Toys from the 70′s

With the holidays coming up, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the toys and games that were popular in the 70′s. Looking at this list, I had a couple of these.

Baby Alive – The first Baby Alive doll was introduced by Kenner in 1973. It could be fed food packets mixed with water, and came with a bottle, diapers, and feeding spoon. The spoon would be inserted into its mouth, and a lever on its back pushed to have it chew the food. The food would move through her and end up in her diaper; this version did not speak, so you had to check the diaper a few moments after feeding. It also produced droppings and threw up regularly. (from Wikipedia.com) (I loved that doll and was so upset when I ran out of “food” to feed her.)

 

 

Balloon In A Tube — Super-elastic Bubble Plastic! (I could never get this to work and I think I got a buzz from trying to blow up the balloon!)

Electronic Football — A metal football field with plastic football players. When you turned it on, it vibrated to make the players move. When your player vibrated out of bounds, you started over. (My brother had this game and I remember stepping on those little football players!!)

Easy Bake Oven — They were pink or turquoise plastic and cooked cakes and cookies using a light bulb. (I’m convinced if my parents brought this for me when I was a kid, that I would be married and have children now!)

Knockers — They were glass balls on a string with a ring on them you would start off slowly moving your hand up and down and they would eventually start knocking together. (My cool cousin, Lisa had these.)Mattel Electronics Football Game — A hand held electric game that used little dots/lines as the players. (I would play this game for hours. Boy, we have sure come a long way, baby!)Rockum Sockum Robots — One was blue and one was red and the fought in a yellow plastic ring. Each boxer was controlled with what looked like what a pilot uses to steer a plane – two handles with buttons on the top of each handle you pressed to make the robot punch. When you hit the other robot just right his head would fly up. (I didn’t have this game, but I remember watching the commercial on TV.)Shrinky Dinks — Plastic you colored with magic markers and put into the oven. The big plastcic pieces (cars, florwes…) would shrink down into think smaller pieces. (I loved Shrinky-Dinks!! The smell  for baking them… I think I got a buzz from making these too. I see a pattern here.)Watertoys — The watertoys that you are trying to find are called Waterfuls. I had lots of them, they were awesome! Here’s my crack at a description: Waterfuls were plastic handheld water filled toys by Tomy. They came in various shapes and sizes, typically smaller cylinders and larger rectangles. The basic was a ball catch, but themes ranged from sports – basketball, soccer, ring toss, fishing and many more. ( This is where is all began. I remember getting anxiety attacks trying to get the rings on the pegs. Once again, my cool cousin, Lisa had one of these. Again, I see a pattern here.)

There are many. many more on the list. Funny how simple these toys were compared to what is out there today. But they probably bring more joy when playing them.

To find more information on the 70′s, check this site out — In The 70′s.