S for...

STICKERS:

I'm sure many of you had a collection of stickers, and an album to keep them in. I'm pretty sure I had one of the albums pictured above. Although there were times when I stuck them on things like binders and lunchboxes. 

Things I loved collecting stickers of were cats, unicorns, rainbows and bears. I also liked the scratch-and-sniff ones. I had both paper and puffy stickers. I had many stickers similar to these:

There was also this sticker line, which I also had. I bet a lot of you remember Wacky Packages.

Whenever I saw racks like these, I felt like a kid in a candy store.

SNOOPY:

A character I'm pretty sure I had among my stickers was Snoopy. I certainly liked Snoopy and Peanuts gang a lot. I had the comic collection Peanuts Jubilee, which I wore out from reading excessively!

I always loved reading the strip in the Sunday comics inserts. I was upset to learn that the Peanuts holiday specials would no longer be shown on ABC. For the last two years, I'd been borrowing the Peanuts Halloween DVD from my library. I have yet to see the Peanuts movie from 2015, however. 

My senior year of high school we put on the play Snoopy. It was similar to the one seen in this video:

SMURFS:

I really loved watching them on Saturday mornings. I had some of the figurines and some plush toys. Not such what other merchandise I had, but suffice it to say they were one of my favorite characters.

SEA WEES:

Before Ariel, this was the toy for mermaid lovers. A lot of people I know don't seem to know about these. One person, though, said she had all of them. Originally there were just three mermaids all of whom were reissued a year or two later with matching baby mermaids. Some came with sea pets, animals that were half-fish and half another animal, like a seal, penguin, pelican, and even a cat and a dog. There was a tropical-themed line and an icy-themed one. Click to see more.

I only ever got one of these, the pink-finned one when she came with the baby.

SHRINKY DINKS:

Who had this one? You colored little pieces of plastic and baked them in the oven and they shrank. This was another toy made by Colorfoms.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE:

I had several of the dolls and stuffed animals, card and board games, and miniatures, and I don't know what else. I did however, grow out of toys once Kenner's original line ended, so I missed a lot of the later items. But I do think the originals are better than the new ones.

I had everything in this picture, except Huckleberry Pie and the Purple Pieman, and I had Orange Blossom when she was reissued with her pet butterfly:

I ad some of the miniatures, not sure which ones, or if I had any other tase in this picture:

As I said, the new designs just don't compare to the originals.

SUNSHINE FAMILY:

Still another favorite childhood toy. A craft-themed, environmental-focused line with booklets containing ideas of things to make. A "hippie" alternative to Barbie (though there was play set where Barbie babysits for the family). Grandparents and pets were available, as well the Happy Family (the African American counterpart to the Sunshine Family), and numerous play sets, including  a house, craft store, and bicycles.

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK:

The 50th anniversary was celebrated this year with a sing-along. 

Those who grew up in the 70s and 80s will remember these interstitial animated shorts that aired between cartoons on Saturday mornings on ABC. These there--minute shows taught kids multiplication, grammar, history and science. A short-lived computer series came later, as did a series on money. An Earth Rock series was introduced in 2009 on DVD.

I still enjoy reliving these shorts on Youtube.

Here are some of many ones produced. Do a Youtube search to find others.

SILLY PUTTY:

Endless fun could be had by using Silly Putty to copy images from newspapers and stretching out and distorting the images it picked up. Click here to see some fun facts about Silly Putty.

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SIGNING off for today. TUNE in again on Monday.