Toys Every Aussie Kid Wanted Growing Up

This was the first ever little screen we were addicted to and truly the elite of children’s toys. Feeding these guys was our number one priority until the battery died or we enviably lost it. RIP.

There was nothing quite like flying down a hill on one of these, with no helmet or safety gear in sight — just you, the wind and your limitless dreams. Also, still haven’t felt a pain worse than taking one of these to an ankle while trying to do a trick.

My sister learnt to mimic my voice and got into my diary, only to read several entries about how I thought she was the worst…so jokes on her. But otherwise, a foolproof protective diary for the ages.

If you ever saw a group of people huddled on the ground at primary school, chances are, Beyblades were involved. The sight of them spinning further than expected caused uproars like no other.

Why did we love these evil looking weirdos? Who’s to say? But they were kind of cute, collectable and, for some reason, all the rage.

The true staple of Australian summer — getting shot with water at high speed in the face with a Super Soaker. For those of us who grew up without a pool, this was a must-have for any summer party.

Look, maybe we always managed to lose all the parts to our Polly Pocket sets and maybe they could have given us an extra Polly or two to save some tears, but these were still a must have.

Whoever got this over the summer holidays was royalty for the first week back at school. Textas would eventually dry out, crayons broke and pencils disappeared — but not before some serious Picasso level masterpieces were made.

Kids these days will never understand the old “blow into the cartridge” solution and that makes me sad for them. They will also never understand the limited games we had available in Australia and how we just had to deal with it.

I still don’t get how these work and at this stage it’s too late to ask. They were an absolute “get” in the golden primary school era and while they never grew into what the pictures promised, we loved them anyway.

How we all survived swallowing marbles is beyond me. As an adult, I still understand the urge. So smooth and shiny. Also, just a really fun toy to play with.

Did this ad make me beg my parents for an Eye-Lock for months and months? Yes. Did my dad have to break off the Eye-Lock when I forgot the code, leaving my door mangled? Also yes.

Sing it with me “England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, inside, outside, inside, in”. This was the upgraded skipping rope we didn’t know we needed. Such a simple toy could provide hours of fun, until somebody eventually got tangled up and broke it.

Somebody out there really found a way to make card games seem way cooler and boy oh boy did they succeed. This was the primo toy for both Yu-gi-oh and cool-looking toy fans.

You could feed it, clothe it and listen to it cry. Apparently it pooped, but I cannot attest to that, my own one only did weird little wees. What a strange toy tbh.

Look, no wonder the Pokémon Go craze of 2016 got us all so good, we just wanted to revisit our childhood! To this day I know nothing about Pokémon, but I still collected these like my life depended on it.

Ever had one of these thrown at your head because you are just so bad at it? Haha, me neither. The sound of the ball being peeled off the board was (and is) pure pleasure. Plus, I wasn’t even that bad. Bring back Grip Ball.

“Can you start one for me?” — everyone to that one girl at school who just knew how to get one of these going. Scoobies were a make or break item of friendships on the playground. We all probably lost circulation in our arm at one point from wearing too many.

Upgrading from playing with the esky or bin, to playing with one of these bad boys was phenomenal. If you owned one of these you probably play for Australia now.

Sleepovers at the friend’s house who had Singstar were the talk of the town. It ensured that we would never forget the words to many, many classic hits. To this day, I cannot hear certain songs without yelling “we had this on Singstar” immediately.

No matter what track you had, Hot Wheels was always awesome. Watching a metal car be catapulted through the air by a plastic track, that was surely going to break in mere weeks, was the pinnacle of childhood.

Never did I ask for a Happy Meal more than the time Macca’s did the Care Bears promo and I just had to get all of them. They were just the sweetest collectable out there — so soft, so caring.

There is an infinite list of kinda creepy looking Saddle Club toys you may have owned as a child. Be it the weird plush horses, or the demon faced dolls — having them was just…important. I still have my Comanche plush horse because I cannot let go of being a primary school horse girl.

The ultimate collectable. They came in so many outfits, styles and all their faces were as slightly creepy as the next. These are probably somewhere in a garage right now, doomed to be possessed by the local demon.