The toys and games we grow up with play a major role in our childhoods and development. Whether it was an addictive board game, a customizable doll, or a remote-controlled vehicle, kids’ toys have come in all shapes and sizes. However, toy manufacturers don’t always hit the mark and sometimes release products that stir up trouble. Whether they were made with dangerous material or resulted in an unfortunate accident, these are ten children’s toys that got taken off the market.
10. Aqua Dots
Aqua Dots was a simple but charming concept, small plastic dots that you could turn into an art piece with just a spray of water. Simply put the small orbs in the special mold in the shape or image of your choice, spritz it with some water, and the dots will stick together. The concept almost felt partway between Lego bricks and Play-Doh, a toy for kids who like to sculpt or build things. The commercial outlined all the toys’ upsides but neglected to mention its one unfortunate pitfall.
Aqua Dots soon found itself in hot water when several children consumed the dots not long after its release, resulting in hospitalizations. The adhesive, meant to glue the dots together, when consumed resulted in dizziness, vomiting, and even prolonged states of unconsciousness.
The toys’ manufacturer, Spin Factory, ended up paying over 1 million in civil penalties for failing to report the dangerous nature of the Aqua Dots and for selling a banned hazardous substance. The product was swiftly yanked from toy shelves, preventing other children from any more toxic reactions.
9. Cabbage Patch Snacktime Kids
As children’s toys have evolved, there has been a great effort by companies to make dolls and action figures as interactive as possible. Whether it was giving dolls voice boxes to allow for verbal interactions with kids or adding other features like swimming or even eating.
It was the latter that unfortunately landed Mattel’s then-newly minted line of Cabbage Patch Snacktime Kids in trouble. The Cabbage Patch Kids have been a juggernaut within the toy world since they arrived in 1978, dazzling kids with their cute and huggable designs. As the years went on, an effort was made to push the doll in new directions, resulting in some hits and some definite misfires. The Snacktime variants were most definitely a misfire, as its eating feature, meant for the plastic food it was packaged with, resulted in several kids getting hurt. Not only could the doll not tell the difference between plastic and a child’s fingers, but it would gobble up hair as well.
This resulted in the toy being recalled, with later releases needing a printed warning for parents and children to see. Following this, Mattel opted to scrap the toy entirely and offer a 40 dollar refund to anyone who’d bought it.
8. Sky Dancers
If you ever want to grab a child’s interest quickly, presenting them with a flying toy is usually a perfect way to do it. Whether it’s a remote-controlled airplane or a parachuting army man, make a toy that can soar through the air, and kids will start lining up.
Galoob put this notion into practice when they created Sky Dancers in the mid-90s, dolls with foam wings and a pull-string base. All you needed to do was load the doll onto the base, pull the string and it would be propelled into the air with its wings spinning like propellers. This feature, combined with the dolls’ colorful designs, made for a visually dazzling toy, as well as a short-lived animated series.
Unfortunately, Sky Dancers soon proved that they were as potentially deadly as they were pretty, resulting in a slew of child inquiries. By the mid-00s, Galoob had bit slammed with 170 reports of Sky Dancers hitting kids in the face, eyes, mouth, and torso, resulting in broken teeth, cracked ribs, and facial lacerations. This resulted in nearly 10,000,000 units being yanked from store shelves, with the Sky Dancers brand remaining dead until it was relaunched in 2005.
7. Moon Shoes
Trampolines are a time-tested way to get kids jumping for joy, pun most definitely intended, with many companies taking the concept in fascinating directions. Moon Shoes had their start in the 1950s, albeit made out of metal and stiff coil springs. The idea was that you could clamp them onto your normal shoes like roller skates and bounce your way around.
Lack of practicality aside, the idea seemed to strike a chord with some people, as it lasted long enough for a relaunch in the 1990s. This time around, the toy was retooled with high-density plastic, adjustable velcro straps, and bungee-like springs, as opposed to harsh metal pieces. While safer when compared to its metal counterpart from the 50s, the concept was still flawed from the jump, pun once again intended.
While never outright recalled like other toys, Moon Shoes still resulted in kids tripping, falling, scraping their knees, spraining their ankles, and getting all banged up. While a nifty idea on paper, the concept simply wasn’t practical or even enjoyable enough to become a sustainable toy brand. So ultimately Moon Shoes were banned, making them another curious oddity of yesteryear that people look back on with humor and regret.
6. Easy-Bake Ovens
For many young girls, the Hasbro Easy-Bake Oven was a true game changer and one of the coolest ideas to ever hit toy shelves. The concept was simple, a small oven that kids could use to make different kinds of snacks in the comfort of their playrooms. Kids definitely loved them because the concept survived beyond the 1960s and well into the 2000s, resulting in several generations enjoying the Easy-Bake brand.
Sadly, when you give young children what’s essentially a small oven, sooner or later a child is going to feel the heat. In 2006, Hasbro opted to redesign the Easy-Bake Oven, dropping the long-running push-through design in favor of a front-loading one. This soon proved to be an epic mistake, as this redux resulted in several children getting their hands or fingers caught in the oven door, resulting in painful burns! One injury was so severe that it resulted in a 5-year-old girl needing a partial finger amputation following her Easy-Bake injury.
