There’s a lot of ugliness in the world right now, particularly for those of us in the United States who are approaching the most dreaded U.S. election in recent memory. (I already voted, though, so someone please wake me when it’s all over.) You don’t need me to remind you of the hatred and ignorance that abounds right now, however. No, you need me to help distract you from it. So here are some vintage Fisher-Price toys that will make you all nostalgic for what we now realise were much simpler — if not necessarily better — times.
Fisher-Price has created a “Toy Museum” Instagram account featuring the company’s most beloved toys from each decade, starting with the 1930s and going all the way up through the 2010s. So many of these toys are still made today, albeit with sleeker, more modern styling. That’s why it’s fun to see things like the toy-maker’s original farm from 1968 (that cow is cuter than today’s cow, though, I must say).
Other toys, like the corn popper we all know and love, have hardly changed at all, having been designed nearly perfectly from the get-go — although the handle was admittedly an upgrade:
I was a child of the 1980s, so it should be no surprise that my deepest, most satisfying nostalgia came from a certain pair of yellow and blue plastic roller skates. Also, this bad boy:
Sure, you can use this Instagram account as I did, a bright little escape from These Dark Times. But Lifehacker’s Deputy Editor Jordan Calhoun has another possible use for it: “Terrify your kids with what toys were like when you were their age.” (Jordan doesn’t have kids himself, but this statement shows his innate father potential.)
Once you’re done horrifying your kids and the like, you can also visit Fisher-Price’s “museum gift shop,” which has some kitschy gift ideas that pay homage to your favourite classic toys.
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