#27. Sock ’em Boppers
Although their name was changed to Socker Boppers after a lawsuit by Mattel over infringement of their Rock’em Sock’em Robots, these inflatable punching devices were heavily popularized in the 90s and remain fondly remembered by many in spite of all the trouble they caused. You can hear the jingle in your head right now, can’t you? More than fun than / a pillow fight!
As it turns out, giving kids inflatable boxing gloves and telling them to punch their contemporaries as hard as they can without fear doesn’t always yield positive results for the involved parties. The gigantic plastic fists were responsible for more than a few mishaps. The toys themselves had barely any cushioning beyond whatever air the kids themselves blew into them. In the end, the Boppers were more painful than a pillow fight too.
#26. Tamagotchi
The Tamagotchi is a really authentic throwback entertainment. It was a small virtual pet that we had to feed, clean, teach, entertain and care with the strict commitment to prevent something bad from happening. It came in different designs and colors!
I’m pretty sure that its creators didn’t imagine the degree of commitment we would take with these virtual beings. The digital creature could die if you didn’t take good care of it, plunging you into a deep depression. You could also kill him with the rear reset button and make a new account. There was no worse revenge against your little brother than to annihilate his Tamagotchi in a moment of carelessness.
#25. Wooly Willy
Wooly Willy was basically a picture of a bald man encased in plastic filled with tiny metal particles that would form a mustache, beard, bushy eyebrows or hair as you moved the attached magnetic wand around Willy’s face. It was a very simple concept and, for some reason, we kids loved it.
Wooly Willy was always ready for a makeover. I remember having fun for hours using the magnetic stylus to draw hair on his smooth noggin. It was the perfect toy to keep kids busy in the car or at boring restaurants back when we didn’t have handheld video games. Sure, it got boring after about fifteen minutes, but we still amused creating different looks.
#24. Furby
There is no doubt that Furby is one of the icons of the 90s. Pioneer of the smarts toys, it was able to open and close its eyes, move its mouth or even express emotions with its eyelids and ears. And that’s not all! This lovely toy required a wide range of care, interacted with its owners and had the ability to learn.
When it appeared in 1998 everyone wanted to have one and as soon as they became a trend, they left. They were emblematic for many, disturbing to others, the nightmare of many mothers and, of course, a furry and adorable bug compared to Gremlins that marked a whole generation. After all, how could you say no to those huge beautiful eyes?
#23. Corn Popper
Corn Popper is one of the most popular toys for young children in history and it was designed to help them learn to walk. Its mechanism is simple. As baby pushed or pulled, brightly colored balls inside a plastic dome bounce and create a popping, bouncing noise. And the faster the baby went, the faster the poppity-pop action.
Actually, it’s a fun way to give baby’s gross motor skills a push in the right direction and help stimulate his senses. However, as we got older we realized its signature loud popping noise was, in fact, really annoying. We’re confident that this toy made parents everywhere wanted to rip their ears off at least once.
#22. Poo-Chi
Poo-Chi arose due to the need to raise HASBRO’s income since its leading toy, the Furby (check out #24), had declined practically in sales. There were other versions such as the Meow-Chi (check the next slide) that was a robot cat and the Chirpy-Chi that was a canary, however, they were discontinued in 2002 due to lack of success.
The interactive puppy had an advanced technology that created realistic emotional responses that adapted and changed as we played with him. We enjoyed hours of playful singing, fun dancing and realistic puppy sounds. Who didn’t want one? It was so futuristic! Besides, you didn’t even have to feed him or clean any mess.
#21. Meow Chi Robot Kitten Cat
Meow Chi Robot was a robotic cat with a biorhythmic personality that toy retailers characterized as the sleeper of the season. In the final weeks before 2000 Christmas, shoppers snatched all of them off store shelves. Meow-Chi didn’t t walk around, but rather spun in place and played several songs. Do you remember now?