Any Easy-Bake Oven with the front-loading design was recalled from stores, with a safer model soon taking its place. Nowadays, Easy-Bake Ovens remain a staple of Hasbro’s products and still have a place in the hearts of those who’ve grown up with it.
5. Lawn Darts
If anything can be learned from this compilation of recalled playthings, it’s that toys have truly come in all shapes and sizes over the decades. Lawn Darts emerged in the 1950s when toy manufacturers thought that the classic bar game could be reworked into a family game you could play at home. Very quickly, Lawn Darts, or jarts as some would call them, quickly caught on as a fun game for the family and neighborhood get-togethers.
The idea was simple, the players would attempt to throw the metal-tipped darts into a ring on the lawn, the goal being to get as many rings in as possible. However, as you might be able to deduce on your own, a metal spike that you throw through the air would present some definite safety issues. Even as far back as the 70s, the FDA was classifying the sharp-pointed lawn darts as mechanical hazards, noting the product’s potential to cause injury.
This fear became a reality when, in 1987, 7-year-old Michelle Snow was killed by a lawn dart that was thrown by one of her brother’s friends during an outdoor playdate. This, on top of countless other reports of Lawn Dart-related issues, resulted in the toy being banned, with re-selling of the older version being deemed illegal.
4. Aqua Leisure Baby Floats
Teaching children to swim from a young age is very important and a trend that toy companies have been more than happy to capitalize on. From shark and superhero-themed swimwear to pool noodles to boogie boards, toy companies have been more than happy to help facilitate Summertime fun in the pool. These pool toys have even been made so that even infants and toddlers can get in on the fun in a safe way.
However, not every infant-aimed pool toy has gone according to plan, with some coming with some unfortunate built-in problems. The Aqua Leisure Baby Floats were created by Aqua-Leisure Industries Inc. as a way to safely keep babies and toddlers afloat, much like a stroller on water. A fun concept for sure, but it seems that the Aqua-Leisure team needed to beta test their idea a bit more before release.
Per the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, “The leg holes in the seat of the float can tear, causing children to unexpectedly fall into the water and possibly drown.” Thankfully there were no reported injuries or deaths of any infants, but it was still determined that Aqua Leisure Baby Floats were far too dangerous to be kept in stock.
3. Kinder Surprise
This one stands out as a bit of an outlier among this list, as Kinder Surprise Eggs aren’t toys per se. More accurately, they are a milk chocolate egg with a plastic capsule inside that, went opened up, reveals a small toy.
The Kinder brand is owned by the Italian company Ferrero, the same people behind Ferrero chocolates, and has an interesting backstory. On Easter, in many Italian families, it’s not uncommon for adults to gift children chocolate eggs that have a toy inside, so this was meant to replicate that tradition. Since its debut in 1974, the product has gone on to become a favorite of kids and adults, at least for the ones that could legally obtain it. It seems that a chocolate egg with an unedible toy nestled inside of it doesn’t fly in the United States the same way that it does in Italy.
Simply put, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prevents the sale of any candy item with a toy inside of it. This meant that any Kinder Eggs brought into the USA were considered to be illegal imports and couldn’t officially be sold in stores. Over in the United Kingdom, 3 families unfortunately lost children as a result of them choking on the toy, resulting in their swift withdrawal from the European Union.
2. Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper
As previously mentioned, toy safety, especially when infants and toddlers are involved, is something that should be taken very seriously. It’s certainly something Fisher-Price should’ve taken more seriously when they released the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper back in 2009.
The Rock ’n Play was initially received quite well, helping parents get their babies to bed via its rocking and vibration features, as well as its music-playing capabilities. However, after a decade on the market, the Rock ’n Play was revealed to have resulted in approximately 100 infant deaths. It was later learned that Fisher-Price had only consulted with one family doctor regarding its safety and had conducted no clinical research. Upon investigation, it became clear that many of the deaths were the result of infants rolling onto their stomachs and being smothered by the Rock ‘n Play’s padding.
All of this resulted in the Rock ‘n Play being recalled en masse back in 2019, a full ten years after its original release. To this day, the product is still floating around on third-party websites and even some daycares, many unaware of its dangerous potential.
1. Austin Magic Pistol
Standards for what is acceptable in kids’ toys have changed a lot since the 1900s, with safety and political correctness playing a major role in the transition. For example, nowadays if a child wants a toy gun, they’ll likely be given either a brightly colored water gun or a cartoonish space ray with a few LED lights on it.
However, back in the late 1940s, kids had the Austin Magic Pistol, a toy that wouldn’t stand a chance of being greenlit today. Feelings on guns and gun safety, especially back then, were far different, with many having zero qualms about giving children weapons. This meant that something like the Austin Magic Pistol was made readily available for a brief time without issue. The gun would fire a ping pong ball with a chemical reaction between calcium carbide and water which resulted in a fireball!
This would be enough to get the toy classified as a legitimate firearm in most states, and yet it was a favorite for many kids. Soon enough though, cooler heads prevailed and the Austin Magic Pistol was removed from shelves. While never officially recalled, the Pistol is a prime example of the kinds of toys that we just don’t see in stores anymore, and for good reason.