What toys did you play with as a kid?

[Moptop]

One of my favorite toys was a little reel to reel tape recorder that my parents gave me for Christmas one year. I still have and the tapes that I recorded on it. It sure is a trip down memory lane listening to them hearing the voices of family who are long since gone and friends I haven't seen in a lifetime.

 

[hoponlilmama]

One of my favourites was my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figurines (at the time Michelangelo was my favourite). I still kick myself for getting rid of them in my teens.

Does anyone remember the stuffed toy Popples? You could roll into a ball. I loved that thing!

 

[XanderesqueMan]

One of my favourites was my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figurines (at the time Michelangelo was my favourite). I still kick myself for getting rid of them in my teens.

I had some of those too. They were great. They were so resilient. Which is a major bonus when you're kid. Toys get dropped, left places they shouldn't, accidentally stepped on, whatever.

You said ""was"—did your favorite turtle change? My favorite was and remains Donatello.

Does anyone remember the stuffed toy Popples? You could roll into a ball. I loved that thing!

I do not remember this. The name has me all curious, though. Popples is, shall we say, a unique name. 🙂

 

[wolfheart]

These are popples, looked it up, hooray internet!

 

[hoponlilmama]

I had some of those too. They were great. They were so resilient. Which is a major bonus when you're kid. Toys get dropped, left places they shouldn't, accidentally stepped on, whatever.

When they released a new set for the 25th anniversary, I may or may not have purchased a set.
(spoiler: I did 😁).

You said ""was"—did your favorite turtle change? My favorite was and remains Donatello.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Mikey, but over the years I grew to love Raphael.

I do not remember this. The name has me all curious, though. Popples is, shall we say, a unique name. 🙂

Popples!
Popples - Wikipedia

 

[XanderesqueMan]

When they released a new set for the 25th anniversary, I may or may not have purchased a set.
(spoiler: I did 😁).

Nothing wrong with that. As the Fourth Doctor said, what's the point of being an adult if you can't be a child sometimes. Jelly baby? 😉

Don't get me wrong, I still love Mikey, but over the years I grew to love Raphael.

I feel bad for Leo. I like Leo. I think most people do. Yet I've never met anyone who has him as a favorite turtle. It's true what they say. It's lonely at the top. 😛

Popples!

Popples - Wikipedia

Thanks for the link. As G.I. Joe taught me, knowing is half the battle. 😉

For anyone else who had no idea about these things, here's a picture of the little buggers. Well, one little bugger at any rate.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I absolutely looooooved dolls (still do!) and was a total Barbie fanatic. My mom got paid every Friday and she would usually stop at Walmart on her way home on Fridays and get my sister and me a new Barbie. Back then a brand new Barbie was only about $10, so it was doable. We had just about every Barbie from the 80's and 90's and we played with them alllll. I also loved my Pound Puppies, Popples, and JEM and the Holograms dolls.

When I was at my grandmother's, though, she had a farm so I spent a lot of time playing outside with things like yard darts (which have now been banned).

 

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

When I was very young, my mom worked at Mattel...she was one of the people who assembled Barbies. She'd pocket a few of the heads at the end of her shift and bring them home for me.

Flash forward to 2026 and I have a massive Barbie collection. At the moment, there's roughly 70 of them. If there was a fire, I'd grab my dolls, family albums, and my teddy bear. Priorities!

 

[thrasherpix]

I was born in 1982.

I didn't play with many toys, and most of those I did was over with friends or my grandmother's. Toys I recall playing with include Etch a Sketch, Lite Brite (I loved this one), speak and spell (or whatever you call it), and one (starting at age 4) in which you point an arrow to an animal and pull the string to hear what animal it is and the noise it makes. I also recall a Fisher Price toy record player that I'd play and dance to by the time I was 4.

There was also a sit and spin that I played with (belong to a friend) until almost until my teens.

I had my own can of pick up sticks. I got very good with that.

I read a lot starting at age 5. I also did puzzle books and game (choose your adventure type) books. Heh, I still remember a brilliant one in which to turn to the page of your choice you had to add the numbers given to find where you continue.

Oh! I taught myself basic math by age 6 using flash cards that put me years ahead of other kids. Some adults thought I just memorized the answers, but nope, I understood how to do the math.

I also played a bunch of board games (and one tic tac toe like game that I think was called Connect Four). I remember Chutes and Ladders. I vaguely recall Candy Land. There was also one in which you used rubber snakes to pick up marbles but I can't recall the name of that.

There was also plenty of checkers, chinese checkers, and as I got older (early teens) there was the card game Uno and a boardgame called Life. None of these were actually mine, but I had plenty of access to them.

Finally, there were games like paper fortune teller and M.A.S.H.. I played those with friends a lot in elementary school (and maybe into 6th grade), though I never took it that serious.