Child Of The 1980’s

One of those fears that most children go through is a fear of the dark, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by Hasbro division Playskool when they launched their Glo Worm doll. Glo Worm was a soft toy made from soft bright green fabric with a cheerful vinyl face and a cute little green night cap that also glowed at night. By pressing the body of the doll the face would light up, and therefore was able to comfort young children in a darkened bedroom by providing a soft glow for them to see by.

The toy appeared in 1982 and was snapped up by eager parents in the hope that it would help their young ones get to sleep at night, though in reality they probably either lay in bed constantly switching it on and off, or if very young were possibly scared witless when they rolled over onto the toy when close to sleep, thus making its head glow and startling them awake!

Glo Worm proved popular enough to launch a range of books, bedside lamps and the like and in 1986 also spawned the Glo Friends, a range of small static plastic figures in various insect shapes that also glowed in the dark. These were popular with slightly older children who liked to collect the entire set.

Playskool have since revamped the original Glo Worm doll and the version you can buy today is a little shorter and fatter than the original, and is dressed in what appears to be a blue hoodie with antennae! It’s also suitable for babies and now plays six lullaby tunes as well!

This entry is filed under Toys - Dolls and Action Figures and was posted on August 7th, 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.