Its eyes lighted up with hearts and other shapes and with various chirps, the toy signaled whether its ”mood” was joyous or foul. The more children pushed Meow-Chi’s buttons, the better the toy’s mood, and the happier Meow-Chi felt, the more songs it sang. Since there was no off switch, that could be either a reward or a punishment.
#20. Zizzle Iz
Zizzle iZ is an electronic musical toy. The first time we saw it, we thought it was an alien from a distant galaxy. Who would imagine that it was the ultimate fusion of music and toy with a personality of its own? Its beats, effects, and voices offered a tantalizing chance for younger users to experiment with basic music mixing.
Taking the shape of an abstract tripod figure, the iZ allowed users to interactively manipulate music by twisting particular parts of the figure’s body as well as adding sound effects to pre-recorded sound from a connected audio device. Since its release, it has been available in three color schemes: green/orange, dark blue/light blue and red/yellow. What was your favorite?
#19. Cootie Toy
Cootie is fondly remembered by any kid ever having the honor of piecing together their very own bug. For those who don’t remember it, you had to throw a cootie to determine which body part of the big one you had to pick up. The first to assemble a cootie with a body, head, two eyes, two antennae, six legs, and a tongue won the game.
I remember once I opened up a box of Cooties and panicked! What lay inside was a mess of bug parts in desperate need of sorting. The funny thing was that this mess could potentially concoct four large of them. Definitely, this toy required dexterity and patience. Fun fact: this iconic insect game’s origins vary. Some say its name comes from a biting insect from an island in the Pacific.
#18. Gameboy
Three decades ago, the world of video games underwent a transformation that took users beyond the limits of home spaces with the launch of Game Boy, Nintendo’s portable console. The games were incredible and, despite the size of its screen, it became the best option to play during long trips or in family gatherings that without its company would have been very boring.
As you know, most video game consoles become obsolete when these new systems were launched. However, the Game Boy, with its updates, was unique in vitality. Over the years, several titles have become iconic for the small console, but Pokémon has been the reason for many of its sales.
#17. Easy-Bake Oven
Everyone wanted an Easy-Bake Oven but there were only some few lucky ones who successfully got it. It has been an inspiration to several professional chefs like Bobby Flay. In the beginning, the device had a focus as a source of heat; however, over the years they placed a real calorific element. In addition to playing and having fun, kids learned to cook safely and quickly.
Children loved preparing a wide range of recipes. It was ideal to prepare cookies and small biscuits and, to make everything more fun, the best was to use it during a tea party or perhaps in a sleepover. And although we always had the supervision of our parents, the feeling of having achieved a delicious dish was great!
#16. Barbie Ocean Friends
I’m pretty sure that many women born between the seventies and nineties have a strong emotional bond with a Barbie. Its social impact was immense because the girls of that time took it as an example to follow. If you are a Barbie fan, then you’ll surely love remembering this model!
By the time the 90s rolled around, Barbie was already entering her 30s, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t cool. In that decade, she was given a hip-hop makeover, had a stint as a Baywatch lifeguard, given a kid sister named Kelly and well, this list could take all day. This time our bathtub friend wore her wetsuit and was an ambassador for SeaWorld.
#15. Pokemon Trading Card Game
Have you ever cried because you were disappointed with what you got in a pack? I was 8 and had my heart set on one of the last cards I needed and instead got my third Kangaskhan. My friends and I never ever played the actual card game. We only collected the cards based on rarity. It was pretty nice actually.
The game was easy enough for new players to learn quickly but wide enough to provide endless fun and creativity for all players. Nothing beat opening a fresh pack of the original Pokémon cards. Sometimes we still hear the sound of the movie in our ears and the smell of new cards in our noses.
#14. Mousetrap Game
I bet this is the game you never really knew how to play but still spent hours with. Its basic premise actually has been consistent throughout the game’s history. Each player attempts to trap opposing mice using the game’s complicated mousetrap, which is built upon the board during the course of the game. Does it sound familiar to you?
