom never let me play with barbies either.

 

[FireGoddess]

Oooh!

Strawberry Shortcake (loved smelling those dolls)
Glamour Gals (tiny dolls that were only 2 or 3 inches tall)
Smurfs (had tons of those figurines)
Cabbage Patch Kids (there were 3 of us kids and we had to share ONE doll because it was all we could get after being on the waitlist forEVER)
Barbie (the rockstar barbie, I loved her friend with the curly red hair)
EZ bake oven (never had one, still scarred about it to this day)
Snoopy Snow Cone machine (again never had one, still scarred about that too)
sticker albums
skateboard
Garbage Pail Kid cards
roller skates
Pound Puppies

 

[Harriet]

Pound puppies, you''re my one and only puppy love.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 5/30/2007 7:46:58 PM
Author: Harriet
Pound puppies, you''re my one and only puppy love.

YES that''s it - just did the google search to find out!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 5/30/2007 7:46:58 PM
Author: Harriet
Pound puppies, you''re my one and only puppy love.

Ohhh I totally forgot about Pound Puppies! I had a few of those over the years...

 

[kcoursolle]

legos!!!! I still love them!

 

[Harriet]

Fisherprice Playhouse.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 5/30/2007 7:26:00 PM
Author: Harriet
I never got the Barbie head. Did I miss out on much?

Harriet, you''re just lucky I don''t have your address or I would dig around in my grandmother''s basement to find mine and send it to you. You really did miss out, poor thing! I could spend HOURS with it--waiting for the hair to dry after you washed it and put it in rollers was sheer agony. (Why I never thought to use the hairdryer to speed up the process I''ll never know...

)

As for toys though, I LOVED board games. I would go out on the porch and set them up and play all by myself. I would pretend I was four different people and move around the board for each turn. (Hmmm.... now that I type this all out it sounds a little schizophrenic, pretending to be multiple people--I swear I''m perfectly normal, LOL!)

 

[zoebartlett]

Date: 5/30/2007 7:55:46 PM
Author: kcoursolle
legos!!!! I still love them!

There was a house remodeling show on HGTV I think and this woman''s husband was surprising her by redoing one of their rooms. This woman apparently was a little, ah, obsesses with legos. She had a whole room full of them, and she had even made tables out of them and other things I think. It was pretty funny. SHe actually had a hard time parting with her lego furniture and moving into more grown up stuff. I think she got over it though when she saw the results.

 

[Kaleigh]

Winky Dinks
Shrink its
Easy Bake oven
Chatty Kathy doll
Madame Alexander dolls
Rock Tumblers
Trolls, not the ones that frequent PS, LOL!!!
Toy horses, didn''t have My Pretty Pony, but would have loved that too
Playdough
Silly String
ZOTS, the candy that explodes in your mouth. Gave one to my mom, told her to suck on it real hard, and whammo, it exploded in her mouth, that was priceless.

I was such the naughty child.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 5/30/2007 7:32:14 PM
Author: zoebartlett
Harriet, no, I don''t think I know Fluppy Dogs.

TGal -- there was a huge barbie head??? Where was I when this was in the stores? I always wanted my very own mannequin (sp?) head, like the kind you see wigs on top of. I never got one though. My mom never let me play with barbies either.

Yes...I think this toy was shortlived. It must have been in the late 70''s, as I was about 6. It was this big ol'' blonde head with a neck on a blue or pink tray where you could store your makeup.

It looked like this one except it was blonde and barbie.. I am not sure if this is the Marie Osmond head, as I just read there was one back then too..

 

[TravelingGal]

And here's the modern one (in case you still want one.

)

ETA, I loved shrinky dinks too...don't know why. And Silly Putty!!

 

[Harriet]

Date: 5/30/2007 8:24:16 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Harriet, you''re just lucky I don''t have your address or I would dig around in my grandmother''s basement to find mine and send it to you. You really did miss out, poor thing! I could spend HOURS with it--waiting for the hair to dry after you washed it and put it in rollers was sheer agony. (Why I never thought to use the hairdryer to speed up the process I''ll never know...

)

As for toys though, I LOVED board games. I would go out on the porch and set them up and play all by myself. I would pretend I was four different people and move around the board for each turn. (Hmmm.... now that I type this all out it sounds a little schizophrenic, pretending to be multiple people--I swear I''m perfectly normal, LOL!)

