25 Popular Toys Every Kid Wanted in the 1950s ...Saudi Arabia

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Toy designs have changed a lot over the years, but one thing remains true: they're still a pivotal part of the childhood experience. After all, letting your imagination run wild while playing with your favorite toys is one of the simple joys of being a kid. Even as adults, it's fun to reminisce and look back on the toys you were into when you were younger. We've been feeling nostalgic lately, so Parade decided to travel back in time and take a look at the most popular toys every kid wanted in the 1950s.To create our list, Parade consulted multiple toy collectors to find out which toys resonated the most with children of the '50s. We tapped an all-star team consisting of the following pros: Grant Zahajko, the owner and auctioneer of Grant Zahajko Auctions LLC, Christopher Byrne (aka The Toy Guy), a toy analyst, researcher and consultant, and Phil Weiss of Weiss Auctions.Together, our experts share a comprehensive list of all the hottest toys kids couldn't wait to get their hands on in the 1950s. The best part? Some of them are still popular today!From action figures to board games and everything in between, there's bound to be at least one or two toys on this list that spark some fond memories. Think we missed something? Leave us a comment and share your favorite 1950s toys.Related: 7 Best ’50s Hairstyles, According to a Celebrity Stylist

Similar to many other decades, the 1950s had a unique vibe and a whole crop of toys that defined a generation."The 1950's revolutionized the toy industry with the advent of television advertising,plastic molding and postwar prosperity," Zahajko tells Parade. "Iconic debuts included Mr. Potato Head, Silly Putty, Play-Doh, the Hula Hoop and Barbie, alongside staples like Matchbox cars, Fisher-Price and Frisbees."Byrne describes the 1950s as a "significant time in the toy industry.""With the end of World War II, plastics and other materials developed for World War II were finding their way into consumer products," he explains. "The first Boomers were emerging as a viable market, particularly teenagers. It was really during this period that teenagers as we know them today emerged and became a social force."He also notes that the modern toy industry emerged from this decade with a focus on "youth, increased free time and the boom of media.""For the first time, kids around the country were unified by what they saw on TV," he explains. "There probably wasn’t a bigger icon of the era (at least for kids) than Captain Kangaroo. Starting in 1955, if a toy appeared on that show, it became a hit. Colorforms, Schwinn Bikes, Crayola 64 Crayon Box and many more got into kids’ lives via the Treasure House."

25 Popular Toys Every Kid Wanted in the 1950s

1. Hula hoop

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Zahajko says the 1958 hula hoop craze was "a massive, short-lived, mid-century fad.""At the height of its popularity (around 1959), more than 25 million hoops were sold in the U.S. in four months," Byrne adds. "The basic hoop was $1.99 when it launched, and a giant hoop was $2.99."Something interesting about this toy was the fact that "the entire culture took it for a spin," per Byrne, meaning adults were also curious to get in on the trend.

2. Silly Putty

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Silly Putty was originally created "as an alternative to rubber," per Byrne, but it didn't work so well since it bounced."As a means of expediency and since it was around Easter, the first distributor, Peter Hodgson, packed it in plastic eggs that he could ship in egg cartons. It’s still made [that way]," he says.Weiss calls Silly Putty one of his "all-time favorites." "It could be rolled into a ball and bounced. And when you were finished, you could store it back in the plastic egg-shaped container it came in," he says.

3. Mr. Potato Head

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"Mr. Potato Head broke one of the cardinal rules of childhood: Don’t play with your food," Byrne states. "It became one of the most popular toys of the decade. The early models were a body with a spike, which you could put a real potato on (and later, other veggies) to decorate."Mr. Potato Head also made history when it became the first toy advertised on TV in 1952, per Zahajko. This "revolutionized marketing by being the first ad campaign targeted directly at children rather than parents," he says. In the 1960s, a plastic potato was released.

4. Slinky

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Mr. Potato Head and Slinky have one special thing in common: they're both toys that became iconic characters in the Toy Story film series. Slinky toys were invented in 1943, but Zahajko notes that they didn't make their public debut until 1945 in the Gimbels Department store in Philadelphia, PA.Per the Strong National Museum of Play, mechanical engineer Richard James invented the Slinky "by accident.""In 1943, he was working to devise springs that could keep sensitive ship equipment steady at sea," the museum's website reads. "After accidentally knocking some samples off a shelf, he watched in amazement as they gracefully 'walked' down instead of falling. Along with his wife, Betty, James developed a plan to turn his invention into the next big novelty toy."

