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Aqua Dots -

When Aqua Dots hit the shelves in 2007, they seemed to be a novel, harmless way for kids to express their creativity by spraying water on little balls to help them stick together. The only issue? The coating covering the beads somehow contained GHB, a dangerous chemical used to intoxicate and incapacitate people. After numerous children were poisoned and put into comas, Aqua Dots were quickly recalled.

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Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory -

It is truly amazing that we didn't lose an entire generation to this toy. The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory stayed true to its name: every unit of this toy, popular in the 1960s, really contained four types of radioactive uranium.

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Buckyballs -

Magnets were once the secret of all the greatest toys. With Buckyballs, the magnets were the toys. While constructing various shapes with these magnetic balls was surely good fun, no less than 1,700 kids were checked into the emergency room after swallowing these apparently delicious-looking metal beads.

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Hoverboards -

While they can't actually hover, these 'hoverboards' were at the top of every kid's gift list in 2015. Unfortunately, lots of kids who had their wishes granted ended up wishing they hadn't. These hoverboards had a nasty habit of overheating when charging, and burst into flames on more than one occasion. One poor child even lost their life when a charging hoverboard set their house on fire.

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Jarts -

Jarts, javelin darts, lawn darts—whatever you want to call them, they sound like a bad idea. They're basically spikes that children are expected to throw around the yard, so it's not too surprising to learn that 6,000 kids were hospitalized for Jart-related injuries during the 1970s and '80s.

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Magnetix -

Magnetix seemed like a great idea for a building toy set, and they were immensely popular at first. That is, until the small magnets within the building joints started to come loose, and cost one child their life and hospitalized 28 others.

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Children's hammocks -

It seems like something as tried and true as a hammock would have all of its kinks worked out, but as of 1996 they still had lethal faults. Around three million child-sized hammocks had to be recalled after 12 children were strangled to death in the netting.

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Rollerblade Barbie -

There's a Barbie doll for just about every situation imaginable, and rollerblading is no exception. What separated rollerblading Barbie from the rest were the two lighters embedded in her speedy footwear. The idea was for the rollerblades to shoot out sparks as they went forward. And shoot sparks they did, meaning catastrophe was right around the corner if anything flammable was nearby.

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Cabbage Patch Snacktime Kid -

In 1996, the popular Cabbage Patch Kids toy line released the Snacktime Kid, with a motorized mouth to munch on the plastic food that came in the box. The problem was the doll didn't know what was food, what wasn't, or when to stop, and there were numerous reports of the dolls eating poor kids' hair up to their scalps and even injuring fingers.

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Trampoline -

This one's a no-brainer. Surely just about everyone reading this has been a part of or has at least heard of a horrific trampoline-related accident.

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'Battlestar Galactica' Viper spaceship -

The original 'Battlestar Galactica' television series was all anyone could talk about in 1978, and the waves of merchandise followed close behind. The big seller was the Viper spaceship replica, that, much to the children's delight shot out plastic pellets that looked like laser beams. Unfortunately, it didn't take long until kids started choking on the plastic bits. After the toy's company, Mattel, was successfully sued, it became law that toys of such nature must include a choking hazard warning on their boxes.

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Candy cigarettes -

While there might not have been anything immediately dangerous or deadly about candy cigarettes, it does seem to be in awfully bad taste. The last thing we need is to glamorize a habit that could easily cost children their lives in the future once they switch to the real thing.

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Clackers -

Clackers: every kid's dream and every parent's worst nightmare. Invented for the sole purpose of making as much noise as possible, they certainly lived up to that promise. Unfortunately, the earlier versions were prone to shattering in children's faces, creating not only choking hazards but also many chances to get cut.

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Slip n' Slide -

Slip n' Slides are a toy to remind adults to stay in their lane. While very few incidents have been reported concerning this fun backyard accessory's target audience, they were forced to recall nine million units in 1999 after some older, larger participants suffered permanent damage to their necks and spines.

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The Thingmaker -

It seems like common sense that no children's toy should be able to heat up to 300°F (149°C). And yet that's exactly what the original Creepy Crawler Thingmaker was capable of. Of course, kids got burned.

