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5 Toys from your childhood that would definitely be banned today.
Other | Monday 3rd March 2014 | Claire
#1 The Hasbro Easy-bake Oven - AKA The Hasbro Easy-burn oven
When the people at Hasbro met to decide what their next big seller for children would be, an ACTUAL OVEN was obviously the immediate choice. But as gender stereotypical as it may be, this taught us all that ovens have no mercy and if you put Grampsy Bear in there, a fire will occur and your once cuddly childhood friend will become nothing more than a smoldering mass of plastic and charred fur.
#2 The CSI Fingerprint kit - AKA CSI Asbestos Kit
This allowed any budding detectives to dust for fingerprints, blowing away any excess powder in the process. However this play powder was found to contain enough asbestos to trigger cancer in later life. Almost 7 per cent of the powder was made up of Tremolite, one of the most fatal forms of asbestos. As shocking as this may have been, it taught us from an early age not to sniff cheap none descript powders.
#3 Sky Dancers - AKA Break your face dancers
These may seem innocent enough but don't be fooled. Operated by some sort of pully mechanism, you could propell your Sky Dancer into the air with as much force as you could muster. However the direction and momentum was a surprise each time (which was half the fun I thought.) However complaints were of course made, regarding lacerations to the face, concussions, missing teeth and even broken bones. Basically Sky Dancers taught us to stay sharp and to always be prepared (to a degree of practically military precision.)
#4 Aqua Dots - AKA Date rape dots (yeah, seriously)
Around fairly recently (2007) Aqua dots were colourful beads that could be arranged into various patterns and set there for you to enjoy forever with just a sprinkling of water, which activated a glue on the coating of said beads. However, reports almost immediately surfaced of children vomiting, passing out and generally lapsing into a coma if the beads were ingested (and it's not often you see a choking hazard overlooked). After rigorous testing, the beads were found to contain gamma-hydroxybutyrate, also known as the date-rape drug. Essentially, Aqua Dots taught us and our parents that there are far worse things to worry about than a potential choking hazard.
#5 Jarts - AKA Imminent death
Possibly the most legitimately dangerous toy of all time, Jarts caused over 7,000 injuries and four deaths in the 70's and 80's. Intended as an outdoor game, Jarts were weighted so that they would stick into the ground. Unfortunately, they also had a tendency to stick into childrens eyes, guts, limbs. You get the idea. Essentially, children were given miniature spears to hoy about the garden. However if you'd played with your Sky Dancers enough your dodging ability should have been second to none.
So in conclusion, the most obvious reason why kids today are quite frankly a little bit hopeless, is because they don't have access to toys that could potentially kill them.
