Toys from the 1960’s

These few posts will explore the cultural and generational changes through the toys of each decade – kinda fun and interesting.

Toys From The 1960s
With the inclusion of electricity and more complex parts, innovation struck toys hard in the 1960s. The Easy Bake Oven was released in 1963 as an extension of the 1950s “homebody” image so often illustrated on TV for young girls.

In the realm of board games, ingenuity continued to develop with games like Operation. Utilizing a simple electric board concept to buzz a losing player. Etch-a-sketch made its first appearance in 1960 and the simple, yet party style addictive Twister was introduced in 1966.

Of course, the 1960s were incredibly explosive, politically and socially. While toys don’t often reflect these changes, GI Joe, first released in 1964 is considered one of the biggest toys of the decade. The simple doll formula that had been successful in every decade before was integrated with the military and the imaginations of young boys. The result was a toy which found great success after decades of military operations including the Vietnam era.