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Pogs -

These colorful trading discs that were used to play a game of chance took over playgrounds in the 1990s. However, just like real gambling, it brought out the worst in its players, causing playground brawls to break out, and they were quickly banned from numerous schools.

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Kinder Surprise -

Kids in the United States were only able to enjoy this treat for a short while before it was deemed too dangerous for American markets. However, plenty of other countries still get to enjoy the little toys hidden inside the delicious chocolate eggs.

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Big Thunder Sword Fountain firework -

What's the first thing you do immediately after lighting a firework? You run for cover, of course. The Big Thunder fireworks company apparently thought this to not be as important as everyone made it out to be, and decided to develop a fireworks 'sword' that stayed in hand to be swung around with joy. Predictably, the swords only made it through one fireworks season, after multiple reports of the fireworks blowing up in people's hands.

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Burger King Poké Balls -

Just before the turn of the 21st century, Burger King ran a promotion with their kids meals, including a collectible Poké Ball in each box. Tragically, the cheaply-made plastic balls easily shattered, and numerous children suffocated on the shards.

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Ace Bayou bean bag chairs -

Bean bag chairs are a popular and seemingly simple invention. However, one particular brand, Ace Bayou, somehow got them terribly wrong. The brand's convenient zippers and loose interior 'beans' caused two children in separate events to climb inside their bean bags and suffocate to death, choking on the foam beads inside.

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Little Lady Stove -

Before the far-less-unhinged Easy-Bake Oven arrived on the scene, the 1960s had their own children's oven and stove toy: the Empire Little Lady Stove. For some reason, the manufacturers decided to give this toy the same, if not greater, heating power as a normal stove. The Little Lady Stove could reach temperatures upwards of 600°F (316°C), and that is certainly a disaster waiting to happen!

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Bird of Paradise slingshot -

Not much is known about this slingshot toy from the 1960s, which apparently shot pellets that were "razor sharp." The Bird of Paradise slingshot quickly became one of the first toys recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

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Leatherman for kids -

While creating a multi-tool for kids to use with parental supervision, added safety should definitely be the number one focus. This wasn't the case with the Leatherman multi-tool designed for kids. In fact, they reported a "fault in the locking mechanism" for the knife, causing it to snap open unexpectedly.

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Razor Jetts -

The name Razor carried quite a bit of weight around the school yard back in the day. Everyone knew they made the best scooters around. When they came out with the new Razor Jetts, two sets of wheels you could simply strap onto your shoes, the kids went crazy. The parents and the safety organizations, not so much. The new Jetts featured spark pads on the heels that sent fire hazards flying all over the place.

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'CSI' fingerprint kit -

The 'CSI'-branded fingerprint kit was meant to give every kid a taste of what it was like to be a forensic investigator. Unfortunately, what most kids got was a taste of cancer-causing asbestos, which was included in the kit as a fine powder for fingerprint dusting.

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Toxic 'Hannah Montana' cards -

'Hannah Montana' was one of the most beloved Disney Channel shows of the 2000s. What didn't work out so well was the card game based on the semi-fictional pop star. It quickly became apparent that the cards contained over 75 times more lead than was legally permitted. However, due to a loophole in the law, since the lead was present in the vinyl coating instead of the paint on the cards, the government had no legal grounds to force a recall.

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Alien Wiggle toy -

Thankfully, the Alien Wiggle toy barely saw the light of day before it was recalled and discontinued. The hard gel that coated the alien toy was found to have E. coli, most likely from contaminated water that was used during production.

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Frozen Treats Slime Kit -

One shudders to think of how many people gave this idea the green light before it reached shelves. A product truly built to fail, the Frozen Treats Slime kit (not pictured) allowed kids to take the inedible, unsafe, iconic Nickelodeon slime and color, shape, and even scent it until it was indistinguishable from real ice cream. And they really expected children to not eat it and get sick.

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Toys with phthalates -

Similar to lead, a major product used in the vast majority of plastic toys, phthalate was discovered to pose serious health risks. Exposure to phthalates was linked to conditions ranging from infertility to breast cancer.

Sources: (List25) (The Talko) (Good Housekeeping)

See also: Iconic toys that defined the ‘80s

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