Hey home skillet, ready for a giant dose of ’90s nostalgia? From beanie babies to Gak, we’ve got the definitive list of ’90s toys that confirms playtime was way better back in your day. Keep scrolling to re-discover your childhood faves!
Have you tried explaining to your tots that when you were a '90s kid, you played with Pokemon cards, not a Pokemon Go app? (And you also walked 15 miles uphill to school, right?)
The objective of the Electronic Dream phone may have been to figure out which '90s hunk had a crush on you (he's not at the beach!), but the real takeaway was that cordless phones were the future.
Not only was Gak the '90's answer to silly putty, it was also the sound our moms made when they found the stuff smooshed in the bottom of our backpacks.
Heaven help the sibling who ripped the tag off one of our Beanie Babies. BTW, we're still waiting for the big payout from our collection—weren't these the ticket to an early retirement?
All hail the mighty Bop-It, which got '90s kids to obey its commands with just a bit of music and fast-talking.
The Creepy Crawler Bugmaker was like the Easy Bake Oven's cousin and the darling of future entomologists everywhere.
Long before we argued about which Hogwarts house we'd be sorted into, '90s kids were drawn to particular American Girl Dolls. And you definitely had at least one friend who was such a Samantha.
Putting aside the name—because plenty of '90s girls loved Game Boy, thankyouverymuch—this toy prepared us all for the infinite handheld game source that is the iPhone.
If you were a '90s kid with a Sky Dancer, there's a 90% chance that at some point you got a face full of flying fairy. But wasn't the collision risk worth it?
It's morphin' time! If you spent every Saturday morning of the '90s watching the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, then owning the action figures was pretty much a requirement.
It was a simpler time when the Koosh Ball reigned supreme. It didn't have any bells, whistles, or batteries, but it did offer the opportunity to toss a rubber projectile at a sibling's face.
The Polly Pocket of the '90s was just the right mix of fun and choking hazard. But if you lost Polly, her pocket universe was pretty much worthless. And, heads up! Polly is making a comeback this summer.
If you had a water gun fight in the '90s and you weren't armed with a Super Soaker, did the fight even happen?
Furby was a sort of hamster-gremlin-owl hybrid that spouted gibberish and demanded attention. It was delightfully creepy and has even made a comeback in recent years.
You never knew how many puppies your mama dog was going to have, but the bigger surprise was learning that babies come from velcro-sealed stomachs. It was a blind bag before that was even a thing.
Sock 'em Boppers—the '90s in a nutshell. Kids were encouraged to beat each other up with inflatable boxing gloves that were marketed as "more fun than a pillow fight."
Yo, I'll tell you what '90s kids wanted, what they really really wanted: all the Spice Girls merch, including the doll of their favorite band member.
Any '90s kid who watched Home Alone (so, like, every '90s kid) had to have a Talkboy. How else were we supposed to defend ourselves from bumbling robbers?
R.I.P. all the Tamagotchis that were neglected by '90s kids. You may not have been real pets, but there were real digital consequences if we ignored your beep demands. And here's the good news: they recently made a major comeback!
How many '90s toys can say they inspired hugs and stampedes? Tickle Me Elmo was the O.G. must-have holiday gift and the craze was very real.
Which ’90s toy was your favorite? Share your memories in a comment below!
—Abigail Matsumoto
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