We’d like to think that all the toys released to the public are safe and thoroughly tested. Well, it turns out quite a few dangerous toys have slipped through quality control over the years, often requiring a recall or a total ban. Chances are you’ve played with at least one of these toys growing up. You must have survived the encounter, so congratulations. Before we head off down our danger- filled memory lane,

10. Jarts


This is the gold standard of banned toys. If yougrew up the 70s or then odds are you played with lawn darts at least once. Withplastic and a heavy meavy head, the darts were meant to be thrown towards atarget- like lawn bowling. Naturally, kids got bored of this and decided it wasmore to throw the darts at each other or straight up in the air, after whichyou’d dodge them as they fell. In 1987, everyone suddenly realized just howdangerous metal lawn darts were when a small child was killed. The product waspulled from the shelves immediately.

9. Riding an inner

Riding an inner

    Tube behind a boat can be a lot of fun. Onecompany realized this and took it to the next level by adding the ability toget airborne. The kite tube was a wider form of tube that allowed riders tocatch the air and rise up out of the water. At great speed. After somepublicized injuries and even deaths at the hand of the kite tube, the consumerproduct safety commission stepped in to halt sales of this fun, yet incrediblydangerous toy.

8. Zulu Blow Gun

Zulu Blow Gun

 Whoever thought toy was appropriate probablyalso pitched the idea for radiation lab kit. Any toy maker who makes any sortof shooting toy should know kids are going to use it to shoot their friends andsiblings. Even though it included rubber tipped darts, the zulb blow gun couldstill damage an eye or get sucked someone’s throat. We’re also pretty sure ifyou owned this likely tried shooting other, more dangerous out of it. That’swhy the stores quickly pulled this thing off the shelves.

7. Clackers


Chances are you’ve seen this toy, at least inits safer yet equally annoying plastic form. The principle behind clackers was simple you just flick your wrist inthe right way and get two balls to smack into each other repeatedly. And gettwo balls to smack into each other repeatedly. The original clackers were madethe original clackers were made from ceramic or some type of hardened glass.  Of course, bang them together long and hardenough and the balls could shatter. The rain of shrapnel could cause cuts oreven blind anyone bored enough to play with this to for that long. Nonetheless,this exploding ball of fun was removed from the market and replaced with onemade from all- plastic.

6. Atomic Energy Lab

Atomic Energy Lab

1.    was fascinated with nuclear powerand radiation. The problem is that the dangers of radiation weren’t as widelyknown among the general public. Enter the atomic lab. This fun home kit letkids explore and handle all sorts of advocative material- including uranium.There were even instructions on how to prospect for uranium and an order fromfor more radioactive rocks when your sample had run out. Eventually peoplerealized letting play with radioactive material was a bad thing and the kit waspulled from stores.

5. Csi Forensic Lab Kit

Csi Forensic Lab Kit

 First off, since kids generally didn’t watch csiit sems a bit strange that a home forensic kit was released at all. After all,it’s kind of why there’s no breaking bad toys made for kids. That’s just commonsense. Nonetheless, in the mid-2000s parents everywhere were swooping in totake these things away from their kids. Research had shown that the csi kitscontained significant amounts of asbestos – a substance long known to causecancer. Consumers everywhere were outraged and the toy pulled from shelves soonafter. 

4. Sky Dancers

Sky Dancers

A toy you wind up and release into air where itflies around wherever it wants- what could possibly go wrong? Well, it turns outa lot. Sky dancers were one of those 90s toys every kid wanted, for at least alittle while. That’s because these seemingly harmless wind- up toys actuallydid a lot of damage. With the number of broken teeth, eye injuries, faciallacerations and concussions on the rise, the consumer product safty commissionstepped in, in 2000.  With that, nearly 9million of these flying harbingers of doom were recalled and taken off theshelves. 

3. Snack time Cabbage Patch Doll

Snack time Cabbage Patch Doll

  In the 1980, if you were anyone then you had acabbage patch doll. They were so popular stores couldn’t keep them stocked.Then, in the mid- 90s, a cabbage patch doll with a motorized mouth wasunleashed upon the world. Everything was fine until dolls seemingly developed ataste for little kids. Reports even started coming in that fingers, skin andhair were getting caught in the champers of these demonic little toys. Themouths were even reportedly strong enough to pull hair right from the scalp.Needless to say, one exorcism and a recall later and the snack time doll wasremoved from the shelves and recalled from 500,000 homes.

2. Metal Playground Equipment

Metal Playground Equipment

  Ok, so this isn’t a ‘toy’ per say but we’re suremost of you remember playing on playground equipment. That was all- metal whenyou were younger. The equipment was solid and only occasionally cut us. If wehit our heads or limbs the metal only gave us small bruises and littleconcussions. And don’t even get us started on how we all got burned playing onthe slide and monkey bars that had been baking in the sun all day. Come tothink of it, it’s pretty obvious why these things were replaced in playgroundsduring the 90s.

1. Slap Bracelets

Slap Bracelets

   At first it’s hard to figure out why thispopular 90s toy was takes the market. Sure it was basically the same as aspring loaded tape measure that curled around your wrist. And yes, some of usdid try and snap them around our necks. But what was really dangerous? Well, itturns out that market got flooded with cheap knock- offs. In turn, the metalinside often wore through the coating and started cutting a lot of kids.Anything that makes kids bleed in the toy world is on the fast track to ban-land. 


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