A metal-tipped javelin dart, a science kit with radioactive substances, and a bubble machine that gives users a high all sound like products one might find on the dark web.
However, they were once readily available children’s games produced in America.
While parents today would never dream of giving their child a game that involves poisonous substances or sharp blades, such concerns posed little anxiety to manufacturers and families in the mid to late 20th century.
Now, a new Sky documentary, Hazardous History with Henry Winkler, has revisited some of the most concerning children’s games once delivered by Santa at Christmas.
Among them is the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab, released in 1949, which, as the name suggests, allows children to create nuclear reactions using radioactive materials.
Elsewhere, a blow-your-own semi-permanent bubble kit created fumes that children could get high off – and was eventually banned with fears that it could work as a gateway drug.
There was also the Thingmaker, which encouraged children to make their own toys by melting and moulding plastic at high temperatures, which resulted in an abundance of burns.
Read on to discover some of the most shocking children’s games of the past and see whether you’d let your loved little ones play with them today.
Children’s games have long aimed to produce a thrill within their players, but some, including The Atomic Energy Lab (pictured), took it a step too far
Glass Blowing Kit
The Glass Blowing Kit (pictured) instructed children to make their own lab flasks with a blowtorch
The game aimed to encourage children to enjoy chemistry – and longed to prepare them for a career in the field
It was developed with the aim of broadening science’s appeal to children, but the Glass Blowing Kit, created in 1920, was so dangerous that any modern parent would wince with fear at the sight of it.
Toy maker AC Gilbert, one of the most famous in America at the time, created the chemistry kit to encourage children to become future chemists. But despite the positive intention, it posed a series of risks to its intended consumer base.
The Glass Blowing Kit instructed children to use a blowtorch to heat the glass to an extreme temperature to shape it.
At the time, professional chemists had to make their beakers and other glass equipment, and so AC Gilbert created a glass-blowing kit to enable children aged eight or nine to do the same.
The instruction manual told players to take one end of a pipe, dip it into molten glass, mould it into the intended shape, and then blow the 1200-degree object until it expanded into a balloon-shaped bubble before letting it cool.
While it’s hard to imagine given the dangerous process, children in 1920 melted immense amounts of glass to create flasks and beakers while playing in their bedrooms.
It’s safe to say that today’s chemistry kits wouldn’t instruct anything of the like, but back then, the aim was to prepare players for adult life, and in this case, playing with fire was part of that.
The Atomic Energy Lab
The Atomic Energy Lab (pictured), created by AC Gilbert, came with four different samples of uranium
The kit came with a Geiger counter, a Wilson cloud chamber, an electroscope, a spinthariscope, and radiation sources
By the late 1940s, the same toy maker, AC Gilbert, developed another game that was just as dangerous as it sounds – The Atomic Energy Lab.
The Gilbert U-238 toy lab, made with nuclear scientists, allowed children to create and watch nuclear and chemical reactions using poisonous, radioactive materials.
An advert for the product, which was touted as one of ‘the most spectacular’ toys of the era, said at the time of its release: ‘Atomic Energy Lab with real Geiger Counter. Boys! Explore the Secrets of the Atom. Prospect for Uranium!’
The lab itself contained four uranium ore samples (autunite, torbernite, uraninite, and carnotite), a Geiger counter, a Wilson cloud chamber, an electroscope, a spinthariscope, radiation sources, a comic book, and, finally, a 60-page instruction manual outlining 150 experiments to try at home, plus an ‘it’s absolutely safe’ message.
The lab contained a cloud chamber, allowing children to create their own miniature version of the atomic cloud, but in order to do so, players had to use the supplied radioactive source.
The kit came with four different samples of uranium ore in sealed jars, but once removed from the jars, the radiation would have escaped into the child’s home.
Over time, radiation alters DNA and can lead to abnormal cell growth and cancers, so a radioactive toy could have devastating effects, making it a top contender for one of the most dangerous toys of all time.
However, it wasn’t the toy’s potential danger that led to it being pulled from shelves, but the expensive price tag.
The toy, which retailed at the equivalent of $600 today, was too high for American parents, which ultimately led AC Gilbert to cease its production.
Thingmaker
The Thingmaker (pictured) allowed children to create rubbery ‘bugs’ by pouring liquid plastic into metal moulds and heating them on a hot plate at high temperatures
While it was no doubt fun to create the toys – the process caused so many burns that regulators were forced to step in and take the product off the market
Developed in the 1964 by Mattel, The Thingmaker’s Creepy Crawlers set allowed children to create their very own toys.
