Make: Technology on Your Time Volume 20

Productive Plastic Playthings

A LOOK BACK AT 1960S MAKER TOYS.

BY BOB KNETZGER

The 1960s were a golden age for toys in America because of a timely combination of postwar factors. The baby boomers were in their prime toy-buying years (“for ages 6–12”) while the boom in the economy created more purchasing power for their parents. For the first time, toys were sold using network television ads, launching nationwide fads. The graduate of the 60s was told there was a “great future in plastics,” while at the same time the Space Race spurred an interest ...