Toys From The 80's

There have been many times when I have been at a store buying something that Lucy needs, but then I get side tracked looking at toys that I want to get her. Unfortunately, I have heard that a 5 month old is a little young for dress up cloths and play time kitchens. So until then, I guess I will be stuck buying chew rings....I hate how those sound more appropriate for dogs than children.

Over the last few months of scanning the toy aisles wishing I could pick up some cute little Polly Pocket for her I have noticed that there just aren't as many good toys as there use to be. Toys these days seem to either be a simple, not too imaginative doll or some high tech toy/computer board that will claim to have your child making Einstein look like a gomer.

So here are some good ol' fashion toys that I think should make a comeback...well maybe not all of them, but it is sure fun to reminisce.


Glow Worms - Oh I loved these! I slept with mine every night for the longest time. They are pretty self explanatory....they are worms...that glow! Go figure! But they were perfect for little girls at night. I loved being able to just give it a squeeze and see the cheeks light up...also helped make midnight bathroom runs A LOT easier.




Popples - These little fur balls were a fun stuffed animal that could be rolled up into a nice tight pouch. I loved them and the cartoon that they made of them, even though they do look like a cross breeding of kangaroos and turtles that has gone horribly wrong :)


Forest Family - Cute little animal families that you could play with. They had all sort of animals: bears, cats, raccoons, squirrels.... I had the raccoons. I loved to use these critters in place of the dolls in my doll house. Apparently it was more fun to have the raccoons in the house and the dolls as the family pet.



Battle Beasts - Here is one for the boys. Every figure was a different animal, reptiles, insect and they had a black square on the front. The figures would battle and you would decide who would win by pressing the square. Their chests were heat sensitive so when you pressed your finger an image would pop up... fire, water, or wood. Fire burnt wood, water put out fire, and wood could block water.



Smooshees - A plush squishy animal or doll that could fit into whatever accessory it came with. One item was a dog that came with a fire hydrant that you could squish him into. Or a turtle that had a shell, you needed to squeeze him into it to be dressed. Apparently squeezing equaled fun back then :)


Purr-tenders - The story behind these stuffed animals is that all these cats are trying to get adopted and so they pretend to be different animals because they felt like people didn't want cats. I had this one...the parrot cat and I loved to pretend that I was actually hiding this cat from my mom. So I would keep the cat in the parrot outfit till my mom was gone then I would let my cat be her self. I had an endless amount of fun with this one. Do you know how hard it is trying to teach a cat to fly to help make her look like a parrot?



Slip n' Slides - What kid didn't have one of these? Even with growing up in Alaska we had one and I loved it. Well, until I reached the end. Our yard was just barely big enough and at the end of the slide was where the grass stopped and the rock garden began....we had a lot of scrapped knees that summer.



Pound Puppies - Kids could go to the store and adopt a Pound Puppy which would come with his very own home and some information on your puppy. There were many different colors and patterns of dog so each child could have a unique dog. The creator of pound puppies actually wanted the child to have a special bond with their dog and truly love it. What is really cute is that there is a website http://www.poundpuppies.com/ where kids can still go online and pick a puppies and play with it and take care them.


Wacky Wall Walkers - A gummy sticky octopus that can be thrown onto walls, windows, or doors and would squiggle on down. As you can tell from the boy's hair and sweater this ad many be from the 80's




Wuzzles - Island of Dr. Moreau for kids apparently. These animals were cross breeds of each other. A bunny hippo, kangaroo elephant, bumble bee bear, and my favorite... seal moose. I spent several hours in class wasting my time by drawing up my very own wuzzles (But never a Li-ger)


He-Man and She-Ra - My brothers played with He-Man and I always wanted She-Ra so I could play with them cause apparently "Barbies and He-man don't mix" But I do remember the my barbies snagged that tiger A LOT cause they liked to ride with style!



Lincoln Logs - These are great great toys! Anything that has kids building things and following designs and instructions are great toys. Plus, I have many many memories of my brother and I building cabins or fortresses and fighting our battle beasts or when he wasn't looking, I'd have my Trolls go camping.


Skip-it - I think almost every kid had one of these. In my neighborhood we actually had skip-offs, yea I know...sounds like I come from the streets... "You got Skipped fool!" The Skip-It held a counter that could tell how many times you skipped over it and we would see who could go the longest. I remember getting upset when I could tell that my Skip-It was bouncing too much and wasn't counting all my skips.....oh the problems of an 8 year old.

What toys did you all grow up with and love?