The game’s premise was to create rubbery ‘bugs’ by pouring liquid plastic, dubbed ‘Plasti-Goop’, into metal moulds and heating them on a hot plate at high temperatures.
Curing plastic requires the use of exceptionally high heat – an activity that clearly isn’t safe for young children.
The surface of the hot plate could reach up to 400 degrees, and the outer edges could reach up to 200 degrees, meaning that even after the toy was made, there was still searing hot mould to contend with.
While the game was fun and exciting for children, it was incredibly dangerous, and it wasn’t long before burn reports began to surface.
Enough hands and fingers were scolded that regulators stepped in and took the toy off the market in 1974.
The change was made after President Richard Nixon signed the Child Protection and Toy Safety Act in 1969, banning any toy presenting an electrical, chemical or thermal hazard.
Super Elastic Bubble Plastic
Bubbles are a firm favourite among children – and Super Elastic Bubble Plastic allowed children to blow their own using a plastic paste
However, the innovative toy, created by Wham-O, was capable of creating a dizzying high for its players
Bubbles have long been a favourite for children, but what if the soapy creations could last that little bit longer than the usual few seconds?
Well, that was the logic of Wham-O, a company that created semi-permanent bubbles called Super Elastic Bubble Plastic in the 1970s.
The toy, which retailed for 96 cents, made children squeeze a coloured plastic substance from a tube onto a straw and then blow to create strong balloon-like bubbles.
The advert read: ‘Blow-it-yourself! Giant multi-colour balloons are easy and fun to make with this super elastic Bubble Plastic. Year-round fun for everyone.
It might sound like one of the greatest creations ever; however, there was an unexpected, less desirable side effect.
The plastic children would inhale was made of polyvinyl acetate, ethyl acetate, and acetone, which could impact lung functioning, breathing, and the nervous system, making the users feel jittery.
The balloons were also difficult to blow up, meaning children often required multiple attempts, resulting in them inhaling more of the product.
The smell gave off a slight high and could make users feel dizzy.
Parents and schools worried that the balloons could work as a gateway drug, and so they were taken off the market in the ’80s.
Lawn Darts
Lawn Darts, otherwise known as Jarts (pictured), were metal-tipped toys that caused many injuries and even fatalities
The game, which went on to become extremely popular, was inspired by an ancient Roman war weapon called plumbata
Lawn Darts, otherwise known as Jarts, might be the most terrifying children’s game of all time.
The game involved players throwing a metal-tipped ‘javelin dart’ at targets, and whoever threw closest to the target scored the most points and won the game.
By 1986, there were between 10 to 15 million darts in homes across America, proving their popularity.
The toy was based on an ancient Roman war weapon called the plumbata, which soldiers would throw as high as possible and aim for their opponents.
Despite the game’s instructions, children being children would throw the jart up as high as they possibly could, aiming for the metal tip to land in the ground.
That wouldn’t always be the case though, and gruesome reports have revealed instances where the metal tip landed in children’s heads or other body parts.
From 1972 to 1986, there were approximately 6000 separate heart injuries.
The dangerous game was responsible for the tragic death of three children – one four year old, a 13-year-old, and a seven-year-old, Mashable reported.
The Austin Magic Pistol
The Austin Magic Pistol (pictured) would shoot ping pong balls at high speeds using ‘magic crystals’
After causing countless injuries, several American States banned the Austin Magic Pistol in the 1940s
The Austin Magic Pistol was a toy gun so dangerous that it was banned in multiple locations in the late 1940s.
Inspired by the comic Buck Rogers and his ray gun, the bright red, chunky toy shot ping pong balls up to 100 ft away.
The gun achieved such power and speed thanks to its ‘magic crystals’.
Children would load the crystals, made of calcium carbide – a chemical compound that is today widely considered to be hazardous – and water to create a settled in gas to power the blow torch, which could burn at upwards of 5500 degrees.
The gun would then power the ping pong ball at high speeds of up to 34 to 48 miles per hour, meaning that the toy gun was essentially a low-powered firearm, and could cause bruises – or even burns from the sparks created by the crystals.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, several States in America passed laws making it illegal for a toy gun to discharge using combustible materials following many reports of accidents shortly after the Austin Magic Power’s release.
Hazardous History With Henry Winkler airs on Sky History at 10pm on Monday.