The word creepy, crawlers, and gross are a few words to describe a new line of toys from the 1980s. Creepy Crawlers Bug Maker allowed children to melt their very own “real” plastic toy bugs. The Garbage Pail Kids were the new collector’s items. They came in the forms of movies, dolls, and trading cards. Mad Balls were the hit for the most disgusting toy of the time. They were gross looking, squishing balls to throw to your friends. Many of these balls had floating eyeballs, fingers, or bugs inside of them.

On a sweeter side of toys you would find the Cabbage Patch dolls in 1983. The Cabbage Patch Dolls came with their very own special birth certificate. The Care Bears joined the scene in 1981 and we got Funshine Bear, Birthday Bear, and then who can forget the pink Love-a-Lot Bear with two hearts on her belly. Every little girl’s dream of having their very special pony were answered when My Little Pony joined us in 1981.

The world’s greatest minds enjoyed the Rubik Cubes challenge. The fastest record in unscrambling the cube was just 22.95 seconds. If you preferred a different kind of challenge, then the Simon Says game may just be your speed. Both of these mind challenging games made their appearances in the 80s and both are still very popular today. Beware these games may be eaten by the Hungary Hungary Hippos if your aren’t careful.

Who could resist the Rubik’s Cube? No matter how many times you tried to match up all the colors together, there was frustration because another color would would no longer match up. This surely kept those children in 1974 busy, and even today you are able to buy a Rubik’s Cube. Another challenging game that came out in the 1970’s was Simon, which allowed children to attempt to match the pattern that the computer made. If you missed or hit the wrong color you had to start all over again.

Of course we can not forget a big hit among the toddler/preschool generation when Hungry Hungry Hippos was released. This game included four hippos who we very hungry and needed to be fed little white balls. In order to win you had the be hippo who ate the most white balls. Don’t be fooled though about how easy it was, because as you are trying eat the white balls so are the competitors. The balls would go flying around the board game making it difficult for them to catch. As with other 1970’s popular toys you are still able to purchase this game for your children and watch them be the hungriest hippo.

Many other toys came out in the 1970’s that were very popular, and a majority of them are still on the market today. It seems that even though some of the toys may have changed slightly over the years, parents today are buying them for their children to enjoy. Could it be simply because they miss these toys themselves, or is it because they were made more durable during that time frame than the toys made in today’s market? Only the parents will ever know the answer.

Mattel Yackers Pull String Talkers. They were plush, and when their pull strings were activated, they spoke a phrase. They had several different phrases. Another attraction was that their mouths moved when they talked. They had many different animal characters. Some of them were Larry the Lion, Bernie St. Bernard, Chester O’Chimp, and Crakers the Parrot.

In 1965 Mattel introduced the See ‘N Say. They were an educational toy that developed from the success of the Chatty Cathy dolls. Farmer Says and Bee Says were the first two. The Farmer Says See ‘N Say made animal sounds and the Bee Says See ‘N Say taught letters with words that begin with each letter. Other models of See ‘N Say’s were the Mister Sound which used city sounds, Mister Music which taught musical instruments, Clock Says which taught time, and others.

The Etch A Sketch is made with a flat gray screen, and the 2 knobs in the front move the stylus which “etches” in aluminum powder. The knobs make the stylus go vertically or horizontally. It was invented in France, and when the Ohio Art Company purchased it in the 60’s, they named it the Etch A Sketch.

The game Operation was available in 1965 and created by John Spinello. The board consists of a cartoon man named Cavity Sam. He has a red bulb nose that would light up (with a buzzer) to signify the turn was over. Each player tries to remove elements of the body like the funny bone.