Each player was represented by a mouse-shaped piece which traveled along a non-continuous, roughly square-shaped path around the game board from the start to a continuous loop at the end. In my family, we couldn’t ever get the thing built so I still have no clue if the trap ever worked or how to play the game. We would take it all out of the box, try to build it, get bored, and then play with the mice.
#13. Fashion Plates
For those kids who could barely draw a smiley face freehand, these stencils were a pretty epic way to feel creative and provided endless combinations of outfits to trace and color in. So many little ones dreamed of being a fashion designer after switching up these plates and coloring over them. Today’s Fashion Plates are almost identical to the old-school sets and that’s great, though the fashion choices are a bit more up-to-date.
My mom just found mine a couple of weeks ago! There was a black crayon that had a little handle so you could rub it over the plate. That would give you the outline, and then, you would lift off the paper and colored it in on a flat surface. I spent hours deciding upon the complementary combinations and to seek to trace perfection with the provided crayon. Smudge marks were taboo in Fashion Plate land!
#12. Elefun
This is one of the most popular toys of the era that kept us busy as children and is a clear example that after playing you had to clean up. The objective was to catch as many nylon butterflies with your net as you possibly could while they were fluttering out of the motorized elephant’s trunk.
Players could also grab the butterflies off the ground to collect them in their net. The player who collected the most butterflies once the elephant was done blowing them earned a butterfly token on their net. Also, the player who caught the special blue butterfly won a token. The first player to collect three butterfly tokens won the game.
#11. Water Wigglies
This is one of the most basic toys ever invented. It was colored water in a tube with maybe some plastic sea creatures. By displacing water at one end, the tube slipped back into itself and shot the pearl water wiggly right out of your hand. It was so simple, yet so entertaining. I bet it was your stress-relieving companion.
They went by a variety of names. On the street, they were known as Squishies. Some circles called them Water Snakes. But whatever you called them, you were judged by how many you had and how big they were. We had a lot of strange obsessions as a child, but nothing was more inexplicable than the handheld squishy. It was a tactile miracle!
#10. Hit Clips
In the early 2000s, you only had a few ways to listen to music on the go and they all had their downsides: CDs were prone to skip all the time, cassettes were outdated, and mini discs were way too expensive. HitClips were first distributed by McDonald’s when they released music by NSYNC and Britney Spears. Do you remember them?
The anatomy of most original HitClips devices was the same. Each player was about two inches long, had a slot for the chip, a single headphone wire that connected to an earpiece, a “Play” button, and a clip on the back so that users could conveniently fasten the devices to their clothing. The audio was mono, sounded terrible, and it could only play a 60-second sample of a song. Funny, right?
#9. Lite-Brite
Lite-Brite definitely made up the better part of my tween-age years. As you may recall, the game consisted of a light box and plastic pegs that could be arranged to create an illuminated picture, either by using one of the included templates or by creating a freeform image on a blank sheet of black paper. The colors were vibrant and I’m pretty sure that your eyes lit up as you saw the creations you made.
There is no doubt that its enduring popularity owes more than a little to the creative outlet it has provided millions of children and adults alike. This toy allowed you to be creative in a very different way. Of course, for each masterly plotted creation a child managed to plug in piece by piece, there were at least a few of the pointy little pegs waiting to be stepped on. It was worth every yelp!
#8. Fisher-Price Barn Vintage
The Play Family Farm is not only the first playset created for The Fisher-Price Little People but also, it remains as its best-selling playset. When we were kids, there was nothing more entertaining than the “little people” in a school bus, on a farm or a play garage, the house, the ferries wheel…
When the left barn door was opened, it made a “moo-moo” sound. I loved my Fisher Price farm and my animals. These were toys I will always cherish and hold these memories close to my heart! I made up such great stories! And my green shag carpeting was my imaginary wheat and cornfields!
If you think this toy marked a whole generation, wait to see the next one!
#7. Plush Puppy
These dogs were produced by Hasbro from 1991 to 1993. The surprising part is that the mom dog had a Velcro pocket in her tummy which contained an unknown number of puppies. The truth is that this toy raised questions about where the puppies actually came from.
