If you were a kid in 1979, the popular toys that everybody wanted were cool, high-tech, and futuristic. Talking robots, early computers, and tech-driven learning gadgets took over the toy shelves.
Some classic toys, like the Barbie Dream House, held their own against the rise of electronics, but the most popular toys of 1979 made childhood feel a little more high-tech and a lot more unforgettable.
1. Barbie Dream House
Every Barbie fan wanted her Dream House when it was introduced in 1979, and it’s been a perennial favorite ever since. The original dream house was a fun modern house, with 1970s bright colors and groovy patterns. You could spend hours rearranging furniture or pretending that Ken had driven over for a visit.
2. Atari 400 Personal Computer
In 1979, this clunky keyboard and its attached tape deck were the future. When attached to your TV, you could use the Atari 400 to do everything from writing BASIC programs to playing Star Raiders in the living room. It wasn’t the most powerful machine, but it made computers feel accessible and fun. For a lot of kids, this chunky beige box was the first time technology felt personal.
3. Mego 2-XL Talking Robot
Mego’s 2-XL was a chubby little robot with a tape deck in his belly and a wisecracking voice that made trivia fun. Released in 1978 and still wildly popular in 1979, he used 8-track tapes to guide kids through quizzes and stories that responded to your button pushes. His voice had the charm of a Brooklyn uncle, and he felt way more interactive than most toys on the shelf.
4. Coleco Quiz Whiz
This chunky little handheld game from Coleco let kids test their knowledge with swappable quiz booklets and numbered buttons. You’d enter an answer, and it would light up to tell you if you were right. Released in 1979, it was just one of many educational toys trying to make learning feel like a game. It wasn’t flashy, but it was fun to play solo or challenge your friends and siblings to a quiz-off.
5. Speak & Spell
The iconic Speak & Spell looked like a little red computer and used a Texas Instruments voice synthesizer to help kids learn to spell by actually speaking words out loud. The flat membrane keyboard was tricky for small fingers, but Its fun design kept little kids engaged and excited to learn.
6. ROM The Space Knight
Released in 1979 by Parker Brothers, ROM the Space Knight was a 13-inch electronic action figure that combined two of the biggest toy trends of the late 1970s: space adventures and computers. ROM had a light-up visor, flashing chest panel, and sound effects triggered by his accessories, all powered by a backpack full of batteries. He came with his own sci-fi mythology, thanks to a Marvel comic series launched alongside the toy. Even if the technology was clunky by today’s standards, kids were hooked by the idea of a computerized space warrior battling evil across the galaxy.
6. Pocket Superheros from Mego
These shrunken superheroes were Mego’s response to the explosive success of Kenner’s Star Wars Toys. Like the Star Wars toys, the heroes were 3.75 inches tall, just the right size for coat pockets and school desks. The Incredible Hulk was really hot due to the popularity of the TV show starring Bruce Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, so he got a van and a Hideaway where he, along with Batman, Robin, Superman, and Spider-Man, could plan their missions.
7. Stretch Superheroes
Mego was determined to offer its own version of every hit toy the company didn’t already make. With Stretch Superheroes, they gave characters like the Incredible Hulk the goo-filled treatment to rival Stretch Armstrong. Kids loved yanking on Hulk’s massive green arms, but for anyone less into comics, Mego also included a transparent figure that let you stretch and inspect his squishy internal organs.
8. Baby Grows Up
I don’t know what was happening with dolls during the 1970s. Baby Grows Up wasn’t as unsettling as Growing Up Skipper, but she still raised a few eyebrows. She began as a baby, then magically grew into a toddler after you gave her a bottle. A change of clothes triggered longer hair and a growth spurt into a young girl. Pull her string, and she reversed the whole process, shrinking back to a baby again. It was a clever gimmick, but also a little existential for a playroom.
10. The Fisher-Price Talk-to-Me Player
The Talk-To-Me Player worked with the Talk-To-Me Books to let kids read along by playing tiny records embedded right on the page. The battery-powered handheld player snapped onto the discs and played scratchy, plastic-sounding audio that somehow made the stories even more charming. It felt sleeker than using a full-sized record player, even if it couldn’t compete with the cassette and CD-based toys that came later.
