See a dozen cute vintage play kitchens – toys for kids who wanted to pretend to cook, and have fun with mini appliances and plastic food.
vintage toys
The old VTech PreComputer 1000 from the 80s was a small 3-in-1 computer ‘teacher’ that helped kids learn touch typing and basic computer programming – plus had a 3500-word dictionary, and knew more than 1000 facts
Liddle Kiddles were tiny vinyl dolls with rooted, brushable hair, and were adorable and fun in a pocket size. No surprise they are considered collectible these days!
Anyone obsessed with vintage Strawberry Shortcake probably dreamed of these pieces of sugary sweet delight featuring their favorite gal – dolls and toys, of course, but also bedding, wallpaper, roller skates and more.
For decades after their introduction in 1963, Easy-Bake Ovens showed up on wish lists for Santa and for birthdays, and millions of them were sold. Take a look back!
Press the Clock-A-Word lever and new group of letters appears – the clock starts ticking and you try make the longest possible word fast.
Called ‘the world’s greatest toy catalog,’ vintage FAO Schwarz toy catalogs like this gives you a peek at what children of all ages loved to play with back in the sixties.
Remember apple head dolls – the early American craft with folk art roots that became popular again in the ’60s and ’70s? Find out how to make these shrunken apple dolls, and more about the art of dollmaking.
When you were a kid, there was nothing else like the joy of old-fashioned treehouses or forts: a little getaway that you built (maybe with some help) that could be a clubhouse or castle or spaceship or simply a place for a little peace and quiet.
Follow us backward through time, and check out dozens of the old roller skates that were so well-loved in the heyday of roller skating!
Soaky was a popular brand of bubble bath in the ’60s that kids loved because the plastic bottles were shaped like cartoon characters. See some here!
Tiny Tears was a very popular baby doll back in the ’50s – and the big selling point was that she cried ‘real’ tears – and wet her diaper.
Remember these classic Fisher-Price preschool toys, like the vintage corn popper, colorful xylophone, music box TV and chatter telephone?
Merlin, the ‘electronic wizard,’ was a red telephone-shaped toy used buttons, lights and sound effects to let kids play a variety of simple games, and was one of the earliest gaming consoles.
More than one billion Colorforms sets have been sold since the ’50s. They started with basic geometric shapes, then moved on to branded playsets.
Today’s toddlers ride in style in the sleek and racy, brightly-colored, low-slung plastic numbers like the vintage Big Wheel from Marx – that whiz, spin, skid, slide, race and even roar.
The first vintage Etch-A-Sketch toy was made back in 1960. It was a big seller from early on, and over the years, Ohio Art made several other creative, artistic toys – such as those shown here.
What better use to make of those big, clumsy cartons that once held ar new refrigerator or range? Make a fun toyland for the kids with these creative DIY cardboard box fort & playhouse ideas!
Have a look back at these cute vintage Fisher-Price dollhouses from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s! Take a look at how they changed over the years, and see which one you remember best.
It’s like going to the movies. Only better. With Fisher-Price Movie Viewer toys, kids could run short films all by themselves, just by turning a handle. In slow motion, speeded up or backwards.
This easy-to-make vintage cardboard dollhouse is a project that can grow with your children! Here’s how you can make it – along with tips for cute ways to decorating the little play house.
These vintage Rig-a-Jig toy sets were popular back in the fifties, and were sort of a hybrid of TInkertoys, Lego and an Erector Set. See how they worked, and what you could create with them, here!
Put together a half dozen pieces of this DIY fun furniture for kids, and your child will have endless play ideas. Made from just one simple box construction, the pieces are great for pretend games, the right size to use as table and chairs.
The Campbell Kids appeared in Campbell’s Soup advertising for decades, always with those little round faces. Here, see dozens of vintage toys, cups and more with their images, find out how they began, and meet the artist!
Look back at these cute vintage Tinkerbell manicure kits, BO-PO (Brush-on, peel-off) nail polish and other beauty treats marketed to little girls back in the ’70s and ’80s. Lots of memories here!
Back in the seventies and eighties, these vintage Fisher-Price dolls enchanted millions of little kids. They were available in a few different sizes, styles and colors, and you could get them a lot of different outfits.
These vintage Sew Magic & Sew Perfect toys were working sewing machines that let kids do real sewing, but without having to use needle and thread by hand.
What’s a Nauga? In the 1960s, the people behind Naugahyde vinyl upholstery found the unlikely answer. It turns out that the Nauga was an adorable monster-like mascot who made furniture a lot more fun.
