7 recalled toys that sound like fun

Don't get us wrong. These are UNSAFE.

Hear us out... We're not saying these toys should still be on the market. However, they do seem like they'd be a lot of fun. Unsafe fun, sure. But fun nonetheless.

Some of these toys had classic runs before an unfortunate end. Others were taken off the market straight away. So, there's a good chance you played with at least a few of these!

Be sure to share any memories or fun stories in the comments section below. You never know! One person's banned toy is another's cherished heirloom!

1. Atomic Energy Lab

 

This toy may have encouraged curiosity in science, but it also included genuine radioactive materials! Who knows how many two-headed women in STEM there could've been had the government stayed out of our contaminated toy shelves?

2. Snacktime Cabbage Patch Kids

 

Here's one for your nightmares: A cutesy little doll with an insatiable hunger for FLESH! In reality, the Snacktime Cabbage Patch Kid was equipped with state-of-the-art nibbling action. Unfortunately, they frequently nibbled fingers and hair!

3. Slip N Slide

 

Nothing says "summer" quite like a slick tarp and minor abrasions. Wham-O!, makers of the original Slip 'N Slide, issued a recall notice in 1993 to remind consumers the product is meant for children. While the Slip 'N Slide was never taken completely off the market, it certainly wasn't "Fun For All Ages."

4. Sky Dancers

 

They're whimsical! They're majestic! They're a hazard to your children! Unfortunately for fans of fun and fantasy, Sky Dancers frequently got tangled up in people's hair. Plus, if you've ever had one fly into your face, you can see why they reportedly resulted in over 100 eye, teeth, and head injuries.

5. Lawn Darts

 

You don't have to be a scientist to see why lawn darts were a bad idea. The toy, also called "Jarts" was deemed a "mechanical hazard" by the FDA in 1970. The weighted, pointy darts could penetrate the skin, especially when thrown way up in the sky. People died for the Jart. No wonder it was banned.

6. Easy-Bake Oven

 

Loads of people had Easy-Bake Ovens. This one might point out how attitudes toward child safety have evolved. Because the Easy-Bake is an old product and has used mostly the same technology. However, in 2006, after one too many burn reports, Hasbro recalled 95,000 units!

7. Kite Tube

 

The government totally overstepped on this one, because the Kite Tube looks like a killer good time. It's a flotation device, but it's also aerodynamic. So, if you're being pulled by a boat, and you reach that maximum velocity, Kite Tube flies. It's a tube. It's a kite. It was voluntarily recalled in 2006.

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75 Comments

LynCarrigan 11 months ago
I sure wanted that easy bake oven but alas, Santa failed me. He didn’t often.
BradBeall 11 months ago
I've been collecting Jarts (a.k.a. Lawn Darts) for a few years. Last year at a flea market, I scored a like-new, still in the box set, complete with the "target rings" for $40! Nothing says "don't bring your children to my party" like a bunch of drunken idiots throwing pointed things at each other!
Wiseguy70005 11 months ago
"This one might point out how attitudes toward child safety have evolved. Because the Easy-Bake is an old product and has used mostly the same technology."

