Mattel brought ballet to the playroom with Dancerina, a 24-inch battery-operated doll that could pirouette, toe-dance, and gracefully turn her head, all at the push or twist of a control knob hidden in her plastic tiara.

“You’re next, bone face.”

Over nearly a century, the Garton Toy Company manufactured a wide variety of ride-on toys in wood, metal, or a combination of both materials.

Milton Bradley released its first Memory game in the mid-1960s, marking the company’s entry into the matching-pairs genre.

“Your bike can have the cycle sound…”

In the late 1960s, Dinky released new Speedwheels models to compete with Mattel’s Hot Wheels, which were then gaining a foothold in the UK Marketplace.

“You don’t think I’m bad, do you?”

Mattel’s 1972 Toys and Hobbies catalogue introduced new and updated product lines ahead of the annual Toy Fair trade show.

Released by Aurora in 1967, The Rat Patrol hobby kit drew inspiration from the World War II television series of the same name, which aired for two seasons on ABC in the mid-1960s.

“No motor and no batteries but something really moves that thing.”

Hubley Toys’ 1965 catalogue featured the company’s line of Mighty Metal toys.

Toy companies have long created products that let children imitate the activities they observed in their parents’ daily lives. A great example of this was the line of pretend shaver sets that Hasbro released in the 1960s.