Fisher-Price Little People brought tiny towns and big fun to the playroom
The earliest versions arrived in the 1950s, tucked inside wooden pull toys. By the mid-1960s, Fisher-Price had developed the Play Family series — the wooden-bodied, plastic-headed characters that could sit in cars, fit in houses and take part in any story a kid could imagine. The design was basic but perfect for what it set out to do.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Fisher Price Little People became a full-on system of toys. You could build out entire communities with garages, airports, houses, boats, schools, and carnival rides. The figures and sets evolved too, eventually becoming all-plastic, while keeping the same size and style that made them so easy to swap between sets.
In 1985, the name Little People became official, and the brand kept growing. A redesign came in the 1990s, when safety standards led to chunkier figures with more molded details. That change marked the end of the classic style, which only increased interest in the vintage versions from earlier decades.
In a notable tribute to their cultural significance, the Fisher-Price Little People were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2016.
Even now, Fisher Price Little People have a loyal fan base. Collectors search for rare sets, parents pass them down, and many people can still name their favorite character or set from memory. They’re simple toys that relied entirely on what a kid could bring to the story — which might be why they still hold up.
Below, we’ve collected vintage photos, old ads, and detailed info on Fisher Price Little People playsets from across the decades. Take a look back and see which ones you remember most.
Welcome to the Fisher-Price Play Family Village (1972)
Action garage, Farm house, Bath/Utility room set, Kitchen set, Patio set, School, Fun Jet, Mini-snowmobile, Musical Ferris wheel, Merry-go-Round, Fire engine.
Airport with jet, Play Family people, School bus, Mini-bus, Houseboat. All sold separately in individual sets.
Fisher-Price Toys don’t need batteries (1971)
The run the old-fashioned way. On child power. The strength of young imaginations. The endless energy of small bodies. The push and pull of a child’s curiosity on the way to learning something new.
Because Fisher-Price believes there’s too much push-button entertainment today. And once you’ve pressed a button, what else is there to do, Mommy?
Even our new Music Box Record Player is a toy of involvement. Not only doesn’t it need batteries (it winds up), it doesn’t even need a Mommy to supervise.
Our Play Family Toys, including a brand new Schoolhouse, give children the chance to run things their own way, on their own steam.
That’s another great thing about child power. When it’s exhausted, it goes to bed for the night. And wakes up — recharged.
Fisher-Price launches the Play Family Houseboat (1972)
(And goes completely overboard!)
Retractable springy diving board. 2 deck lounges. Tilt-up sun deck becomes carrying handle. Ashore, becomes a wheeled pulltoy. Table, 2 chairs and barbecue grill. Speedboat secure to davit or ties to stern.
5 Play Family passengers. 2 life preservers. All parts floatable and waterproof. When pulled on land, captain looks port and starboard, helm wheel turns, makes putt-putt sound.
Why Fisher-Price built the vintage Little People Play Family Castle (1974)
We believe every childhood needs at least one dragon, one knight in shining armor, a king and queen, a prince and princess, a brave woodsman, a royal coach, a secret passage, a trap door, a dungeon, a drawbridge and a moat.
And that’s how we came to build our Play Family Castle. A lovely place for once-upon-a-time to begin.
Fisher-Price introduces The Play Family Sesame Street (1975)
Here comes that friendly and funny Sesame Street gang from television, transformed into Play Family people [Little People] so your children can make up their own giddy happenings.
There’s Bert and Ernie with their own apartment. Mr Hooper with his soda fountain and newsstand. Oscar the Grouch in his garbage can. Big Bird has his own big nest. And of course, Susan and Gordon and the Cookie Monster.
There’s even a chalkboard on the back of the alley wall when it’s alphabet time. And all the other play pieces you see here.
Then when it’s pick-up-your-toys time, everything stows inside the brownstones, which lock shut for the night. Until the next time the sun shines on Sesame Street.
Fisher-Price Play Family Lift & Load Depot (1977)
It’s the beginning of an exciting new kind of Play Family toy. Because we know that a preschooler’s happiest occupation is putting things into things, moving them, dumping them and loading them all over again.
That’s the job of our new Lift & Load Depot. There’s a crank-operated conveyor and a crane on a track to shuttle crates and oil drums up and down, and back and forth. From warehouse to loading station to trucks.