How many of these cool vintage scratch-n-sniff stickers do you remember seeing? Can you vividly recall their scents, too? Here’s a look back at a collection of more than 50 of the decals.
With this easy vintage DIY puffy happy face pin project, it’s easy to put on a happy face, a funny face, or any kind of face you fancy with soft, cuddly cotton creatures!
These retro spinning circling train top were popular with kids in the sixties! Each one had a clear plastic dome with a mini locomotive inside.
This creative collection of ideas came from Crayola, the famous crayon maker, back in the 1950s. They suggest some simple old-fashioned ways for kids to have quiet fun at home with crayons and paper.
Take a look back at these vintage jewelry boxes that were so popular, including some with fold-out storage and – of course – spinning ballerinas.
When you joined this Young Model Builders Club back in the 1960s, with each kit, your child would get a booklet outlining the history and development of the original car or other object upon which the model was based
Take a look at more than 40 of the cute vintage plush toys and sweet stuffed animals that millions of kids cuddled back in the ’80s.
These old Betty Crocker Storybook Dinnerware sets featured vintage kid-friendly characters like Peter Rabbit, Raggedy Ann & Andy, 3 Little Pigs and more. See them again here!
These vintage play tunnels were mini passageways that kids could crawl through, play in, or even sleep inside. Here’s a look back at a few!
See some of the dozens of the most popular vintage board games from the ’30s & ’40s, including Camelot, Ro-Nock-O, Crow Hunt, Senet and more old-fashioned fun.
Originally played with people in place of the pieces, vintage Parcheesi had a long and unusual history before becoming the popular board game we know today.
The handheld Atari Lynx was a one-pound, portable video game system that (for the time) featured detailed graphics, sharp color and sound effects.
Retro pool toys like these plastic inflatables made summer twice as fun when you could float and play and create pretend worlds right in the swimming pool!
This old ad said you could toss these prehistoric dinosaur toys in the air, and they would always land on their feet. It sounded too good to be true… and it was.
The original Patsy, made simply with painted eyes and a small mouth, was very popular around the Great Depression. See a vintage Patsy doll here!
Make bedtime wonderfully wild with these lion and elephant quilted comforters for kids, that can turn nights from hassle to heyday. See how to make them here.
The ‘in’ gift of the year! Lava lamps are so unusual they defy description! You’ll want several! Beautiful! New! Exotic! Fascinating! Intriguing!
Here, take a look back at some of the most popular vintage Tuppertoys of yesteryear, including the now-iconic Tupperware shape sorter!
Take a step back into the beauty of yesteryear, and see some pretty vintage & antique Christmas decorations that were both charming and affordable.
Have a look at 126 of the most popular toys from the ’40s that millions of kids found under their Christmas trees back in 1948, courtesy of Santa… or from mom and dad.
With the vintage Growing Up Skipper doll, if watching a little girl grow up into a bosomy teenager seemed a bit much, just turn her arm back and she’s cute and young again.
Here are just a few of the toys you could find at a Woolworth’s store in the ’50s – the old discount retailer that seemed to sell just about everything!
Vintage Thingmaker toys were pretty basic – but so fun. Fill a mold with colorful plastic goo, then heat it up. The result: rubber bugs… and flowers, dragons, monsters, cars and more.
This vintage playhouse from the ’60s is a real house, with a Dutch front door and hearts and flowers dormers and a white picket fence.
Holly Hobbie was the old-fashioned girl dressed in calico with lace-up boots and an enormous sunbonnet who appeared on everything from curtains to clothing.
Why so much excitement? Because the teacher brings a basket brimming with weepuls — doughnut-hole-sized bits of brightly colored fur with shaky eyes and sticky feet.
See vintage Milton Bradley board games like Uncle Wiggily, Candy Land, Go to the Head of the Class, Chutes & Ladders, Stratego, Concentration and others!
How to have fun with Lite-Brite: Put in the black picture outline, insert colored glow pegs, then watch them light up the screen with your fun design!
The Hula Hoop fad had millions of children and adults shaking their hips to make the hoop spin. See what the craze was all about – and how to hoop!
The Dorothy Dot “Around the World” paper doll series ran in newspapers (such as the Los Angeles Herald and Salt Lake Tribune) in 1909. As much as some
Here are several cute paper doll sets – as well as clothing and furniture for the doll – that were published in newspapers back in 1911.
Explore the rise of vintage video games in the 1970s and their impact on home entertainment!