Was that supposed to be one sentence?
FlaFeral 11 months ago
Hey what those big metal saucers used as sleds. You couldn't steer em. And man! They were fast! We had a great sled hill that went down from a bridge...ending at a paved bike path, before going up an incline, ending at a fence, beyond which was a parking lot.
Yeah our pal Gary, had one of those. Man, he shot down the hill, across the frozen bike path, up the incline..Over the fence! Across the parking lot..and into a car! WOW! I think National Lampoon ripped that off for a movie 7 or so years later..But Gary was the most popular kid in school for a month!
IndianaRockz FlaFeral 11 months ago
😄😄😄great fun story, made me laugh!
Coldnorth FlaFeral 11 months ago
I have a beautiful black kitten too she’s under a year old so loveable
FlaFeral 11 months ago
Oh yeah....slip & slide!
As a young FeralKitten I was the victim of adults at a party, who put it facing down an incline, kinda near a fence, which very much watered the grass resulting in me shooting across the whole thing, and plastered against the fence upside down...Is that why it wasn't meant for adults?
I wanted to again, but those MEAN ADULTS put it away....😹
DeanWolterman 11 months ago
Bring back the lawn darts!!! Weed out the weak of society!!
IndianaRockz DeanWolterman 11 months ago
The survivors of the Dodgeball Tournament will immediately be competing in the Jarts Tournament...place your bets now.
timothys71 DeanWolterman 11 months ago
Isn't there a (relatively) safer version of Jarts available now? I'm pretty sure I've seen them in stores.
Cliffystones 11 months ago
I invite everyone to do a You Tube search for the "Happy Fun Ball" commercial from Saturday Night Live (back in the days when it was funny). You will laugh!
IndianaRockz Cliffystones 11 months ago
Haha I looked it up & watched it & laughed! Totally fits right into this conversation here😄😄😄

"Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball"
timothys71 Cliffystones 11 months ago
It would be cool if we could see some old SNL episodes from the 1970's/80's on MeTV--kind of like how Antenna TV airs old Johnny Carson episodes.
Cliffystones 11 months ago
The concept of "unsafe" isn't an either-or one. The degree to which any one of these toys falls in to that realm is directly proportional to the common sense of the person and/or parent using them. I can recall toys that were way more "dangerous" that I had as a child. But I was schooled on their proper use by wise parents, and never had an issue. Red Ryder BB guns anyone?
FrankieRae Cliffystones 11 months ago
I agree. I had an Easy Bake oven which had something to both put in and take out the pan. Then it was placed on the table to cool. Also, we had Jarts; had we even tried to do something 'stupid' our parents would have taken them away with the warning that until we learned how to play correctly, they'd stay in the place we kept them. Common sense -- a rare quality in people nowadays.
AnnieM Cliffystones 11 months ago
Exactly! One of my favorite childhood toys was the ThingMaker ( https://toytales.ca/thingmaker-from-mattel-1964/ ): I had the Creeple People, the Fun Flowers, and the Fright Factory plates. I used to love watching the Goop cook to clear, then the sizzle when you lowered the metal plate into the cold water tray. I got years of play, and not one burn, because my parents taught me to be extra careful with it.
tootsieg 11 months ago
After reading the comments below I am laughing so hard I can barely see to type.
SusanWilkinson 11 months ago
I really enjoyed the Slip n Slide when I was young. I wanted an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas one year but didn’t get it. Maybe my parents were concerned I’d get hurt, I didn’t ask.
...they spent your Easy Bake Oven money on Lotto tickets .....😄😄😄
Possibly, but it’s their fault I don’t care to cook now. 😆😆😆
😄😄😄👍
Coldnorth SusanWilkinson 11 months ago
May I use that excuse for not liking to cook? What an I come up with not liking to do dishes
pugsleyaddams 11 months ago
You want a trip down memory lane? I highly recommend "Toys That Don't Care" by Edward M. Swartz. As the dust jacket states..."A book about the dangerous toys we manufacture and buy for our children and what can be done about them." Sections include chemistry kits, catapult toys, weapons, exploding toys, candy toys, doll clothes, riding toys, and DOZENS of others.
As I read the descriptions of some of these "toys" I was torn between shock and horror and laughing myself silly. I mean, give me a break! Who thought of these things then what genius board meeting decided "this is a GREAT idea! Let's go for it!" It's amazing a lot of us kids survived considering the wide array of ways potential injury, or worse, that were presented as fun toys.
rockaria 11 months ago
What about Creepy Crawlers? You poured "plastic goop" into a metal mold and then cooked them into gel-like spiders and things. Those molds got really hot & we were always burning our fingers. But it was fun.