The bigger surprise was that you didn’t know how many puppies Mommy dog had until you bought it and opened her up. My sister had one of these. I remember being in the toy aisle in a store after these came out and the packages were all ripped open from parents wanting to check how many puppies they were getting before they bought them. They didn’t seem to understand the “surprise” concept.
#6. McDonalds 2000 Disney Dinosaur
Do you remember when they had these at McDonald’s and they were literally the best thing ever? McDonald’s was the place to be in the 90s. It wasn’t just a restaurant, it was a party. Now is a totally modern experience: touch screens, miles of beverage options and, above all, endless sauces to dip your nuggets in.
Let’s go back to that time when the Happy Meal was the most anticipated meal of the week. The quality of the toys was great, like these hand puppets. My sisters’ and I watched the movie over and over! It was one of our first DVDs! We had Kron and a Carnotaurus! Keep on reading to know which are our last five chosen.
#5. Bop It
The original Bop It was released in 1996. It quickly became a popular children’s toy with later models winning numerous BATR Electronic Game of the Year awards. It was an audio game where play consisted of following a series of commands issued through speakers by the toy, which had multiple inputs including pressable buttons, pull handles, twisting cranks, spinnable wheels, clickable switches – with pace speeding up as the player progressed.
This game was the first of what was later to become a series of Bop It games relying on the same set of basic patents. Gameplay was predicated upon a player’s efforts to match the commands issued by the Bop It in a timely manner by performing the task that was commanded. Thus if the Bop It was to call out “Bop it!” the player must quickly depress the “Bop It!” button.
#4. Nickelodeon Moon Shoes
Moon shoes were shoes fitted for children that had springs in them, making the children jump higher and feel like there was no gravity, just like on the moon. They were basically like little trampolines for children’s feet. These were made out of plastic, thus making them much safer, and featured closed sides and bungee-style springs.
The original moon shoes were introduced in the 1950s and were metal in construction. They were made to fit over the wearer’s regular shoes much in the same way as clamp-on roller skates. Nickelodeon’s version came with two bases, two shoe platforms, 100 rubber bands and an instruction sheet. If you’re eager to relive your glory days as an imaginary astronaut, you’re on time. There’s a whole lot of these on eBay, by the way.
#3. Daisy Flower Sprinkler
When introduced in 1997, the sprinkler was sold in a box and the flower was only available in yellow. During the late 1990s, the display box was replaced with a simple round display card and the flower was available in yellow, blue, and red. After the turn of the century, the flower was slightly redesigned to include a blue disc with white water splash designs behind the flower.
Crazy Daisy sprinkler made hot days amazing! It squirted children with water as it moved about. The Daisy had a green base and pole “stem”. The top of the pole was flexible and it had a flower on the end and the water squirted out of the center of the flower. Whenever there was an ordinary garden hose, fun was guaranteed!
#2. Sit’n Spin
This object was practically an improved version of an empty box because it did nothing but spin, but somehow it still provided hours of entertainment. I bet you remember super funny anecdotes. I remember all the children staggering, including me. It was like a frat party minus the frat.
The concept was simple. Sit on the disk. Grab the handle. And spin your cares away. However, this device ended up turning children into reeling little zombies.
#1. Skip It
I will give you some clues to remember this toy. It came in fun colors that complemented the coolest fitness clothes. Unlike other toys of yesteryear such as Tamagotchis, the knockoffs were all pretty amazing. It counted reps for you, which made them one of the first and most fun fitness trackers. Last clue: it could make you feel ridiculously coordinated.
We’re talking about Skip-It! It was originally designed in the 1980s with a plastic hoop that would go over the child’s ankle that was connected to a weighted ball at the end and was connected by a plastic cord. The point of the toy was to skip over the cord as the ball went 360 degrees around the child. It also included accessories such as stickers, glitter, designs and other decorations so they could be customizable as well as display a colorful show when they were whipped around.