Darn!
No comment.

 

[anchor31]

Barbies
Legos (we got a few that had workings in it a stuff)
Playmobiles
Little Ponies
Cabbage patch dolls
Super nintendo
Choose your own adventure books (I did the same TG!

)
M. Potato head
Slinkies
And I''m sure I''m forgetting a ton...

I also had a few favorites authors among Quebecer children books writers...
I started reading the Harry Potter books at 14, when Prisoner of Azkaban came out. (Book 7 is coming out... eep!)

 

[diamondfan]

I avidly collected Hello Kitty, Madame Alexander dolls and loved anything Barbie. (this was at varying ages). I really loved bead sets and paper dolls too.

I liked to play dress up too.

I had the Rock em Sock robots which were fun, and DIgger the Dog, a basset hound on a leash. I liked my Sit and Spin and Big Wheel, and Toss Across. I loved the game Operation too. I liked the Slip n Slide and the Water Wiggle too, and totally wanted an ant farm but mom said no to that. I did get the sea monkeys, total gyp., and those rock garden and chia pets which were stupid but I still wanted them.

I loved the Easy Bake oven, Colorforms, Lightbright, Spirograph and Lincoln Logs. I loved to play Clue, Trouble, and Life...and really liked to color with these great coloring books that were these amazing geometric designs. I also LOVED Shrinkydinks.

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 5/30/2007 10:06:04 PM
Author: diamondfan
I avidly collected Hello Kitty, Madame Alexander dolls and loved anything Barbie. (this was at varying ages). I really loved bead sets and paper dolls too.


I liked to play dress up too.


I had the Rock em Sock robots which were fun, and DIgger the Dog, a basset hound on a leash. I liked my Sit and Spin and Big Wheel, and Toss Across. I loved the game Operation too. I liked the Slip n Slide and the Water Wiggle too, and totally wanted an ant farm but mom said no to that. I did get the sea monkeys, total gyp., and those rock garden and chia pets which were stupid but I still wanted them.


I loved the Easy Bake oven, Colorforms, Lightbright, Spirograph and Lincoln Logs. I loved to play Clue, Trouble, and Life...and really liked to color with these great coloring books that were these amazing geometric designs. I also LOVED Shrinkydinks.

diamondfan, I LOVED Shrinky Dinks, LightBright, Spirograph, Slip and Slide, Clue and Life, too! Those were probably 6 of my top ten toys I loved right there!

I also loved to play Monopoly and I always played outside in the woods making forts. I also loved to ride bikes and play soccer, basketball (mostly HORSE) and baseball. Also street hockey on Rollerblades.

Can you tell I was a huge tomboy? Me and my twin sister were never interested in dolls at all and it would just break my poor Mom''s heart because she LOVED dolls as a child. She even bought us those American Girl dolls when they first came out but I think she got them mostly for herself! Hahaha...my older sister liked Barbie and other dolls but we were just not into them!

 

[KimberlyH]

Cabbage Patch Kids
Garbage Pail Kids Collector Cards
Barbies
Easy Bake Oven
My Big Wheel
My scooter
A bus w/ no roof that people sat in (I have no idea who made it, I just remember the bus)
Books, books and more books

 

[strmrdr]

fire
guns
cast iron pots
fishing poles
boats
lead casting equipment (sinkers)
welders
grinding wheels
jig saw
erector set
anything electronic I could tear apart.
stompers
slot cars
model trains
electricity
big wheel till I crashed it into a moving car lol
snow forts
tents
camp stoves
axes and knives
ropes
lawn darts
lawn mowers(racing and tug of war)
engines
and whatever else I could find around :}

 

[monarch64]

What a fun thread, and timely for me because I just visited my parents who are still living in the house I grew up in, and my mother was showing me the 15 big plastic bins she had packed with the toys of mine she has not donated yet, lol! Yeah, someday I''ll have to rent a storage unit to put those in...hee hee.

I remember loving:
Fisher Price anything, especially the stove and record player
Strawberry Shortcake--I had the dollhouse and FG, I loved the way they smelled too!
Legos
My Little Pony--had the "stable"
Barbies, no dollhouse but I did have the Barbie vette, lol
Dolls...my grandmother gave me all kinds of Effenbee ones I wasn''t supposed to play with but my mother let me play with them anyway, bless her heart
Lite Brite
Oddysey (pre-Atari), and Pitfall on the Commodore 64

And my favorite game was my "store" I had set up in my parents'' basement. Mmhmm...I would spend my allowance in the dollar store or at antique shows or wherever on my "inventory" and re-sell it to the imaginary public. I don''t know how I ever ended up in retail/merchandising.

