Fun & Games

12 Throwback School Supplies from Your Childhood

When it comes to school supplies, the stuff you used was a bit more interesting than what our kids use today.

By Melissa Heckscher February 20, 2018

If you’re a child of the ’80s, we know at one point you loved fluorescent clothing and wore jelly bracelets up to your elbows. And when it came to school, the gear was, shall we say, a bit more interesting than what our kids use today. From hand-operated (gasp!) pencil sharpeners to everyone’s favorite folders, scroll down to re-discover some of the school supplies you probably couldn’t live without.

Jessica Lucia via Flickr

1. Scented markers made your papers smell delicious. Lucky for kids everywhere, they're still going strong and available anywhere school supplies are sold.

Michael Coghlan

2. You hand-crank sharpened your pencils.

Louise McLaren via Flickr

3. You put trolls on your pencils way before Poppy and Branch were cool.

st_jerome_homeschool_library via eBay

4. You kept your papers in the whimsical yet slightly psychedelic Lisa Frank folders.

Amazon

5. You kept your Dep hair gel close for quick bathroom touch-ups.

twitchery via Flickr (cropped)

6. You hoped Kissing Potion lip gloss really worked. You can still find it on Amazon!

henry via Flickr

7. You loved your Walkman ... and the mixed tapes your friends made for it!

Enokson via Flickr

8. You loved when your teacher rewarded good grades with Scratch And Sniff Stickers on your test papers.

giveawayboy via Flickr

9. Trapper Keepers helped you stay organized. But it was the outside design that stole the show.

Isriya Paireepairit via Flickr

10. You used a tape recorder and had to hit rewind ... a lot.

11. Remember when all your information came from the Encyclopedia? Yup, no Google for us.

Jim Hickcox via Flickr

12. Learning to spell was fun with Speak & Spell. And then E.T. used one and sealed its fate as a classic '80s relic.

Can you think of any throwback school supplies that aren’t on the list? Share with us in a comment below!

—Melissa Heckscher

12 Throwback School Supplies from Your Childhood

1. Scented markers made your papers smell delicious. Lucky for kids everywhere, they're still going strong and available anywhere school supplies are sold.

2. You hand-crank sharpened your pencils.

3. You put trolls on your pencils way before Poppy and Branch were cool.

4. You kept your papers in the whimsical yet slightly psychedelic Lisa Frank folders.

5. You kept your Dep hair gel close for quick bathroom touch-ups.

6. You hoped Kissing Potion lip gloss really worked. You can still find it on Amazon!

7. You loved your Walkman ... and the mixed tapes your friends made for it!

8. You loved when your teacher rewarded good grades with Scratch And Sniff Stickers on your test papers.

9. Trapper Keepers helped you stay organized. But it was the outside design that stole the show.

10. You used a tape recorder and had to hit rewind ... a lot.

11. Remember when all your information came from the Encyclopedia? Yup, no Google for us.

12. Learning to spell was fun with Speak & Spell. And then E.T. used one and sealed its fate as a classic '80s relic.

Need some fresh ideas?

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