Spacehoppers and Wall Walkers: Toys from yesteryear

MECHANICS MADE EASY: Meccano has been a versatile means of keeping children (and more mature enthusiasts) entertained for more than a century (Image: Mirror Pics)

Childhood toys will be fond memories for everyone. Many of these will be standard classics, such as toy castles and soldiers, dolls and dolls’ houses, teddy bears, model railways, cars, and farm and zoo animals being popular items.

Others will be newer ideas, some continuing to be popular, and becoming new classics, such as Mouse Trap, and Space Hoppers. However, others, like Wall Walkers and Colour Witches, will be temporary crazes that today’s youngsters would not have heard of.

Meccano was patented in 1901 by a Liverpool clerk called Frank Hornby, who incidently also later started the Hornby model railway company. The principle behind the perforated metal strips, plates, wheels and axles with nuts and bolts, was that youngsters could learn about engineering and mechanics, so it was as much educational as for fun.

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While it was a staple through the 20th century, its popularity has declined in recent decades. It seems that while metal sheets and nuts and bolts appealed to earlier generations, they no longer present the same interest for present day children, and the last dedicated Meccano factory closed in 2013, though Meccano sets are still produced, alongside other products in other factories.

Wall Walkers was a popular 1970’s toy, which consisted of a plastic frame with a face, and held to the wall by a suction pad. The idea was to race these down the wall, but the right amount of moisture had to be applied to the suction pad, as too much would mean that the Wall Walker would stay where it was, and too little would mean it would drop off the wall.

Rotadraw and Spirograph offered the chance for children of differing artistic ability to make great artistic works. Spirograph was introduced in 1965, while Rotadraw was voted Educational Toy of the Year in Britain in 1969.

Rotadraw sets consisted of a set of plastic discs (usually about six), which had a theme, such as zoo animals, transport or Disney characters. These discs had uneven lines and other shapes cut out of them, and numbered.

To make a drawing using these rotary stencils, you start by pinning a disc, and then make a mark at the number one, before you fill in the corresponding shape. Afterwards you rotate the two to that same mark and fill in the corresponding line, and by the time you finish you should find a perfect picture of whatever you are drawing.

Spirograph works on a similar principle to Rotadraw, but with wheels and gears, and creates geometrical patterns, rather than naturalistic pictures of animals or people. It was popular in the 1970s and 1980s, and was relaunched in 2013.

The aim of Mouse Trap is to build a highly complicated mouse trap, and use it to capture your opponents’ mice. The fact that this board game, which was introduced in 1963, is still available shows that it has retained its popularity.

Colour Witches are an example of clever marketing of what to a rational adult are basically marker pens (just with witches’ hats for lids), and paint pots (albeit in cauldron-shaped pots with a broomstick shaped paintbrush). These had a special magic for children in the early 1970s, but no longer exist.

Space Hoppers were invented in Italy in 1968, introduced into the UK in 1969, and became a craze during the 1970s and 1980s. These bouncy balls that you can sit on provide good exercise while being fun at the same time.

This is the first in our new regular nostalgia feature. We’d love to know what you would like to ‘look back on’ in future articles.

If you remember any of the toys featured today, or you have your own fond memories of favourite toys from different decades, share them with us in the comment section.

Have you seen our other regular features on InYourArea: