The Best Toys Every '90s Kid Wanted

I saw a picture of a recent episode of Blue's Clues and I immediately noticed that Steve no longer uses a handy-dandy notebook to draw out his clues; he uses an iPad. This blew my mind!

It sent me down memory lane of countless Sunday mornings back in the mid-'90s of eating frosted cereal, watching Blue's Clues, and playing with my toys, from which I had so many to choose. Call me biased, but the '90s produced the best toys that kids today will never get a chance to experience. A child in this era would probably look at me like I had five heads if I asked to see their Furby, but they are missing out.

That started me thinking about my personal top 10 for '90s toys, and it’s really hard to narrow down an entire childhood into just 10 toys when such a large portion of my childhood was based around playtime.

I watch my nephew, and although he has plenty of toys, it’s no secret that his favorites are mommy’s iPhone and iPad. In the mid-'90s, the idea of an iPhone was saved for science-fiction movies, and the closest thing I had to an iPad was a Lite Brite. I remember thinking it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

My childhood was all about activities. Looking back, it was as if toy companies were just trying to make us exercise. Skip-It could easily be considered a cardio workout. The best part about toys from my childhood, though, was that it brought kids together. Sure, there were single-player games like my Tamagotchi, but the ones that required the neighborhood friends to come over were always the best. Bop-It would get intense, and nothing tests my anxiety quite like Perfection did.

I had to use my imagination as a kid. I went on adventures with Woody and Buzz Lightyear, I flew alongside my Sky Dancers, and I went shopping with Polly Pocket. Maybe I'm missing something, but I feel like imagination is few and far between for the present generation.

Needless to say, I miss my childhood and the wonderful games that came along with it. Kids today have decent choices, but I will forever cherish my '90s toys.

Here are my top 10 favorites from my childhood: