Get Playful With This Quiz on Popular Toys

Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on television in 1952. Up to that point, commercials were always targeted at adults, so this advertisement opened a door to new types of marketing aimed at children.

Around 1949, Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen created the first version of LEGOs, called automatic binding bricks. Christiansen renamed these “LEGO” after the Danish words "leg" and "godt," which means "play well." The inexpensive toys quickly took off and LEGO is still one of the most profitable toy companies in the world.

NASA engineer Dr. Lonnie Johnson worked on the Galileo Mission to Jupiter, but at night he worked on a personal project to create an environmentally friendly water pump to replace Freon in some uses. In his tinkering, he created a PVC-pipe and soda-can contraption he called the Power Drencher. He struck a deal with toy manufacturer Larami Corporation for what would soon debuted in 1990 as the Super Soaker.

The gremlin-like toy Furby was banned by the NSA from a Maryland base 1999 due to concerns that it would record and repeat confidential information. It didn’t have traditional playback capabilities, but the toys did contain a computer chip that would allow them to record audio. They would start out only speaking Furbish, their “native language,” but they could start to repeat words said around them, so the NSA ban wasn’t entirely unfounded.

In 2008, the National Toy Hall of Fame gave the humble stick the title of the oldest toy in the world. Some speculate that balls made from mud in the Neolithic era could also earn the title, but it's difficult to determine if they were used for play.

A manager at toy manufacturer Kenner, Inc., was inspired by New York City pretzel stands, and the Easy-Bake Oven hit stores in November 1963. It came with all kinds of mixes, which could be cooked under two 100-watt light bulbs that could reach 350 degrees F. The design and safety standards have changed, along with the company (it’s now Hasbro), but the original Easy-Bake Oven concept has stayed the same.

Jenga was created by Leslie Scott, who grew up playing a similar wooden blocks game with her family in East Africa. Scott named the game “Jenga” after the Swahili word “kujenga,” which means "to build.”

Cincinnati manufacturing company Kutol pivoted to remarket their soot wall cleaner as a children's modeling toy we now know as Play-Doh. It didn't sell well at first, but sales skyrocketed after Play-Doh was featured on the children's TV show Captain Kangaroo in 1958. The modeling compound is now owned and sold by Hasbro.

The rubber duck was intended to be a chew toy when it was created in the late 1800s. The first few versions of solid rubber ducks didn't float on water, but they became popular floating bath toys by the 1940s. While the “rubber duckie” name persists (Thanks, Ernie!), for the past several decades, most have been made out of vinyl.

Mattel has sold over 10 million Totally Hair Barbies, which was released in 1992 with the major selling factor of hair all the way to Barbie's feet. While this doll is the top-selling Barbie of all time, clothes for other Barbies are a big draw, and Mattel is one of the biggest clothing manufacturers in the world.