Toys

P J Sparkles was a cute little doll made by Mattel in the late 80s who sparkled when hugged thanks to a 9v battery in her back.P J SParkles had little lights in her bracelet, hair bow, earrings and a ...

The first Paddington Bear toy was created by Gabrielle Designs in 1972, a small business run by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson. Like many toymakers, the couple tried out the bear on their children first, as a Christmas present. Little Joanna ...

Action Girl was made by Palitoy in the 1970s. She had a much more realistic figure than either Barbie or Sindy and lots of poseable joints. Mine had long brown hair and came wearing a pale blue catsuit whilst my ...

Pamela Doll was a 20" talking doll made by Worlds of Wonder in 1986. She was called the living doll and she had sensors in her face so that when you pushed them she would say things to you like ...

Patty Play Pal was a range of large dolls that stood 2-3ft high. Quite a large variety of the dolls were available each with different costumes,faces, hair colour and skin tones.Some of thr Patty Play Pals could also talk and ...

You can take David Blaine, you can keep the glamour of David Copperfield, because when it comes to magic only old-school will do. That's why pocket-sized Paul Daniels is still a firm family favourite, along with his beautiful assistant and ...

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Pea shooters seemed to be far more popular in the past than they are today - I can't remember the last time I saw a child with a pea shooter. I don't know the history of the pea shooter but ...

These were like the Mattel Matchbox Babies, ie very small with a beanbag cloth body and plastic head. But peanut babies came in a plastic peanut shell rather than a matchbox, and you could buy accessories for them like highchairs ...

Pedal Pretty was a doll made in 1973, about 15" tall with a stuffed cloth body, vinyl head with painted facial features and orange yarn hair. She was a rag-type doll whose feet were strapped to a tricycle so that ...

I actually remember getting a Pee Wee Herman Doll for my 10th birthday! Pee-Wee had a string on his back that you pulled to get him to say one of his several sayings. "I know you are, but what am ...

Penfold was Danger Mouse's assistant / side kick. Their aim was to protect people from their arch enemy Baron Silas Greenback and his crow. Penfold was a bit of a bumbling character,but you could'nt help but love him. He always ...

This was a girl doll from the 60s and 70s, made by Topper Toys, with bendable legs and arms. She had a lovely smile and dimpled cheeks. She was not an adult-looking doll like Sindy, and had a girlish body ...

I was lucky enough to have this beautiful doll in 1973. She had pale brown hair and blue eyes and was about 15" tall. Penny Puppywalker was dressed in a bright pink pinafore dress with a green and pink ...

Penny Racers have been available for a long time and are still available in stores to this day. They were small (about one inch) cars made of plastic and had a pull-back motor inside. The trick was to ...

Pennybrix were a lego-style building set I had in the 70s, but instead of dots, the tops were made from a square split into 4 "corners" (difficult to describe). I think they got their name because you could a place ...

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Pet Shop Pals were actually called "The Littlest Pet Shop". There was a teal carrying case which looked like the front of a pet shop when closed and ,any of the animals were operated with magnets.There were many different sets ...

This toy made me want to work in a Post Office - but I never fulfilled my dream! It was a complete post office packed away in a red case. When you opened it up, the case transformed into a ...

I have always remembered the Christmas I got my typewriter. I really, really wanted it but was told (as I've told my children since) "sorry it costs too much and Santa hasn't got enough pennies! The year was1967.I opened all ...

Petra was the French doll made in America. She had many European clothes, but her face was rather ugly with small eyes and her mouth and nose in the very center of her face. ...

Petsters were sound activated animatronic pets and they were available as standard and deluxe models. I had the cat. You would clap to give the Petster movement instructions - one clap left, two right, three forwards, four reverse. Stroke the ...

Entertech Photon started life as an arena based Laser Tag / Quasar game with some of the greatest arenas ever built (even if they were only built in America, boooooo!!). Then when Worlds of Wonder launched their home version of ...

