Old Antique Toys: The Earlier Fisher-Price Toys

Monday, February 1, 2016
Overcast and warmer than usual

The Earlier Fisher-Price Toys

Please click here to visit the March 4-5, 2016 Toy Auction

I've been checking around lately to see when the upcoming spring auctions will be starting, and lo and behold, Dan Morphy auctions (Morphy Auctions) jus already out of the gate. There' a fine cornucopia of toys present, but I decided to select a small group of Fisher-Price toys for today's post.

The toys of the 1980's and later became larger and more complex in terms of their end goal. The company started to promote early childhood development with toys that would stimulate the child to work with his/her brain. Parents were encouraged to participate with their children to promote early childhood learning.

However, long before learning was a key motivator with the Fisher-Price toy company, simple play and enjoyment were the primary end goals. The toys today are all pull toys, and would be attached with a string or lead. THe child would pull the toy, and the toy would follow. It could articulate and have its parts bend and move and could even chime a bell, or have clicking sounds. The "goal" if any was for the child to have fun, and simply enjoy pulling his or her toy.

If you do go to this website, you will see some early childhood learning skill toys. Colours, shapes, and blocks all came in kits. Children would be motivated to subtly leaner their primary colours, and to develop their dexterity through the use of such things as building blocks. The child (with his parent) would be encouraged to stack different shapes too several levels without anything falling down. Of course, if something fell, it was all in good fun, and the play would continue again.

All of the toys presented today probably came from the 1940's-1960's ( My guess). You can see where the metal parts and screws are attached to the toys, and these would be the moving and articulating parts that would bend up and down as the toy was pulled,. In some instances a drum would bang or a bell would chime.