A Look Back at 1970's Toys

The first dolls I recall having in the early 70's were probably first introduced in the 1960's. A Baby First Step was one of these and was about 16 to 18 inches high and could walk although she sounded like a major home appliance when operating. I also had some Little Kiddles and Heidi and Jan dolls. Little Kiddles were quite small and Heidi and Jan topped out at about 3 inches. You could push a button on their stomach and their hands would pop up to say Hi. The true 70's dolls I recall were Barbies, with a more modern look and greater flexibility than the old style dolls, as well as Crissy and Velvet who were probably around 18" high and had beautiful hair that you could style and make a variety of lengths, from shoulder length to the floor. I also recall Dancerina dolls as well as Dawn dolls which were a fashion doll that was quite a bit smaller than their mentor Barbie. Weebles were strange little round bottomed characters who "wobble but they don't fall down".

Some of the traditional board games were around in the 1970's; games like Monopoly, Life, Operation, and for the younger kids, Mousetrap. Uno became a popular card game for young ones and we played Pinochle. Other popular 1970's toys included outdoor games like the Slip N' Slide, basic stuff like Nerf balls, and even some of the first real electronic toys like Simon were introduced in the last few years of the decade. Twister was still around and Dungeon and Dragons, a role playing fantasy game that's probably the precursor to modern video gaming, became very popular with guys.

Some 1970's toys were nothing more than fads. Pet Rocks, mood rings, and Weepuls were examples. A Pet rock was merely a rock packaged nicely with a manual telling you how to care for it. It was around for only a short time, but wildly popular. Mood Rings, as most people know, changed colors in response to body temperature and supposedly alerted others to your mood while Weepuls were small craft like creations, made with a tiny, fluffy ball, large cut out feet pasted to the bottom, and beady eyes glued to the head.

We also had pinball machines, not the full sized ones like in aracades, but they were more mechanical than those of today. They had a distinctive and solid feel when the marble was shot, and bounced around. The ring of the bells were nearly as loud and clear as what you might hear on the midway at a fair.

The toys of the 1970's gave us plenty of opportunities to express our artistic side and to make our own creations. Some of the popular toys originated years earlier but were much loved anyway. Legos were huge and of course still have a place in kids hearts today.

For those who loved to draw, we also had Etch-a-Sketch and later Magna Doodle. Spirograph added Super Spirograph and we could spend hours making colorful designs like the pros. Lite Brite sets came along and added a bit of an electonic flair to things. Of course Easy Bake ovens had originated well before the 70's but were still popular with the youngest of us.

We had knitting machines, weaving looms, and macrame sets that let us create hats, purses, belts and more. Probably one of the most beloved 1970's toys however started out as a Vac-U-Form and later a Vac-U-Maker (in the 1960's) and finally a Thingmaker. Although extremely dangerous by today's standards, due to an exposed heating plate and sharp utensils, it was a powerhouse for crafting all kinds of interesting novelty items. You could create hard plastic objects from molds and rubbery creations from a die you filled with a mysterious "goop" solution. We could pass an entire afternoon creating an entire army of insects or a bouquet of "fun flowers". Creeple Peeple, Creepy Crawlers, and Fun Flowers were just a few of the options.

Electronic keyboards weren't something you had in every home back in the early 1970's but we did have chord organs which came with sheet music that didn't require you to know how to read music at all. You could play chords with the push of a button and play by numbers.

Before the days of video games, kids played with HO tracks. They're still around today, but they were more popular in the 1970's. Guys who really loved the sport would frequent slot car tracks to get their racing fix. HO tracks weren't the only possibility though. Hot Wheels were popular and Kenner's SSP Racers were also coveted. SSP Racers were simple devices with a rip cord that you pulled hard and the set the car down to let it race across the largest flat surface you could find at tremendous speed.

Helmets weren't common in the 1970's, our lives were apparently at risk but we didn't know it. For the youngest kids, some 1970's toys offered them a great way of getting around. Big Wheels emerged as the "cooler" option versus a tricycle and the InchWorm allowed little ones to hop instead of pedal for their locomotion. Kids who were a bit older loved Sting Ray bikes with their banana seats and monkey handlebars. So much more modern than the traditional cruiser bikes!

Skateboards emerged in the 1970's. It wasn't a big sport yet but kids started taking an interest. For those who really had a need for speed, mini-bikes were a popular gift and of course go karting was around as a sport for those who were more serious.

Most 1970's toys were less sophisticated electronically than many of the toys today. We had stereos. It started with simple turn tables, I had a common one that had a turn table and speakers attached. I also had a clock radio, and later a more elaborate quadrophonic stereo with a tape player and am/fm stereo. In the first half of the decade, teenagers often had eight track tape players. Cassette tapes emerged and many of us also had cassette tape players that we could record on as well. Music came on vinyl records and tapes.

Video games didn't arrive on the scene until late in the 1970's. The first that I recall was an Atari game called Pong. Atari was huge from that point through sometime in the early to mid-1980's. Pong was a pretty basic game that resembled playing Ping Pong or perhaps tennis on your home television. Atari of course started creating other video games at the end of the decade and Space Invaders was one that went on to great popularity.

Cameras were of course all film based rather than digital. I recall them as being more bulky and heavy and they generally weren't toys for kids, although I'm sure some company like Fisher Price had toy cameras that didn't actually do anything. What I do recall is that the Polaroid 1-step cameras came along at the very end of the 70's, and many kids got their first camera in this form. They came with a cartridge that encased the film and paper to print photos. Once that was slid in place and your flash bulbs were attached, you snapped a picture and it emerged from the front of the camera. You only had to wait 30 seconds or so for the image to gradually reveal itself.

Photo Credits

Introduction: debaird.
The Creative Side of 1970's Toys: videocrab.
Video Games are Born: loop_oh (no derivative work allowed)
Our Need for Speed: Valerie Everett
More 70's Toys: mia3mom. (no derivative work allowed)