Millennium Icons

Millennium Icon: Toys

A dried gourd may have been the first rattle to amuse infants of times past. And dolls, balls, toy animals and tops have been children's playthings for thousands of years. Such toys evoke powerful memories. What toys do you remember?

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Ancient Toys
Children in Ancient Greece play with tops. In Africa, they play with balls, toy animals and pull toys. Roman children play with boats, carts and hoops.

400s to 1500s
Marbles & Puppets
In Europe, during the Middle Ages, children play with clay marbles and puppets. Leather balls, toy weapons and soldiers are the next big thing.

1700s
Kites & Puzzles
Kites probably originated in China 3,000 years ago, but American inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin conducted a famous kite experiment in 1752. He flew a kite -- with a metal key attached on its string -- during a thunderstorm. When lightning caused the key to spark, Franklin knew it proved his theory that natural lightning is electricity.

In the 1760s, jigsaw puzzles feature maps.

1800s
Homemade Toys
In the United States, most children play with homemade toys or toys imported from Europe.

In 1817, Englishman David Brewster invents and patents the kaleidoscope, a viewable tube that displays brilliant, changing patterns.

Game pioneer Milton Bradley is born in Vienna, Maine, in 1836. He eventually invents a board game called the Checkered Game of Life.

In 1898, German immigrant Adolf Gund founds Gund toy company and makes his stuffed animals famous worldwide.

1901
Disney
Walt Disney is born in Chicago. By 1928, he creates the most famous mouse in the world, Mickey Mouse. Many more Disney characters are eventually introduced in toy form.

1902
Teddy Bears
Morris Michtom, a Brooklyn, N.Y., stationery and candy shop owner, asks President Theodore Roosevelt if he may mass-produce a bear called Teddy. When the president says yes, Michtom creates an American icon and starts a company called Ideal Toy & Novelty Co.

Pop Quiz!
Question: Why did Michtom want to name his stuffed bear "Teddy"?
Answer: Because Teddy Roosevelt had a run-in with a real bear

In November 1902, Roosevelt went bear hunting on the border of Mississippi and Louisiana. Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear that was captured by his traveling companions after it had been wounded by a hunting dog. The president asked that the bear be put to sleep humanely. The Washington Post immortalized the incident by publishing an editorial cartoon.

1903
Crayola
Crayola crayons make their debut in America. They come in a box of eight colors, selling for a nickel. Original colors: black, blue, brown, green, orange, red, violet and yellow. Many new colors are added over the years.

1913
Erector Sets
A.C. Gilbert creates the Erector set. Young boys build Ferris wheels, airplanes, trains and merry-go-rounds.

1914
Raggedy Ann
Raggedy Ann is created by John and Myrtle Gruelle for their daughter, who was stricken with tuberculosis.

1920s
Yo-Yos
Yo-yos become popular again when an American named Donald F. Duncan improves the toy.

Pop Quiz!
Question: What is the original meaning of "yo-yo"?
Answer: Come back

The word yo-yo originated in the Philippines, where people used the yo-yo as a weapon and a toy.

But the toy itself has been around for thousands of years. Ancient ones made of stone have been found in Greece, and evidence shows it also was played with in China.

Fun factoid: Did you know Donald F. Duncan invented the parking meter?

1929
Radio Flyer
Italian immigrant Antonio Pasin starts Radio Steel & Mfg. Co., and mass-produces the Radio Flyer wagon.

1930s
LEGOs & More
The LEGO company is born in Denmark. The name comes from founder Ole Kirk Christiansen's abbreviation of the Danish phrase "leg godt," or "play well."

Model railroading becomes a popular hobby in the United States.

Businessman Herman Fisher teams up with Irving Price, the mayor of Aurora, N.Y., and Helen Schelle, a toy store owner. They form Fisher-Price. Their most famous pre-war toy is Snoopy Sniffer, a pull toy that barks and wags its tail.

By 1934, millions of American boys zap each other with the Buck Rogers pistol.

In 1935, Parker Brothers introduces the free-wheeling, capitalistic game Monopoly.

1945
Slinky
The Slinky is born in Philadelphia. While working at a shipyard, Richard James, a civilian naval engineer, noticed a spring bouncing around and took it home. He decided to turn it into a toy when he discovered he could make the spring bounce down the stairs. His wife, Betty, flipped through a dictionary and chose "slinky" for the toy's name.

1947
Tonka Toys
Tonka Toys, a durable line of toy cars, becomes a hit.

1948
Scrabble
The anagram board game Scrabble is trademarked. It was originally created by an unemployed architect named Alfred Mosher Butts, who sold the rights to James Brunot.

1949
Silly Putty
A businessman named Peter Hodgson sees Gooey Gupp in a store and decides to buy the rights from James Wright. Hodgson renames it Silly Putty and packages it in a bright plastic egg.

Early 1950s
Model Trains & More
Train sets are American boys' most coveted toy.

Magic 8 ball is introduced. When people tire of the answers to the questions they ask the ball, they use it as a paperweight.

In 1952, Superman becomes a phenomenon.

