Take a fun trip down memory lane with these popular toys from 1970 that every kid wanted. See how many you remember!
1970 was a simpler time for toys, but don’t mistake simple for boring. Back then, fun came in the form of wind-up racers, cuddly dolls, and imagination-fueled adventures. There were no batteries required, no screens in sight, and definitely no apps to download. Just pure, hands-on play that kept us busy for hours.
The popular toys from 1970 were the kind you could share with your siblings, drag to the backyard, or stash under your bed for safekeeping. And somehow, we still think about them years later.
Which one was your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
1. Cowboy and Indian Outfits
Inspired by TV shows like Bonanza and Gunsmoke, kids would spend hours reenacting scenes, complete with dramatic showdowns and exaggerated death scenes. Of course, looking the part was crucial.
2. Banana Seat Bike
With its elongated seat and high-rise handlebars, the banana seat bike was the ultimate ride for “with it” kids, who used it to roam neighborhood streets getting into endless adventures.
3. Living Barbie
Barbie got a serious upgrade in 1970 with the introduction of Living Barbie. At last, we had a Barbie with bendable knees, ankles, wrists, and even movable hands so she could finally move like she was really doing something. Mattel rolled her out with a commercial starring Maureen McCormick, who looked straight at the camera and said, “Wow! She’s real like me!”
4. Velvet Doll
One doll topped just about every little girl’s Christmas list in 1970: Velvet. She was the younger, groovier sister of Chrissy, the popular doll first introduced by Ideal in 1968. Both dolls had a magical feature: you could make their hair “grow” by turning a knob on their back, changing it from shoulder-length to long in seconds.
5. Sno-Cone Maker and Other Food-Making Toys
Food-making toys were a big deal throughout the 1970s, and the Sno-Cone Maker was one of the most popular. Cranking that handle and watching the ice pile up into a cool, sweet treat felt like magic.
6. Talking View-Master
An upgrade to the classic viewer, the Talking View-Master combined visuals with sound. When you viewed an image, you could press a button to hear the matching sound. The sound quality wasn’t great, and the novelty wore off quickly, but it felt like advanced technology in 1970, and everyone wanted one.
Check out this article if you want to see the inner workings of a Talking View-Master. Pretty cool!
7. Matchbox Parking Plaza
Just about every kid had a collection of Matchbox cars in 1970, and, of course, you needed somewhere cool to park them. The Matchbox Parking Plaza was the ultimate solution because it let you store your cars in a fully working, high-tech garage.
8. Juliette Hairstyling Salon
Little girls loved anything that let them pretend to be a grown-up, and the Juliette Hair Salon was right at the top of the wish list. It was a vinyl mannequin head with “real” hair you could wash, curl, and style for hours. It was such a hit that Mattel followed up a few years later with the Quick Curl Barbie Beauty Center, basically the same idea, just with a Barbie twist.
9. Swinging Shuffling Karate Robots
These swinging, shuffling karate robots marched toward each other with arms flailing, locked in epic battles that usually ended with one of them flipping backward in a dramatic somersault and then popping right back up to fight again.
10. Lite Brite
Lite-Brite first hit the shelves in 1967, and by 1970, it was such a hit that Hasbro released a Deluxe Edition. These toys were so popular that you can still buy them today. I bet some kid you know would probably benefit from trading screen time for a little light-up creativity.
