Vintage Fisher Price baby toys from the 70s and 80s were simple but effective. Take the iconic crib activity center, with its bright colors and moving parts. It might seem basic by today’s standards, but back then, it was a magical world of spinning dials and clicking beads. Toys like this helped babies develop motor skills, and they were built to last — so many of them are still around today.
Another classic was the Chatter Telephone (yes, you can still buy it today!), a toy that not only introduced babies to the world of sound but also let them mimic grown-up behaviors. It was fun, interactive and charmingly designed to look like a rotary phone. These toys, with their cheerful faces and interactive features, encouraged imaginative play long before screens took over.
From baby walkers to shape sorters, Fisher Price offered toys that were practical and educational. Many of these toys were designed with safety in mind — rounded edges and sturdy plastic kept kids safe while they explored. Parents appreciated how these toys could entertain and teach their little ones without requiring batteries or complicated instructions.
Below, we’ve gathered a collection of vintage Fisher Price baby toys from the 70s and 80s, along with old ads that capture the nostalgic charm of these classics.
Fisher-Price makes toys you can trust with a baby. (1978)
Whether you’re a first-time mother or you have several toddlers tugging at your skirts, you know that having a baby in the house is a job and a half.
That’s why Fisher-Price makes Crib & Playpen Toys. They’re toys that you can really trust with a baby. Toys that can safely stand up to a powerful young curiosity, and hold a baby’s attention day after day.
Baby’s First Blocks are bright, chewable shapes to stack up, knock over and poke inside the puzzle top lid of their own storage canister.
Our new Tub & Pool Toys are fascinating enough to keep baby busy even when you’re washing his ears. There’s even a floating clam that squirts and a hippo that pours.
There are Teethers & Rattles, musical toys, activity toys and more. All are made to keep their insides inside and their outsides smooth and safe. Best of all, they’re designed to get babies happily involved and mothers really relaxed. Because Fisher-Price knows you need all the help you can get.
Inexpensive vintage toys for birthdays, rainy days, and visit-to-grandma days
Fisher-Price presents good, clean fun – Baby bath toys (1986)
Fisher-Price designs toys from a baby’s point of view (1987)
When Fisher-Price designers created this Dancing Animals Mobile, they literally stretched out on their backs, so they could look up and see exactly what babies see. That’s why our colorful animals are placed at just the angle babies enjoy most. The one with the best view.
All Fisher-Price toys are looked at from the child’s standpoint. We even try to think as they do.
What seems good to chew? What expression on a toy’s face causes the most giggles? What’s too big or too small? Or just right? The result: lots of happy babies. And from a parent’s point of view, nothing’s better.
Fisher-Price makes toys you can trust with a baby (1980)
We know that curious babies are a lot stronger than they look. That’s why we designed every Crib & Playpen toy to stand up to everything a lively infant can dish out. And so mom can really relax while baby has a rollicking good time.
When rain, rain won’t go away, it’s definitely a Fisher-Price day. (1987)
Every mother knows that time when the storm clouds outside threaten to make things stormy inside. That’s why Fisher-Price makes toys that can keep a child sunny and bright and busy all day long.
Watch your baby with Baby’s First Blocks, pushing and poking them through the shape-sorter lid on the storage canister. Then there’s Tag-Along-Turtle, to plod along in the footsteps of your toddler. It’s instant cheer.
Your older children will find endless adventures with our Adventure People toys. Invading the wilderness under the table with their Northwoods Trailblazer is just one of a series of exploits. And My Friend Mandy has two enchanting new spring outfits, one for tennis, one for rain.
There are Play Family toys, activity toys, musical toys, dolls and trucks and more. They’re all designed to turn a rainy day into fascinating fun. What we like to call a Fisher-Price day.
Vintage Fisher-Price infant toy ad: We watch babies (1982)
“At Fisher-Price, the more we watch babies, the more we know what our next toy should be.” – Dr Paula Abrams-Smith, Child Psychologist
At Fisher-Price we run child research programs continuously. In addition to our nursery school, we run a special program for infants, where we set the babies down in cribs, in playpens, in high-chairs, on the floor and give them all kinds of toys to play with.
Then we watch them play. And while they’re playing, we’re learning. To discover the play value of a particular toy, we observe how long it can hold their interest.
Babies have a relatively short attention span, so we look for a toy that can fascinate them, not just the first time. But again and again!
We know that the first color babies are likely to respond to is red. Then yellow. Then blue. Then green. And they like contrast.
That’s one reason why we make all our Activity Toys with vivid colors against a white background. They attract a baby’s eye, and as the baby develops she is drawn into new activities and skills by these colors and designs.
Speaking of designs, we know that when babies see a smile, they smile back. That’s why you won’t see any frowns on our baby toys. They’re all smiles.
Have you noticed that when you put your finger in a newborn’s hand, he’ll grab it? That’s a reflex. But soon, whatever he grabs, he looks at. Eventually, a baby learns how to “grab” with his eyes, so he can look up for a thing and pick it up himself.
To look, to reach out, and to get what you want is an impressive accomplishment. Our Animal Grabbers are based on this very aspect of child development. They’re grabbable, chewable and have amusing faces to make a baby smile.
So you see, the more we watch babies developing and learning, the more we know what our next Crib & Playpen Toy should be.”
Vintage crib & playpen toys by Fisher-Price
FisherPrice makes toys for the do-it-yourselfer.
Some people think of babies as small, helpless beings who do nothing but eat, sleep and make cute gurgly sounds. But Fisher-Price has always known that babies are constantly busy: look-ing, touching and finding out what makes things go.
And so, the more you give these ambitious little people to peer at, poke at and push, the more they learn and the happier they are.
That’s why we created our Activity Center. It’s a veritable playground of wonderful things for babies to do all by themselves. In their own crib or playpen.
A curious forefinger pushes one button and aha! a bell rings. A plump little palm pats a bright cylinder and it spins and rattles very amusingly. Then there’s a mirror to smile at. A phone dial to twirl.
In fact, there are ten intriguing activities in our Activity Center. Each very satisfying to learn and play with. Fisher-Price makes lots of toys this way.
For example, now there’s a Musical Activity Center, too, with a music box a baby can actually work, before being skilled enough to use the usual wind-up kind. All she has to do is push down on the Puppy, and a tune will play.
For longer play, you can help out by pushing it up and down a few times. All eleven of the activities are, of course, baby-activated as well.
Learning doesn’t stop, even when you take baby traveling. Our Fun-To-Go Play Center is a soft quilted toy that folds into your diaper bag and pops open to display eight fascinating activities.
With its Velcro strap, it can fasten to the carseat, the stroller or the supermarket cart. These are just a few challenging, but never frustrating toys from our Crib & Playpen collection. Each designed so baby can think: “I can do that.”
One Response
One of my very earliest memories was of the Fisher-Price Activity Center (back in the early 60s it was called a “Busy Box”, I believe). My daughter had one in the 80s. I don’t know if they’re still around, but there are devices like it that attach to cribs and car seats.