Consider the following:
Clackers
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| Better known in my house as wrist crackers |
Probably a better name for these would have been 'hit yourself with a hard acrylic ball' toy. They were a couple of very hard 3 inch diameter clear acrylic balls that were tied together via a long string. You held the middle of the string with the balls hanging downward and by raising your wrist up and down you could cause them to bang together producing a 'clack' noise. When they banged together the force of the blow would send them further apart and if you had the right rhythm you could eventually cause them to swing up above your wrists and bang together as well. I have a distinct auditory memory of hearing: "clack...Clack...CLACK..CLACK..CLACK.CLACKCKLACKCLACKCLACK - OWWWWW!"
The last sound being either your own cry of pain or, and this happened with equal frequency, the sound of someone else's body part getting in the way of the very, very hard balls. And even better, the balls might shatter. What fun! These days I am sure they have worked out all the dangerous stuff since you can still find them. Clackers
Skip Ball
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| Also known as sprain your ankle ball... |
It was a ball attached to a rope attached to a ring that went around your ankle. You were supposed to swing it around your ankle and hop over the rope. Now perhaps this was not a dangerous toy to most children, but to a non-athletic clutz like me it was a certain to knock me off my feet. Also, my version of this toy had a ball that was about as hard as the clacker balls. I remember this because it caused me quite a bruise. So a potential sprained ankle or a contusion, either way it was going to leave a mark. They still make it and you can find it here. Skip ball by Toysmith
Operation
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| A truly shocking toy |
Yes, this was just what I needed. A game that could electrocute me. The design was this board with a picture of a man and cut outs of various body parts filled with a plastic piece you were supposed to remove using a pair of tweezers. The whole thing was electrified and if the metal tweezers touched the edge of the metal cut outs a loud buzzer went off and the nose of the man would light up red. You got a different kind of buzz if you touched the edge of the wishbone area with your bare finger. Ha Ha! Nothing like an electrical shock to liven up a children's game. I am sure the current version is much safer now... Hasbro Operation Game.
Creepy Crawler/Thing Maker
This toy came with metal molds, bottles of plastic goop and a little oven. You filled the molds with the goop and baked it in the oven. Sounds harmless, except for the fact the goop gave off a very strong odor which probably had all sorts of toxicity. Just what every child needs, poisonous vapors. I am sure they have figured out how to make it non-toxic today. Creepy Crawlers.
Slip and Slide
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| For me this was the slip and hurt yourself toy... |
A long yellow plastic sheet with a sprinkler hose down one side. You hooked it up to the garden hose and the sprinkler wet the length of the plastic sheet. Then you were supposed to run and leap onto the sheet, sliding down its length. Okay, maybe in a perfect world this would work like it was supposed to, but in our world there were 1. uneven surfaces the sheet was resting on which were guaranteed to either trip you or impact you as you slid,. 2. an abrupt end to the ride where the sheet became not-sheet also known as grass and of course eventually mud, 3. Non-athletic children like me who just can't get the knack of sliding but who will slip and come to an abrupt and bruise inducing stop. It was however, tons of fun. Slip N Slide by Wham-O
Water Wiggle
The idea was simple. Just attach a water hose to this funny looking weighted head. Turn on the water and the force of the water would hoist the head up into the air where it will twist and turn, spraying all the laughing children. At least that is how it worked in the commercial. I think it was very telling that the manufacturer of this toy is a company called Wham-O - because that is exactly what this toy does - Wham! right into the ground after it lifts up for about a second. This necessitates having to go back over to it and reset it almost guaranteeing that you will at some point be directly under the thing as it slams to earth, beaning you in the head.
This is the only one of the toys that you cannot find today, owing to a recall of the toy in 1978 after the unfortunate death of two little boys.
Somehow we survived, but not without mild injuries. And I am sure it could have been worse. I shudder to think what could have happened if we had been given the truly lethal toys like Lawn Darts.
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