The 1960s shelf
1960s things worth remembering.
Flower power, pop art, and go-go boots.
37 catalogued finds
Easy-Bake Oven
“easy-bake oven”
GI Joe Action Figure
“gi joe action figure”
Operation
“buzzing surgery game”
Creepy Crawlers
“bug maker toy”
The Game of Life
“spinner life board game”
Trouble
“pop o matic game”
Sea-Monkeys
“instant pet shrimp”
Battleship
“you sunk my battleship”
Spirograph
“circle drawing gear toy”
Slip 'N Slide
“backyard water slide toy”
Lite-Brite
“old light peg toy”
Etch A Sketch
“drawing knobs toy”
Mouse Trap
“crazy contraption board game”
Lava Lamp
“bubbling wax lamp”
Twister
“colored dot floor game”
Estes Model Rocket
“The cardboard-and-balsa rocket kit you built, launched a few hundred feet on a real engine, and then spent an hour finding in a neighbor's tree.”
Don't Break the Ice
“tap out the ice blocks game”
Barrel of Monkeys
“barrel of monkeys”
Johnny Express Toy Truck
“johnny express toy truck”
Super Ball Elastic
“super ball elastic”
Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
“boxing robot game”
Skip-Bo
“sequencing card game”
Astro Pop
“rocket shaped lollipop”
Hot Wheels
“tiny diecast cars”
See 'n Say
“farm animal pull string”
KerPlunk
“sticks and marbles game”
Razzles
“candy that turns into gum”
Nik-L-Nip Wax Bottles
“wax bottle candy”
Fisher Space Pen
“Famous for writing upside down and supposedly used on NASA missions, the Fisher Space Pen was the pen every kid wanted in their pencil case just to brag about it.”
Wooden ruler
“A hard wooden ruler with metal edge and inked measurement lines, used for drawing straight lines, measuring, and -- unofficially -- flicking rubber bands across the room.”
Boomerang
“A curved throwing toy that, when thrown correctly, looped through the air and returned to the thrower -- and, more often, ended up stuck in a tree.”
Reel-to-reel tape recorder
“An open-reel magnetic tape recorder that threaded tape between two spinning reels, used for high-fidelity home audio recording before cassettes simplified things.”
Slide rule
“An analog calculating tool with sliding logarithmic scales, used by students and engineers to multiply, divide, and find roots before calculators existed.”
Blackboard eraser
“A felt-covered wooden block used to wipe chalk off the blackboard, famously banged together outside to clear out a cloud of chalk dust.”
Classroom globe
“A spinning model of the Earth mounted on a stand, used to teach geography long before digital maps took over.”
Typewriter
“A mechanical writing machine with a keyboard that stamped ink onto paper through physical type bars, once standard equipment for typing class.”
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8mm home movie camera
“A spring-wound film camera used to shoot silent home movies, capturing birthdays and vacations in grainy, flickering color.”