Colorforms facts for kids
Gumby Colorforms
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| Inventor(s) | Harry and Patricia Kislevitz |
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| Company | Colorforms Brand, LLC (9 Story Media Group) |
| Country | United States |
| Availability | 1951–present |
| Materials | Vinyl sheet, glossy paperboard |
| Slogan | It's more fun to play the Colorforms way |
Colorforms are super fun toys made of colorful vinyl shapes. These shapes can stick to a smooth background without any glue! You can use them to create all sorts of pictures and designs. The best part is, you can move them around as many times as you like to make new scenes. Colorforms is also the name of the company that makes these cool toys, called Colorforms Brand, LLC.
When Colorforms first started, the sets had simple shapes and bright colors on black or white backgrounds. But over time, they grew to include full-color pictures, games, puzzles, and activity sets for kids of all ages. They also started using popular characters from movies and TV shows, which helped the company become very successful. Since they began, more than a billion Colorforms sets have been sold!
Contents
How Colorforms Work
Colorforms pieces are thin, colorful shapes cut from a material called vinyl. These shapes often have pictures printed on them. You stick them onto a smooth, plastic-coated background board, kind of like putting paper dolls on a paper scene.
The pieces stick to the background without any glue or static electricity. Instead, they create a tiny vacuum between the smooth vinyl and the smooth board. This holds the piece in place securely, but you can still easily lift it off. You can move the Colorforms pieces around on the board as many times as you want to make new designs and stories. Playing with Colorforms helps young children be creative, focus, understand how things fit together, and improve their hand skills.
The Story of Colorforms
The idea for Colorforms came from Harry and Patricia Kislevitz in 1951. They were both art students and loved modern design.
The basic idea was to stick colorful shapes onto surfaces to create art. The couple discovered this when they got some thin, flexible vinyl rolls used for making plastic bags. They found that the vinyl would stick to the shiny paint in their bathroom and could be moved around without leaving marks. They started cutting shapes from the vinyl and sticking them to the wall. It was so much fun that they left extra vinyl and scissors for their guests to join in! Everyone loved it, and Harry realized this could be a great product.
The very first Colorforms sets were spiral-bound books that Harry and Patricia put together by hand in their New York City apartment. The first 1,000 sets were sold to the famous FAO Schwarz toy store. Soon after, they started making boxed sets with printed, cut-out pieces and colorful backgrounds. The company used the slogan "It's More Fun To Play The Colorforms Way!" in their ads. A famous graphic designer named Paul Rand even created the Colorforms logo that is still used today!
The company often worked with talented freelance artists to create their sets. Even their creative director for many years, Mel Birnkrant, was a toy designer who worked for them as a freelancer. The main thing that makes Colorforms sets special is their plastic "Stick-Ons™" that you can place and move on different backgrounds to create endless scenes.
Colorforms Timeline
- 1951 - Harry and Patricia Kislevitz discover that vinyl sticks to smooth surfaces, leading to the Colorforms idea.
- 1957 - Popeye becomes the first licensed character to appear on Colorforms products.
- 1959 - Graphic designer Paul Rand creates the well-known Colorforms logo.
- 1962 - Miss Weather, a Colorforms character whose clothes changed with the weather, is introduced.
- 1968 - The Outer Space Men, bendy action figures, are released.
- 1981 - Colorforms gets the rights to make Shrinky Dinks kits, creating over 50 different sets.
- 1997 - Toy Biz buys Colorforms.
- 1998 - University Games buys Toy Biz.
- 2000 - Colorforms is named one of the Top 10 Toys of the Century by the Toy Industry of America.
- 2011 - Time magazine names Colorforms one of the Top 100 Toys of All Time.
- 2014 - Out of the Blue Enterprises buys Colorforms, creating Colorforms Brand, LLC.
- 2018 - 9 Story Media Group buys Out of the Blue Enterprises, also getting Colorforms.
Colorforms Products
Early Colorforms sets featured original characters and everyday themes, like Miss Weather (a girl whose clothes changed with the weather) and Miss Cookie's Kitchen (a woman with kitchen tools). Later, sets started using popular cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Gumby. Today, Colorforms has expanded beyond simple "paper doll" concepts, with more than 75 different Colorforms toys available and new ones added every year.
Popular Characters on Colorforms
The first Colorforms product to feature a licensed character was Popeye in 1957. Since then, using licensed characters has been a very important part of Colorforms' marketing. Hundreds of popular brands have been featured on Colorforms sets!
Colorforms has made sets for many different cartoons, TV shows, movies, and even music artists. Some of these include The Beatles, Peanuts, Gumby, Tarzan, The Three Stooges, Doctor Dolittle, Star Trek, Batman and Superman (and many other comic-book superheroes), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Michael Jackson, The Smurfs, and even Steve Urkel.
Sometimes, Colorforms even created their own characters to compete with other popular toys. For example, they developed Sugar & Spice to be like Strawberry Shortcake, when they couldn't get the rights to make Strawberry Shortcake toys. They even sold their Sugar & Spice idea to other companies! However, Colorforms was never able to make Star Wars sets because another company held all the toy rights very tightly.
Other Cool Products
In 1968, Colorforms tried something different from their usual flat toys. They released the Outer Space Men (also called Colorform Aliens), which were bendy action figures. These aliens from other planets were made to go along with the popular Major Matt Mason astronaut toys from another company, Mattel. Colorforms' aliens were a great addition because Mattel didn't have many alien bad guys.
Colorforms also made their own versions of Silly Putty, a stretchy, rubbery material. They had Moon Putty, which came in a hard plastic moon container, and Monster Print Putty, which came in a small plastic human skull for a spooky effect!
From 1979 to at least 1984, Colorforms was the main company in the United States to make Plasticine modeling clay. This clay is a soft, non-drying material made from chalk and petroleum jelly. It was a good competitor to another popular modeling clay called Play-Doh.
In 1981, Colorforms also got the rights to make and sell Shrinky Dinks. They continued to create and promote these fun kits until the brand was sold to Milton Bradley in 1988.
Over the years, the company has also sold many children's board games and different kinds of jigsaw puzzles.
Who Owns Colorforms Now?
Colorforms has changed owners a few times over the years.
- In 1997, Colorforms was bought by Toy Biz.
- A year later, in 1998, Colorforms was sold to University Games Corporation.
- In September 2014, it became a new part of Out of the Blue Enterprises, as Colorforms Brand, LLC.
- In January 2018, a company from Toronto called 9 Story Media Group bought Out of the Blue, and with it, Colorforms.
- In 2019, 9 Story Media Group and another company teamed up to create the Netflix show Charlie's Colorforms City.
