30 Toys Every Kid Had In The '80s That Will Make You Instantly Nostalgic (2024)

1. Teddy Ruxpin. Okay, Teddy was a little creepy...but, I mean, come on, he TALKED! Also, nothing was better than putting on a cassette by Madonna and watching him sing the songs. 2. The Barbie from the Barbie and the Rockers line. Of course, Barbies in general were very popular throughout the '80s, but this Barbie's '80s pop star/MTV look made her a must-have (especially since she was a direct competitor to the Jem and the Holograms line). 3. Rubik's Cube. Every kid seemed to own one — whether they even asked for one or not — and honestly, they provided about 10 minutes of entertainment before you'd get frustrated with it and move on to another toy. 4. E.T. toys. Much like a Rubik's Cube, you probably owned some kind of E.T. toy — whether you asked for one or not. 5. Playskool's Sesame Street Poppin' Pals. Sure, you probably stopped playing this by the time you turned 5, but if you remember this one, then you know how fun it was to just watch them pop up over and over. 6. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe action figures are arguably the most EPIC toy line of the 1980s. Of course, in addition to the cool AF action figures, they also released some amazing play sets. 7. She-Ra: Princess of Power action figures. He-Man's twin sister had a very cool toy line of her own, but best of all, they were scaled to the same size as the Masters of the Universe toy line, which meant you could play with them together. 8. Speak & Spell. Sure, it was meant for learning, but you definitely only played with this so you could hear its talking-robot-voice feature. 9. McDonald's Berenstain Bears Happy Meal toys, which were amazing, but also got dirty quickly because of the fuzz they had on their skin: 10. McDonald's McNugget Buddies Happy Meal toys. Did they permanently smell like French fries? Yes. Were they so indestructible that you could play with them everywhere from the bathtub to the park playground? Yes. And were they also the perfect size to stick in your pocket so you could take them anywhere? Also a big yes. 11. My Little Pony. First off, they were magical ponies with hair that you could comb for hours!!! Second, they smelled like a mix of sweetness and subtle plastic, which was also low-key addictive. 12. Nintendo. If you were fortunate enough to get one of these as a kid, then you know you could spend hours playing. And you also probably remember it being the cause of many a fight if you had siblings. 13. Strawberry Shortcake dolls, which smelled like delicious fruits and that you mainly just sniffed instead of playing with. 14. Rose Petal Place dolls, which, like Strawberry Shortcake dolls, smelled soooo heavenly that you sniffed them 60% of the time that you were playing with them. 15. ThunderCats action figures. Like the He-Man line, the ThunderCats line was epic and also had a tie-in cartoon that made you want to collect them BADLY. 16. Simon, which was probably the one game your parents regretted buying you because of the loud noises it made. 17. Smurf PVC figures. These were one of those toys that you probably don't even remember asking for but somehow owned a dozen of them. And like McNugget Buddies, they were perfectly sized so you could fit a few in your pocket and take them everywhere. 18. California Raisins PVC figures. Like the Smurfs, these were one of those toys that you probably don't even remember asking for but somehow owned at least a handful of them. 19. Care Bears. These stuffed animals were just super adorable, and each bear had such a defined identity that screamed, "This Care Bear is ME!" You also likely got one from your grandma because she picked it up at Hallmark while buying your birthday card. 20. Fisher-Price Little People. This is one of those toy lines you likely played with way past the suggested age range. But, how could you not? The Little People came with so many different play sets that made playing with them so much fun. The BEST play sets were, FTR, the Tudor house, the barn, and the parking garage. 21. Gumby and Pokey bendable figures, which just appeared in your toy box one day and you never knew why. 22. Rainbow Brite dolls are one of those toys that practically every kid in the '80s owned, and it's easy to see why: They had colorful iridescent outfits, yarn hair, and a plush-filled body that made them basically indestructible. Also, for some reason, these were one of the toys that always ended up with crayon marks all over their face. 23. Popples. Aside from being extremely cute, there was something appealing about turning these guys into their ball shape. 24. Transformers are one of the most enduring toy lines of the 1980s. They were unlike any other toy at the time, and half the fun of them was just sitting there and transforming them into robots and back to cars over and over. 25. Jem and the Holograms dolls. Like every good '80s toy line, these toys also had a popular cartoon tie-in that made you want to collect them all. Plus, the truth was that they were way cooler than Barbie. 26. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. Again, like every good '80s toy line, these toys also had a VERY popular and cool cartoon tie-in that made you want to get them all. But, really, in 1988 there wasn't a cooler toy line than TMNT — Turtle-mania was real. 27. Monchhichis. Let's be honest, these were more creepy than cute, but that catchy jingle for the commercial made you want one of these, badly. 28. McDonald's Fraggle Rock Happy Meal toys. Every '80s kid owned at least one of these, and like McNugget Buddies, they were indestructible and fit perfectly in your pocket so you could take them anywhere. 29. View-Master. Listen, this might not be the most exciting toy on the list, but the fun was collecting the different reels (which you usually only looked at once or twice before forgetting about them). 30. Lastly, Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. No toy had a bigger craze in the '80s than Cabbage Patch Kids, and chances are you probably owned one. Whether you were obsessed with them or not, just looking at them probably takes you right back to the 1980s. References