5. Play-Doh

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"Play-Doh started life as a wallpaper cleaner. When Joe McVicker realized it could be modeled, he made a batch for his sister-in-law’s preschool class, and they loved it. The rest is history," Byrne says. "Play-Doh has been part of every generation since, and its smell is iconic, even inspiring a perfume in 2006 for its 50th anniversary. Play-Doh is still made today, and while slime and compounds are hot right now, Play-Doh is holding its own."

6. Lincoln Logs

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"Lincoln Logs were invented around 1916 by John Lloyd Wright, the second son of well-known architect Frank Lloyd Wright," Zahajko shares. "The famous construction toy was inspired by his father’s earthquake-resistant design for the Imperial Hotel." While playing, kids could stack the logs to build log cabins. The toy remains relevant to this day and was inducted into the Strong National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999.Related: Labubu Restock Guide: Everything You Need To Know To Snag One

7. Colorforms

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Like many great inventions, Colorforms came about by accident."Art students Harry and Patricia Kislevitz were making shapes out of vinyl sheets when they discovered they would stick to the walls," Byrne shares. "They started small, selling their sets, which were more abstract shapes, through FAO Schwarz. But, wait for it, when it was shown on Captain Kangaroo, the sets really took off."As a result, Colorforms had an "expansive licensing program with characters ranging from Shari Lewis to The Dukes of Hazzard," he says.As a child, Weiss was fond of Colorforms and enjoyed that you could make your own scenes and stories "by peeling plastic-shaped images of objects and people and placing them down to form pictures."

8. Yo-yo

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Yo-yos were hot in the 1950s, but Zahajko says they're actually "one of the world's oldest toys.""Yo-yos have roots tracing back to roughly 500 B.C. in Greece, and possibly earlier in China," he states. "While ancient versions were made of clay or wood, the modern toy was popularized in the 1920s by Filipino immigrant Pedro Flores, with Donald Duncan later revolutionizing its marketing."

9. Etch A Sketch

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Weiss calls this next toy one of his "favorites" but admits that its design is "a bit frustrating.""It's a TV screen with dials that allowed the user to draw lines and images," he explains. "You could erase the screen by shaking it and start again."Etch A Sketch turned out to have real staying power and is still around today.

10. View-Master

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"Ever since its debut at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the View-Master has fascinated and engrossed children and adults alike and offered three-dimensional images," Zahajko says.According to the Strong National Museum of Play, the original View-Master featured reels with "views of scenic attractions around the country." Fast forward to 1951, and View-Master acquired film-strip production company Tru-Vue and "licensing rights to all Disney characters." The brand would later create reels of "virtually every major kids’ show and motion picture."

11. Barbie

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Barbie wasn't created until 1959, but she still caused quite a stir in the late 1950s and is now one of the most popular toys around."Barbie, based on the German novelty doll Bild Lilli, became Ruth Handler’s crusade," Byrne explains. "Over the objections of the male Mattel management, she got it on the market as a way for kids to play out their aspirations for being teenagers."Before Barbie was released, he notes, most fashion dolls were paper dolls. "Ruth changed all that," Byrne states.

12. Little People

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When Fisher-Price debuted its Safety School Bus in 1959, Little People figurines became a hit, per Byrne."What followed was a bunch of sets that kids loved," he shares. "Over the years, the characters have become more realistic, and now they are collectibles with many different characters being memorialized as Little People."

13. Gumby

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Byrne says Gumby was "one of the first TV-inspired toys" and was based on Art Clokey’s claymation show."Gumby was loved for his whimsical, childlike nature. With his best pal Pokey the horse, he was just weird enough to be adorable," the toy expert says. "He had more or less retreated into toy obscurity until Eddie Murphy brought him back on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s. It was one of the first examples of a kids’ toy becoming an ironic comic bit for the now-older kids who’d loved the original when it first came out."Related: 35 Things in Your House Right Now That Could Be Worth Money, According to Certified Appraisers

14. Tonka Trucks

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In the 1940s, Lynn Baker, Avery Crounse and Alvin Tesch invented Mound Metalcraft. The brand was later renamed Tonka Trucks."Tonka originally manufactured garden tools. After acquiring patents for metal toys in 1947, the company shifted to producing durable, pressed-steel toy trucks, becoming a global leader by the 1960s," Zahajko says.

