time have changed since the days when an inventive tike was well-chosen to dally with an empty cardboard box . Today , about 2.6 billion toys are sell every year , creating a $ 20.3 billion industriousness . It seems that every decade manufacturers create a toy that launches a purchasing fad . Some just flash past on their way to a rummage sales event table ; others are timeless treasures . So without further ado , here are some of the best miniature fads of the 20th century .
1. Silly Putty
Silly Puttywas grow in 1943 when James Wright , a General Electric researcher , was seeking a celluloid galosh backup man . His silicone polymer - base polymer was flexible , could bounce , be easily shape , and always hold its bod . Parents liked the fact that the putty was non-poisonous and nonirritating . Since its debut as a miniature in 1950 , more than 300 million eggs of Silly Putty have been sold .
2. Slinky
In 1943 , naval engineer Richard James stumbled across an innovation that would become a beloved miniature worldwide . Made of 87 understructure of flat wire coiled into a three - inch - diameter circle , theSlinkycould " take the air " down steps when one remnant was post on one step and the other on the step below . The classic slinky really took off in the 1950s , and today more than 300 million of the simple - yet - clever toys have sell worldwide .
3. Mr. Potato Head
Mr. Potato Head , with his similar facial feature , was patented in 1952 and was the first plaything to be advertize on television system . But for the first eight years , parents had to add small fry with a real potato until a plastic Irish potato body was admit in 1960 .
4. Play-Doh
mean to create a wallpaper cleanser , Joseph and Noah McVicker inventedPlay - Dohin 1955 . Initially available in only one coloring material ( off - livid ) and in a 1.5 - Egyptian pound can , Play - Doh now come in a rainbow of colors . The formula persist a enigma , but more than 700 million pound of this nontoxic goop have sell since its introduction .
5. Hula Hoop
The concept of thehula hoophad been around for C . Then , in the previous 1950s , Wham - O , a rebel California plaything company , rolled out a plastic hoop for swivel - hipped small fry . The conception caught on and 25 million sold in the first six months . They be $ 1.98 each , and , by 1958 , 100 million of them had been sell around the world – except in Japan and the Soviet Union where they were said to present the " emptiness of American culture . " Ouch .
6. Barbie
Barbievamped onto the toy dog panorama in 1959 , the universe of Ruth Handler and her hubby Elliot , who along with Harold Matson ground the Mattel plaything company . Handler noticed that her girl Barbara ( Barbie ) and her friend played with an adult female bird from Switzerland more than their infant chick . So , Handler came up with her " Barbie " construct , and the residue is toy history .
7. Chatty Cathy
Chatty Cathy , also released by the Mattel Corporation in 1959 , was the epoch ’s 2nd most popular skirt . Yakking her way onto store shelves , Cathy could utter 11 phrases when a cosmic string in her back was pulled . " I love you " or " Please take me with you " could be disconcerting at first , but Chatty Cathy was a ' 50s classic .
8. Betsy Wetsy
Betsy Wetsyalso made a splash with 1950s - epoch children . Created by the Ideal Toy Company , Betsy ’s already - undecided backtalk would accept a liquid - filled bottle . The premise was simple and aboveboard : Whatever goes in quickly amount out the other oddment , help youngsters pull ahead valuable napkin - changing experience .
9. Easy Bake Ovens
Since 1963 , when they were first introduced , more than 16 millionEasy Bake Ovenshave been sell . Alight bulbprovided the heat source for bake miniskirt - cake in America ’s first shape miniature oven . The original coloration was a trendy turquoise , and the stoves also frisk a carrying handle and phoney range top . As children , several renown chef , including Bobby Flay , possess an Easy Bake Oven , which perhaps provided intake for their future careers .
10. G.I. Joe Action Figure
Toy lovers have to salute manufacturer Hasbro for itsG.I. Joe action at law figure , which first marched out in 1964 . The 11 - 1/2 - inch - magniloquent doll for boy had 21 moving voice and was the world ’s first activeness material body . Hasbro ’s fortieth Anniversary G.I. Joe collection in 2004 include a re - world of the original doll , his dress , accessory , and even the promotional material . Nostalgic Joe crony snapped up thousand of these new military recruit .
11. Hot Wheels
Hot Wheelsscreeched into the plaything world in 1968 , scream out of Mattel ’s concept service department with 16 miniature autos . The glamourous Python , Custom Cougar , and Hot Heap immediately attract attention and plenty of buyers . Track sets were also release in the same year so that child could simulate a real automobile race . Today , more than 15 million people call for Hot Wheels car .
12. Weebles
" Weebleswobble but they do n’t fall down … " This was the unforgettable advertizement slogan for these ball - determine playthings first loose by Hasbro in 1971 . Each weeble had a sticker mounted on its short , fat " body " so it resemble a homo or an animal . At the height of their popularity , the Weeble family had its own tree mansion and cottage , and a host of other fiber and accessories were also produced , let in a firefighter and attack motortruck , a playground , and a circus gross with a ringmaster , clown , and trapeze artist .
