Fisher-Price facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Fisher-Price, Inc.

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Toys
Founded	June 19, 1930; 94 years ago (1930-06-19)
Founders	Herman Fisher Irving Price Margaret Evans Price Helen Schelle Rebecca D. Fisher
Headquarters	East Aurora, New York , U.S.
Products	Baby toys, dolls
Brands	Imaginext Laugh & Learn Little People Thomas & Friends
Revenue	US$1.07 billion (2020)
Parent	Quaker Oats Company (1969–1991) Mattel (1993–present)

Fisher-Price, Inc. is an American company that makes fun and educational toys for babies, toddlers, and young children. Its main office is in East Aurora, New York. The company was started in 1930 by Herman Fisher, Irving Price, Helen Schelle, and Margaret Evans Price. This was during the Great Depression, a time when many people faced tough economic challenges.

Some of the most famous Fisher-Price toys include the Little People toy line, Power Wheels, View-Master, and the Chatter Telephone. Fisher-Price also makes many products for infants, like baby gear. Since 1993, Fisher-Price has been part of Mattel, a very large toy company.

History of Fisher-Price

Fisher-Price was founded in 1930 by four people: Herman Fisher, Irving Price, his wife Margaret Evans Price, and Helen Schelle. Herman Fisher had experience selling games. Irving Price had worked for a large store chain. Helen Schelle ran a toy shop.

The founders wanted to make toys that were fun, clever, well-built, and offered good value. Early toys were made from strong steel parts and a type of wood called ponderosa pine. This wood was chosen because it didn't splinter easily and could handle a lot of play. Colorful pictures were added to the toys using a special printing method called lithography. Margaret Evans Price was the first Art Director. She designed the first push-pull toys, which were based on characters from her children's books.

The mayor of Aurora, New York, helped Fisher-Price by raising $100,000 to start the company. In 1931, three of the founders took 16 of their wooden toys to a big toy fair in New York City. The toys were a huge hit! The very first Fisher-Price toy ever sold was called "Dr. Doodle" in 1931.

In the early 1950s, Fisher-Price started using plastic to make toys. Plastic allowed for brighter colors and decorations that lasted longer. "Buzzy Bee" was one of the first toys to use plastic. By the end of the 1950s, Fisher-Price was making 39 different toys with plastic parts.

During the 1960s, a new toy line called the Play Family was introduced. These toys later became known as Little People. They quickly became more popular than earlier toys. The 'Family House' was one of the most loved Little People playsets. Herman Fisher retired in 1969. That same year, The Quaker Oats Company bought Fisher-Price.

In 1991, Fisher-Price became an independent company again. Then, in November 1993, Mattel bought Fisher-Price. A new team at Fisher-Price decided to focus on toys for babies and young children. They also started selling toys in more countries around the world. By 1997, Mattel decided that all of its toys for young children would be sold under the Fisher-Price name.

In 2004, Royal Caribbean Cruise lines added Fisher-Price Cabanas to their cruise ships. These were special play areas for children on board.

Fisher-Price Products

Fisher-Price has created about 5,000 different toys since the 1930s. One of their most famous toy lines is Little People. This line includes figures of people and animals, along with many playsets like houses, farms, schools, and vehicles. The figures were first made of wood. Now, they are made of plastic and have more detailed features.

Besides Little People, some other popular Fisher-Price toys that have been around for many years include Power Wheels, View-Master, Rescue Heroes, the Chatter Telephone, and the Rock-a-Stack. Fisher-Price has also made toys based on popular characters like Disney characters, Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, and See 'n Say.

Fisher-Price also designs and sells products for infant care. They have also started making electronic toys for young children.

In 2009, Fisher-Price bought the rights to make toys for Thomas & Friends. This meant they could make all Thomas & Friends toys except for the wooden railway line. Later, in 2012, Mattel bought HIT Entertainment, which owned Thomas & Friends. This meant Mattel (and Fisher-Price) now fully owned the Thomas & Friends brand. Because of this, toys based on other shows like Mike the Knight and Bob the Builder were also released.

Product Recalls

Sometimes, toy companies have to recall products if there's a safety concern. On August 2, 2007, Fisher-Price recalled nearly a million toys. These included Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street toys. They were recalled because the paint on them might have contained lead, which can be harmful.

Rock 'n Play Sleeper Recall

On April 12, 2019, Fisher-Price recalled all 4.7 million of their Rock 'n Play sleepers. This recall happened a few days after the company recalled 250,000 infant soothers. The Rock 'n Play sleeper was first sold in 2009. It held sleeping babies in a tilted position.

More than 30 babies died while sleeping in a Rock 'n Play. The Consumer Product Safety Commission stated that these deaths happened when babies rolled over while not strapped in, or under other conditions.

Years before the Rock 'n Play sleeper was introduced, in the mid-1990s, the American Academy of Pediatrics had a campaign called Back to Sleep. This campaign advised that "babies should not sleep for long periods in inclined devices." For babies under one year old, dying during sleep is the main cause of accidental death. The advice for babies to sleep flat on their backs in an empty crib has helped cut this death rate in half.

The Rock 'n Play was designed 15 years after these important sleep recommendations were shared. According to an article from The Washington Post, the product went against these safety guidelines. Fisher-Price sold the Rock 'n Play without getting advice from more than one child health expert. They also didn't do real-world safety tests. The company continued to sell the product for years, even after the first deaths were reported.

In January 2023, Fisher-Price announced the recall again because more infant deaths were reported. This shows how important it is for products for babies to be very safe.

Current Brands and Products

Baby Products

Historic Brands and Products

Video Games

Starting in the 1980s, seven games with the Fisher-Price name were made for personal computers and the Commodore 64. In 1990, three of these games were also made for the Nintendo Entertainment System:

• Fun Flyer (1984)
• Firehouse Rescue (1988)
• Little People Bowling Alley (1989)
• School Bus Driver (1989)
• My Grand Piano (1989)
• Perfect Fit (1988)
• I Can Remember (1989)

Other games developed by Davidson & Associates include:

Other games published by Fisher-Price include:

• Great Adventures Pirate Ship (1998)
• Time to Play Pet Shop (1999)
• Big Action Construction (2001)
• Big Action Garage (2001)

Other Fisher-Price Products

Fisher-Price also makes other products. These include Activegear for families, books, software, car travel accessories, footwear, music, eyeglasses, and videos.

See also

In Spanish: Fisher-Price para niños