We had the lawn darts when I was a kid and I had an Easy Bake Oven, and no one ever got hurt.
Cliffystones rockaria 11 months ago
My BF had Creepy Crawlers. I had one that would mold toy cars! Still alive, no permanent damage. If anything I learned early on to respect devices like those, which helped me tremendously when I became a glass bottle molding machine operator at 18 years old.
Walterine 11 months ago
Every one of these toys were in our household except the kite tube and out of 14 children, (I’m the baby) we never got hurt! I wish my grandkids could’ve experienced the slip & slide!
phritzg 11 months ago
I still have the set of Jarts my wife owned before we got married, so that makes them about 50 years old. They were only used a few times, and they're still in the original box, which is also in excellent shape.
djfone 11 months ago
I worked for Nestle when they came out with the insane idea of placing a tiny plastic toy inside a hollow chocolate ball, thus "WonderBall". Geez, what on earth could go wrong? I'm just guessing none of their corporate design and marketing geniuses had little kids.
Bapa1 11 months ago
Had the lawn darts and slip and slide as a kid. My sister had an easy-bake oven, Gave my daughter the sky dancers and a slip and slide. Went on the slip and slide, crashed into our trash cans, Daughter thought it was hilarious.
Snickers 11 months ago
My family played with lawn darts and never once had a injury. As far as the Atomic lab, who in their right mind would put radioactive material in a kids toy?
djfone Snickers 11 months ago
Probably the same geniuses who put mercury into Mercurochrome and Merthiolate to treat cuts and scrapes. "Yes, let's introduce mercury into your child's bloodstream."
Cliffystones Snickers 11 months ago
It was common in wrist watches with glow in the dark hands. Not enough to ever be harmful.
Snickers Cliffystones 11 months ago
Always wondering why my hair kept falling out. Now I know.
Deleted 11 months ago
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LoveMETV22 11 months ago
" until the rubber cup came off and it turned into a water-propelled brass nozzle that would thrash around out of control dealing concussions and scalp wounds to anyone foolish enough to try and catch it."
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Wouldn't shutting the water off also be an option? 🤣
Bapa1 11 months ago
My brother got clobbered by The Water Wiggle
11 months ago
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LoveMETV22 11 months ago
Yes....Very true.
Walterine 11 months ago
I am crying laughing right now! 😂😂
Drujon 12 months ago
A perfect Saturday- throwing a Lawn Dart way up in the air while simultaneously launching yourself down the Slip N Slide while your little sister shoots Sky Dancers in your general direction. And then after you get home from getting 47 stitches in your scalp enjoying a baked treat from the Easy Bake Oven.
LoveMETV22 Drujon 11 months ago

🤣🤣
IndianaRockz 12 months ago
I loved my Easy Bake Oven!!! I mean, who doesn't like a tiny lightbulb-baked cake?!? 🎂

I also loved my Lite-Brite, yet another hot-lightbulb involved toy for kids.

And did you have Shrinky Dinks??? So fun....yet again a fun craft project using a hot kitchen oven to bake & shrink them filling the kitchen with a lovely hot plastic toxic smell......good times! 😄
KJExpress IndianaRockz 12 months ago
I remember Shrinky-dinks! I only made them a couple of times but it was fun to watch them shrivel up in the oven and then flatten out again. ☺️
JJ614 IndianaRockz 11 months ago
We would have lost easy-bake ovens anyway, since these new-fangled modern lightbulbs don't put off heat.
IndianaRockz JJ614 11 months ago
Ohhh so true!!! Don't get me going on these new LED lightbulbs! 😠😆
FlaFeral IndianaRockz 11 months ago
Shrinky Dinks! Yes! Our mom made the mistake of buying, and leaving them for our babysitter to play with us. Um..we made lots of em...before..ahem.experimenting? We never saw THAT babysitter again. Too bad, she was fun...maybe it had something to do with mom cleaning the oven all week?
IndianaRockz FlaFeral 11 months ago
Haha Shrinky Dinks strike again! Thanks for the great story. 😸
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