Mr. Potato Head is introduced with fun facial accessories -- and a real potato for a head. His pipe eventually goes away in 1987 after anti-tobacco protests.

1955
Play-Doh & Davy Crockett
A New Jersey nursery school teacher, Joseph McVicker, creates Play-Doh. It is easier for young children to play with than old-fashioned modeling clay.

The Davy Crockett craze spawns the popular coonskin cap and an assortment of Western wear and accessories. The next big thing: toy guns.

1957
Frisbee
Wham-O< introduces the Pluto Platter but soon renames it Frisbee. Two years later, Wham-O releases the Hula Hoop.

Pop Quiz!
Question: What were the humble origins of the Frisbee?
Answer: A pie tin

In the 1920s, students at Yale University threw metal pie tins around for fun, yelling "Frisbie" to warn passers-by. The pin tins were made by nearby baking company called Frisbie.

Wham-O originally called the Frisbee "Pluto Platter" because of America's fascination with space and UFOs in the 1940s. But Americans mistook "Pluto" for Disney's cartoon character.

1959
Barbie
Barbie, created by Mattel founder Elliot Handler and his wife, Ruth, is introduced at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

Pop Quiz!
Question: Barbie is named after the Handlers' ...
Answer: Daughter

And Ken is named after the Handlers' son.

1960
Etch A Sketch
Ohio Art Co. introduces a visual-art toy: the Magic Screen Etch A Sketch. It originally is made with glass particles; now it uses aluminum.

1964
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe debuts. By 1967, he barks commands with the help of a pull-string device.

1965
Super Ball & Batman
Wham-O introduces the hard rubber, high-bouncing Super Ball. The following year, Batman eclipses Superman.

1969
Nerf Ball
The Nerf ball, made of a spongy material, is a hit because it means children can play ball indoors. Eventually, Nerf makes foamy footballs, bow-and-arrow sets and even guns and ammo.

1970s
Pong & Pac-Man
In 1974, Atari scores big in the home interactive entertainment industry with its PC-based game "Pong."

At the end of the decade, the dot-gobbling Pac-Man makes its debut in arcades and on PCs.

1981
Nintendo
Nintendo develops a coin-operated video game called "Donkey Kong." In 1994, Nintendo releases the Super Game Boy, a hand-held video game player.

1997
Tamagotchi
Tamagotchi, virtual pets in the form of a pocket-size computer, are programmed to "die," unless owners take care of them as they would "real" pets.

1999
Pokemon
Pokemon ("pocket monsters") trading cards are the rage among young collectors.

Future of Toys
Today's toy makers are creating furry companions that wiggle their ears and noses, follow you with their eyes, sing and dance as if they were real. The magic comes not from blue fairies, but from computer chips and circuitry.

This new generation of virtual playmates holds the promise of stimulating a child's imagination as never before. And tomorrow's creations will be true sensations.

All this is a titanic shift for toy makers: toys that interact with other devices. Instead of stale recordings, the toy can get fresh routines from the TV, the PC and the Internet.

Playthings with personality can help children learn about feelings and social relationships in a setting in which no one really gets hurt.

Cautionary advice: Microchip-charged companions are interesting novelty items and fine diversions, but some say they should not replace mommy or daddy reading bedtime stories, or other forms of play. "Smart toys" aren't always the most educationally valuable ones. Balance is the key, experts say. The inherent risk is the same as with dazzling computer games: They can isolate a child, rather than encourage play with other kids.

So toy labs of the future are incorporating microchips into playthings in ways that spark a child's creativity -- instead of snuffing it out.

Take Lego Mindstorms. It lets kids create their own interactive toys. The kit comes with hundreds of the Danish company's plastic building blocks, plus a microprocessor, motors and light and touch sensors. Accompanying computer software allows a child to write instructions for the toy, which can be downloaded via infrared transmitter. The result: a fully automated robot.

Related Links
Editor's note: These links will take you to Web sites with content we do not control or endorse.

Take a Toy Quiz
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/toys/quiz.html
Test your trivia (click "Submit your entry" at the bottom and ignore the registration form), from HistoryChannel

Top-Selling Toys
http://www.toy-tma.org/industry/news/topselling/annual.html
Listed by units or dollars, from Toy Manufacturers of America

Classic Toys Over Time
http://www.toy-tma.org/industry/news/classic.html
What debuted when, from Toy Manufacturers of America

Safety Guide for Parents
http://www.toy-tma.org/industry/publications/fpsp/fpsp.html
How to choose the appropriate toys for children, from Toy Manufacturers of America

Online Games
http://www.toy-tma.org/consumer/kids/gamelinks/index.html
Recommendations, from Toy Manufacturers of America

Sources
The Orange County Register/KRT; World Book; History Channel; "The Toy Book," by Gil Asakawa and Leland Rucker; "The Story of American Toys," by Richard O'Brien; Nintendo

Credits
Producer: Lily Chin/KRT
Designer: Ron Coddington/KRT
Photography: National Archives; Library of Congress; San Jose Mercury News/KRT

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