It might feel like children’s toys are becoming weirder by the year, but if you think about it, they’ve always been weird. Think back to your childhood. What was the weird thing you were obsessed with? We all had some pretty strange things we really wanted and begged our parents to get, even though our parents thought they were pretty freaking weird and didn’t get the point at all. But we got them in the end, because parents just want to make their kids happy. So let’s take a look at some weird things almost everyone had as a child.
1. Fidget Spinner
Ok, so let’s start modern. Fidget spinners are definitely a recent thing, in fat they were all the rage about 3 years ago, and now we all kind of think back to the time and wonder how did that happen and why was it such a trendy thing. But we have a theory that it’s just a new take on something from the 90’s – the yo-yo.
2. Slime
Slime is pretty freaking weird. Why are kids so obsessed with this weird snot looking thing, especially since the very first slime sets were bright green? But it evolved and now there’s all kinds of pleasantly colored slime with sparkles and beads and other things. We suppose it’s the tactile experience and the texture that the kids are crazy about.
3. Selfie Stick
Another modern invention, but is it really? While selfie sticks became super popular because of smartphones, it’s not exactly a new invention. Things like this have been around since the beginning of photography, it’s just that the smartphone really made it go crazy cause everyone and their mom wanted cool selfies. Now we wouldn’t be caught dead with a selfie stick, we changed them a little, we call them monopods and use them for vlogging instead.
4. Tamagotchi
Tamagochi were all the rage in the 90s, and we all had to hack a way of restarting them when it inevitably died of neglect. But what’s weird is that tamagotchis recently had a bit of a comeback, so now it’s something that both 90s kids and Gen Z can bond over. What was the longest streak that you could keep your tamagotchi alive for?
5. Rainbow Slinky
We’re not really sure how the rainbow slinky came to be, but we’re very sure that everyone had one as a child and was totally obsessed with it for about a week, until it inevitably became obsolete and boring to you, so you just kept it in the back of you toy collection, only to find years later and reminisce.
6. Snap Bracelets
Remember these? It was such a weird accessory that relied on you slapping it on your wrist. It always looked so painful even though it wasn’t. And sure you had many patterns to choose from, but you rarely wore them for the complimenting color or design, you just constantly took it off and slapped it back on, 100s of times a day, cause that was the fun part.
7. Light Up Sneakers
This is another thing that originated in the 90s but had a comeback more recently. When we were kids in the 90s, the coolest sneakers would be the ones that had like 2 lights in them and they’d light up when you walk, but the battery would always die in one of them way faster, and then it would never get replaced. More recently we had a comeback of light up sneakers, but this time they look like they have led lights that can actually stay on.