 

[diamondfan]

Well, I was born in 1965. I liked to make mud pies and climb trees but loved dress up and collecting dolls and reading too. Nancy Drews and Anne of Green Gables and The Borrowers were favorites of mine. I loved collecting quartz and different neat rocks, and I loved stickers and drawing and most art projects. We used to buy these gigantic posters and spread them out over our dining room table and do them a bit at a time. I also loved doing jigsaw puzzles and I really liked to crochet and knit and do needlepoint and embroidery. I really lack the patience now for some of it, but LOVE jigsaw puzzles insanely still.

 

[Cehrabehra]

there''s a long vague list of random things, but what stands out in my mind was that I wanted a barbie motorhome. I begged for one all year and asked santa for one but my mom procrastinated and santa didn''t bring me one

I knew life would be forever unfair when my (many years future) sister in law and husband got one for christmas and they didn''t even ask for one! AND they got what they asked for from santa!! I got a gymnastics barbie. She jumped on her trampoline in some bondage getup

but they had a shower and I really liked that shower!!!!! I do recall later getting a barbie thing that had a jacuzzi tub that you pushed the thing and it made bubbles like they were farting in there LOL

Scary thing is you can still find this stuff.... I found the original barbie motorhome.... for $30 it could still be mine!!!! LOL

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vingate-1976-BARBIE-STAR-TRAVELER-MOTORHOME-BUS-w-BOX_W0QQitemZ180122748396QQihZ008QQcategoryZ15960QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

haha apparently there''s always one available ROFL!!

 

[Cehrabehra]

couldn't add this to the last post LOL

You can even see the shower!!!! LMAO! omg dig that poster over the stereo. Dy-no-mite!! Anyone wanna do the hustle? do do do do do do dododo do do do do do do dododo LOL

 

[Gypsy]

Hmm.

I loved playing dress up. And having parties with all my stuffed animals.
I roller skated A LOT.
Swam all the time.
Didn't spend much time indoors. Climbed trees, made forts, etc.
I did love the pound puppy I got.
I had a cabbage patch doll but it was a bald premee and I thought it was ugly. Gift bought for me.
Books. If I wasn't outside or playing dress up I was reading.
I had Barbies but did horrible things to them. I only liked the dark haired one I had that was a bride. But her husband wasn't the blond ken so ... I'm pretty sure he was decapated when I was playing with my male cousins. I didn't care though. She looked better with their GI Joes.
I did like my ATARI though.


That's about it, that I remember. I still have my pound puppy.

 

[diamondfan]

I also loved to play teacher or house with all my stuffed animals. I also loved my candy apple red trike that was my third birthday gift from pre school, I loved it, the school had orange ones and my mom knew I loved them and got me a sparkly red one. I loved my bike with the basket and bell that had sparkles on it too, and the streamers coming off the handle bars and the reflector in the spokes. I loved taking off on my bike and not coming back for hours. Scary to think about nowadays...my mom never knew where I was.

 

[Beacon]

This is neat - a trip down memory lane. My lane is rather a long one, sigh.

I loved Breyer horses and had tons of them!
Silly putty
Slinky
Etcha Sketch
Battleship (as in "you sunk my battleship")
Jacks
Chinese jumprope
The Game of Life
Monopoly
Uncle Wiggley
Gyroscope
Mr. Ed talking horse puppet
Clue
Miniature cars

 

[monarch64]

DF, you totally reminded me about stickers!!! I loved Lisa Frank (my mother met her once, said she reminded her of Cyndi Lauper) stickers and had a whole sticker book going, in fact I think it''s in one of my bins back at the parents'' house! I never stuck the stickers on anything, they are all still on their original paper waiting to be used...kind of sad now that I think about it!

And I loved The Borrowers books as well, I still blame missing objects on them.

The Game of Life was definitely a favorite board game of mine--we didn''t have it at our house but my grandmother did so I would make everyone play it every time we visited her, I don''t know why I never asked for it for Christmas or birthdays or whatever. I loved putting those little pink and blue stick people in their cars, ha!