There’s a dump truck, scoop loader and forklift, each with a driver. And lots of cargo to move.
Start the wheels rolling at the Play Family Lift & Load Depot and they’ll be playing overtime.
ALSO SEE: Vintage Fisher-Price dollhouses offered hours of playtime fun
Make way for the Fisher-Price Lift & Load Railroad
Vintage Fisher-Price Little People Play Family Nursery School playset (1978)
The Fisher-Price Play Family Nursery School shows how much fun school can be.
This cheery school is just the right size for preschoolers. The roof comes off to reveal four bright rooms, then it turns over to become the playground for the slide, merry-go-round, and teeter-totter.
The bus arrives with the driver and four pupils while the teacher has the table and chairs all ready. When school is over, everything fits neatly inside to be carried away by children two to five years old.
Vintage Fisher-Price Little People toys Offshore Cargo Base play set (1979)
It’s always busy at the Fisher-Price Offshore Cargo Base.
Settled on the playroom floor, or adrift on the waves in the tub, our Offshore Cargo Base can keep your children happily involved for hours. The platforms and parts look very real and all work together.
So the big crane can move cargo from its cargo hold to the barge. Then the helicopter can pick up the cargo net.
While the tough little tug is unhitched from the docking platform and sent on its appointed rounds. And the four-man crew helps make sure everything runs smoothly.
With so much activity, we made sure that our Offshore Cargo Base is strong durable and watertight. So it can weather years of lifting and loading upstairs, downstairs, indoors and out.
Vintage Fisher-Price play sets make a big, big world just the right size (1980)
That’s why all our Play Family [Little People] play sets are populated with simple little figures that fit in furniture and cars and trucks. And our new Woodseys are soft, furry animal people right out of their own little storybook world.
Vintage Fisher-Price Little People: Every kid should grow up in a small town (1989)
Vintage Fisher Price Little People play sets (1973)
Fisher-Price knows that the best toys leave lots of room for make-believe (1977)
Vintage Fisher-Price little people (1986)
Twenty years ago, Fisher-Price created the very first Little People play set. Today our Little People are more popular than ever…
The A-Frame dollhouse for Little People (1974)
This charming vacation house with twin balconies, twin decks, sleeping loft and dining terrace is the setting for four Play Family People and their dog to have fun.
Enroute, all the pieces fit inside, the terrace folds up into the roof, and snaps shut to form a carrying handle.
Fisher-Price A-frame features a chalet-type house with people, furniture, a car for hours of playhouse fun.
- Fireplace
- Built-in kitchen
- 4-passenger Jeep
- 4 bunk beds
- Picnic table
- 2 benches
- Fold-out terrace
- 2 chairs
- Barbecue grill
- Sliding doors
- Deck chairs
- Dinner bell
Fisher-Price Little People Fun Park. Small worlds for big imaginations. (1993)
Garage, bus & farm toys
Fisher-Price Little People are designed to make the most of your child’s active imagination
Take our new Fun Park. It has all the rides, twists and turns kids love, not to mention all the fun. On the Little People Farm, when they open the barn door it goes “moo.”
They can pick up their friends in the School Bus. And at the Little People Garage, they can even raise and lower cars on the special crank-up elevator.
With Fisher-Price Little People, fun is always just around the corner.
8 Responses
I remember these Fisher Price toys. Especially the cute little people. I had the school house.
Did Fisher Price make a Dunkin donuts store play set in the 1970’s
I remember these very fondly! I had the Ferris Wheel, Farm and my most prized one Sesame Street.
Am looking for the little people videos that came with the activity books for an autistic adult. This is all he asks for the ones he had VHS tapes have been worn to breaking and the books are long gone.
Please check out Little Blue Cup – https://www.facebook.com/LittleBlueCupSearch .
The group description sounds like just what you need: “The original LittleBlueCup Search project – helping children and adults with disabilities find the precious little things that mean so much to them.”
Good luck!
The little purple ice cream truck with a girl doll driver from 2 or 3 years ago?
I recall having the barn and the school bus. That would have been the first generation of Little People, and I remember the bodies of those early versions being made of wood.
I grew up on Fisher Price Little People. Still have some of the originals.The very early versions were wood, then came wood and plastic, then all plastic. Finally the size was increased, maybe for safety reasons.