15. Matchbox cars

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Have you ever wondered where Matchbox cars got their name? "They were named that because creator Jack Odell put the miniature car he made for his daughter in a matchbox so she could take it to school," Byrne explains.Although they weren't the first die-cast cars, Matchbox cars "seemed to capture kids' imaginations," he shares."No one ever really knows why, but they were very present in displays in 5-and-10-cent stores, which prompted kids to want to collect that brand in particular. Plus, they expanded from contemporary replicas to Models of Yesteryear and later introduced playsets and road-building sets," the toy pro says. "Of course, as manufacturing became more sophisticated over the decade, the models became more realistic. They’re still made today by Mattel, and there is a huge collector community."

16. Lionel trains

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Zahajko refers to the 1950s as the "Golden Age of Lionel trains.""The company peaked in popularity, innovation and sales, driven by post-war prosperity and aggressive marketing," he says.Per the Strong National Museum of Play, engineering entrepreneur Joshua Lionel Cowen created the Lionel Manufacturing Company after customers noticed his electric train in a store window around 1900."Lionel built its reputation on train sets noted for their authentic detail, smooth-operating three-rail tracks, and transformers that allowed kids to vary the speed of their trains," the website reads. "This control, along with rolling stock of coal cars, refrigerated cars, and box cars, gave boys an appealing real-world sense of commerce and success."

17. Western TV genre toys

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While looking back on the 1950s, Weiss notes that the decade was "loaded with great TV Western character toys.""Cap gun sets, costumes, board games and other merchandise based on characters like Gunsmoke, Roy Rogers, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Paladin, etc," he shares. "These toys today are only of interest to the old-timers who remember watching them."

18. WHEE-LO

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WHEE-Lo toys were a fad in the 1950s, per Weiss, but you can still find similar toys today."It's a handheld wire mechanism with a spinning wheel that circled back and forth with the action of your wrist," he shares. "To me, it was entertaining for a short time, but then got monotonous and boring. But it was incredibly popular back then."

19. Toys based on TV shows

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TV shows have been inspiring toys for ages. In the 1950s, Weiss says that Howdy Doody was one of many shows that spurred the creation of different toys."Pelham Puppet Company made marionettes of all the characters and made a cardboard accessory theater to put on shows with them," he notes. "In the original boxes, they are still pricey today, but not a long-lasting popular toy for the kids. I think once the show left the air, the popularity of the toys decreased, except to those that wanted to get their childhood back."

20. Candy Land

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After Candy Land was invented in the 1940s, generations of children have grown up playing the game. It went on to become a "long-lasting board game of the 1950s," per Weiss. "It's still popular even today. It was a bestselling board game of that period," he says.

21. Tinkertoy

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Zahajko says this "classic, interconnected construction toy" was very popular in the 1950s. The toy dates back to 1914 when stonemason Charles Pajeau invented it "after observing children playing with sticks and spools," he shares."The original design was based on Pythagorean theory to allow for 90-degree triangles, featuring wooden sticks and spools," he says.

22. Frisbee

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Equally beloved by humans and dogs alike, frisbees have been a sporty toy that has delighted generations of children and adults. Per Zahajko, Yale students used to toss metal pans from the Frisbie Pie Company and shout "Frisbie" to warn passersby. "However, disc sports can be traced back much further than that via many forms. The ancient Greeks were competing in discus from the 8th century B.C.," he says.According to Byrne, Walter Morrison partnered with Wham-O to develop Frisbees, and it then "became a mass-market sensation." "In the early years, it wasn’t promoted as a toy but rather as a sport," he notes.

23. Cootie

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This popular game was based on something pretty gross, according to Byrne: lice. "William Herbert Schaper called it 'educational,' but really what you were trying to do was be the first to build your cootie bug and then do 'the cootie dance' to celebrate (think of the song 'Cooties' from Hairspray the musical)," he says.

24. Tin toys

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Weiss notes that many companies began producing tin toys after World War II. Examples include tin toy robots, which Weiss says are still popular today and "have consistently increased in value over the years.""Robby the Robot was based on the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet. This toy has variations, with my favorite being Robby in a space car. Radicon Robot is another classic, and the list is endless," he shares.

25. Risk

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When the Parker Brothers acquired rights to this board game, they called it "the game of global domination," per Byrne."It was hugely successful as game launches go, but gameplay could take days. In recent years, Hasbro has introduced updated rules to make the game shorter," he says.Per the Strong National Museum of Play, Risk players "control armies of tokens on a world map board in attempts to capture adjoining territories from other players, battling by rolls of the dice." To win the game, you need to defeat your opponents and occupy all 42 territories on the board.Up Next:

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