13. Big Wheel
Also exceedingly pop in the ' LXX , theBig Wheelwas the chosen mode of transportation for most youthful boys , and many young lady , too . With its 16 - inch front steering wheel and fat rearward tires , this low - horseback riding , spiffed up trike was even a bang with parents , who consider it safer than a standard velocipede .
14. Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcakewas the sweetest - smell skirt of the 1980s . create in 1977 by Muriel Fahrion for American Greetings , the company expanded the toy line in the 1980s to include Strawberry ’s friend and their pets . Each doll had a fruit- or afters - scented motif complete with odoriferous hair . Accessories , apparel , bedding , sticker , movies , and games follow , but by 1985 the fad had waned . The character were resurrect in the 2000s with videodisc , video game , an animated television serial , and even a full - length animated moving picture .
15. Cabbage Patch Kids
Xavier Roberts was a stripling when he launched his Babyland General Hospital during the 1970s in Cleveland , Georgia , allow child to adopt a " baby . " In 1983 , the Coleco toy company started mass - producing these bird asCabbage Patch Kids . Each " kid " came with a unique name and a set of acceptance papers , and store could n’t keep them on the shelf , selling more than three million of the dolls in the first twelvemonth .
16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtleswere create by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird , who had both take art history . As such , they named their characters Leonardo , Raphael , Donatello , and Michelangelo . In 1984 , with a mere $ 1,200 , the Turtle creators launched the swaggering terrapins in a sinister - and - white comic book . More comics , as well as an repair television series , wear , toy , and several full - distance feature article films followed , proving that the Green Team could earn some unripe , as well .
17. Rubik’s Cube
One of the crowing toy crazes of the eighties was the brain - teasingRubik ’s Cube . Created by Hungarian designer Erno Rubik , this perplexing puzzle was first introduced in 1977 , and from 1980 to 1982 more than 100 million of the cubes sold . It sparked a trend and interchangeable puzzle were created in various form , such as a pyramid and a firmament . The Rubik ’s Cube has see a recent revival in popularity and retains a place of honor on many desktops .
18. Beanie Baby
From 1996 until around 1999 , you could n’t fly the coop theBeanie Baby . Like Cabbage Patch Kids and troll dolls of decennium past , Ty Warner ’s Beanie Babies became a countrywide plaything - collecting craze . The picayune plush - embodied , bean plant - filled creature fare in dozens of different mode and vividness and had limited tags that included a poetical description of the character and its name . To feast the hysteria , Ty limited the release of certain Beanies and therefore sent the price of type such as the " Blue Elephant " into the yard . The cult died out before the millenary , but Beanie Babies still grace stall around the world .
19. Pokemon
Based on a Japanese toy called " Poketto Monstaa,“Pokemonwere tiny " pocket teras " that combat each other when grade by their " trainer . " In 1996 , Nintendo adapted the Nipponese role to promote its portable TV secret plan system , Game Boy . Pokemon trading wit and a TV serial were also wildly popular .
20. Tickle Me Elmo Doll
Undoubtedly the must - have toy of 1996 , the vastly popularTickle MeElmodollwas based on the furry , redSesame Streetcharacter . He ’d giggle , saying , " Oh boy , that tickles , " when he was tickled or squeezed . Manufacturer Tyco sell more than a million of the creatures that year , and when stores ran out of the dolls , some parent recur to online auctions to secure one for their child .
21. Furbies
Another plush gizmo , animatronicFurbiesspoke their own " language " and became wildly successful in late 1998 . Although they retail for $ 30 , they often fetched $ 100 or more online from desperate parent . More than 27 million Furbies sold in the first year , and a newfangled , revamped Furby was innovate in 2005 with new features , including advanced voice recognition , so Furby can respond to questions based on its " mood . "
22. Scooter
The big cult toy of 2000 was thescooter , with some five million deal that twelvemonth . These foot - propel devices , a spin - off of the 1950s model , were made of lightweight atomic number 13 and used tiny , low friction wheels similar to those on in - crinkle skates . Weighing about ten pounds , they could be folded up and well stack away . Yet the motor scooter were relatively dangerous until hustler became skilled at ride them . From January through October 2000 , more than 27,000 people ( mostly young males under the age of 15 ) were care for for scooter - relate combat injury .
23. Heelys
Popular with kids of the unexampled millennium ( and grownup , too),Heelysare a brand of sneakers with one or more wheel embedded in the sole . Somewhat like to in - line skate , Heelys turn on the wearer to roll from place to place , rather than mundanely take the air . As of March 2006 , manufacturer Heelys , Inc. has sold more than two million of these specialty sneaks , which are available in a extensive potpourri of styles and colors for the whole family . And for total contraption and safety , they also sell helmet !
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Helen Davies , Marjorie Dorfman , Mary Fons , Deborah Hawkins , Martin Hintz , Linnea Lundgren , David Priess , Julia Clark Robinson , Paul Seaburn , Heidi Stevens , and Steve Theunissen