Pick Up Moneys was made by Lincoln Toys.These were coloured, shaped monkeys. You had to see how many you could pick up by their hands - i loved this game! ...

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I never had one of these growing up, but my best friend did.. and I was so jealous! Pillow People were pillows that doubled as a stuffed friend. There were several different styles to choose from and the one my ...

There was nothing quite the same as pin art to make a unique 3D impression of your face, it's just the job to break the ice and impress the one you fancied.The idea was to lift the device to your ...

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There once was a girl named pippa she had long blonde hair she had a boy friend and she was extreme popular ...

This was a toy line made by Imperial in the early 90's. It featured six famous historic pirates like Long John Silver, Bad Bart, Blackbeard, Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Captain Kidd and One Eyed John.The game had lots of ...

Lots of different sets were sold, where you mixed really strong-smelling chemicals together to make a clear viscous mixture you could add colour to. You embedded the mixture into shaped moulds to make keyrings, jewellery etc. It was fab, and ...

Play Plax were transparent coloured perspex building 'blocks' that came in flat squares (about 2in x 2in) and tubes ( about 2in diam x 2in long). They slotted together by placing them at 90 degrees to each other using the ...

For me, personally, the saddest thing about growing up was not leaving mr childhood innocence behind, nor having to take on the responsibilities of adulthood, but no longer having a valid reason to create things with Play-Doh. And, shamefully, the ...

The Playdoh Barber Shop was the BEST toy made by Playdoh. There were several hollow plastic heads that you pushed the playdough inside and it would "grow" out of the holes in the heads. Then you could cut and style ...

Playdoh Dentist - what a blast from the past! Playdoh Dentist was my favorite toy - you had moulds for teeth that you used to create choppers and then, using the various plastic tools, you pulled out all the teeth ...

Put Play-Doh in the Fun Factory, squeeze down the levers, and you could make Play-Doh 'snakes' shaped like stars, tubes, pluses, or others. Long Live Play-Doh! It's still going strong! ...

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Pocket Rockers were the coolest toys, because they were like a mini stereo, and I had about 4 tapes to go with mine. Each tape had two songs on them. One was 'Walk Like an Egyptian' but my favourite one ...

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In 1975 Tomy introduced these pocket marvels to the UK. There were aproximately 30 to choose from with ALL subjects covered. I remember hours of my time being spent on the 'Steeplechase' version. The playground kudos of having ...

It was difficult at first to learn how to make Pogo Pony walk, but once you learned how to move, you could ride all over town and even make him backup. Corners were wide turns or you could rock slightly ...

Whether it's true of not, the story behind the Pogo Stick is far too good not to grace the pages of the DYR website. It all came to light on 6 December 1959, when a man called George appeared on ...

Just like bum bags were essential items of the 80s, so was having something to go inside them. After all, little kids didn't tend to have wallets or mobile phones (although they do these days!), so instead they filled them ...

Toys from my childhood were rarely better value than these polystyrene gliders.Costing mere pennies, they came separated and you had to assemble them yourselves. This was not a difficult task – wings slot through the body, propellers go on the ...

Does anyone else remember at primary school in the 80s having tiny plastic cases with little pink/blue ponies inside? There was usually a big one and a few little ones. I don't think they were by My Little Pony but ...

Pooch Patrol toys were medium-sized, plush dogs that had lips and eyebrows you could adjust in order to make them appear angry or happy. ...

Poochie was a toy dog with loads of bright pink fluffy hair that was always falling out in clumps! I remember having a comb and ribbons to put in my Poochie's hair.Remember the song from the advert?# Poochie, Oh Poochie!##Who's ...

Pop Ball was like half a tennis ball and was made of rubber. You turned it inside out and put it on the ground (or on your head) then after about 10 seconds it would pop back the other way ...

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Popcorn Dolls were a division of Tonka's Cupcake Dolls I believe, but they were smaller (as popcorn is!). Basically Popcorn Dolls could start off looking like a piece of popcorn (or more like a kernel really), but then when you ...