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Dolls are the oldest known toy, and were first made of primitive materials such as clay, fur and wood. Archeologists discovered the remains of a 4,000-year-old doll in Pantelleria, Italy. Experts refer to this oldest doll as "Barbie of the Bronze Age." The Yo - Yo is the second oldest toy. People around the world have been using them for 2,500 years. The word yo-yo comes from the Philippine language and means "to come back." The toy has even traveled to space: in 1985 NASA used it to test the effects of microgravity. And it has its own holiday — June 6 is National Yo-Yo Day. The Crayola Crayon was invented in 1903 by Edwin Binney and Harold Smith by combining paraffin wax and pigments from their paint company. The first box of Crayola Crayons cost a nickel and came in eight colors: black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow and green. There are now 120 colors with trendy names such as Outer Space and Mauvelous. The invention of the Slinky was a happy accident. Engineer Richard James was trying to use springs to support delicate machinery on ships when one fell and flip-flopped across the floor. James told his wife about it and the couple began manufacturing the toy in 1943. James then invented a machine that could turn 80 feet of wire into a Slinky in ten seconds. Another accidental invention of 1943 is Silly Putty. A General Electric scientist, James Wright, was trying to make synthesized rubber. He ended up with a bouncy, gooey substance. No one knew what to do with it until Peter Hodgson from GE's marketing department put it into plastic eggs and coined the term "Silly Putty." Apollo 8 astronauts took it to the moon in 1968. Play-Doh is another sticky toy. Brothers Noah and Joseph McVicker patented it in 1956. Play-Doh originally came in off-white only but is now sold in a variety of colors. The formula for Play-Doh is still a secret. The Play-Doh Company has sold 700 million pounds of Play-Doh so far. Ole Kirk Christiansen of Denmark founded the Lego Toy Company in 1932. The word Lego is a combination of two Danish words, Leg Godt, which means "play well." Christiansen's son invented the plastic Lego in 1958. The first Lego “family” kit was created in 1974 and is Lego's top-selling product to date. Unemployment during the Great Depression led to the invention of the two most popular games in the U.S. In 1934 Charles B. Darrow invented the top-selling board game, Monopoly. Parker Brothers first rejected his idea because the company felt the game had 52 design flaws. This did not stop Darrow; he sold 5,000 games to a department store. Monopoly's popularity grew so much that he could not make the games fast enough. Parker Brothers changed its mind in 1935 and began producing the game. Since then, over 200 million games have been sold worldwide and more than five billion little green houses have been built. After losing his job as an architect, Alfred Mosher Butts invented Scrabble in 1948. His friends Mr. and Mrs. James Brunot produced the game in an abandoned schoolhouse. They made 2,500 games, by hand, and lost $450. In time, popularity of the game spread. By 1952 their schoolhouse was full of orders. Scrabble is now the second best-selling game in U.S. history. |