Another Great Toyline (to make you smile!)

[The Toyroom]

Great collection. I had quite a few Little People sets. My Grandmother bought me one every b-day and Christmas. I think you've covered everything I had except... the Farris Wheel.

The Ferris Wheel! My little brother had that when he was a baby and he'd throw it off his high chair tray! That thing was heavy! I always liked the little boy who cranked the wheel...didn't look too pleased to be working that day!

We also had the schoolhouse and a different barn than the one pictured above.

[grayhank]

Yeah that Castle is what got me collecting those little buggers again! I found an almost complete set at a yard sale. I thought to myself upon seeing it that that was the one set I always wanted as a kid but never got. So I bought it thinking how silly it was to be a 43 year old man buying preschool toys. I then had to research it to see what pieces were actually missing. I did not realize at the yard sale the door I was about to open. The Castle set contains some of the most expensive and hardest pieces to acquire: The Pink Dragon, the Knight and the extremely rare Horse Carraige Harness. It was an ebay nightmare!

I am somewhat easily distracted and have OCD. I can look on ebay for a specific item like the horse harness and end up buying two or three other things in the process. Needless to say that's how my entire little people collection came to be in less than two months time. Somebody please STOP ME!

[HardyGirl]

I've always loved FP Little People, but I never owned any as a child. My dad's co-workers daughters had them, and we'd always play when I visited them. (Please don't think I'm racist for what your about to read), but the reason I never asked for these is b/c I always thought they were only for white children. I never knew any black kids who had these, (I grew up on the outskirts of Harlem), and my dad's co-worker's kid were white, so in my little kid brain, I surmised these toys were for white kids. Fast foward to adulthood, when I started teaching pre-school when I lived in WI, the 3-old class had almost all of these sets and a TON of people. The kids loved them, I secretly wanted to take them home and play w/ them like I did when I was a kid at those little girls' house. I hate the ones they have now. They don't look nearly as fun, and look how many survived playing w/ them in their original shape. If I had kids, I'd get them class FP Little People.

[grayhank]

That's an interesting point you make. Indeed most of the Little People were in fact white. There were probably three or four recurring black boys and a couple of black men for about the first 10-15 years of the line. The first black woman didn't appear until the Sesame Street set came out which included Susan (and Gordon). These are the only two Black parent types in the entire vintage line. A black girl wasn't made until the new School was finally introduced near the end of the vintage run. This girl has only appeared in this set and she is considered to be rare. Also appearing in the set was the first Asian boy. A couple of the newer sets also featured the first Hispanic looking boy and girl.

Here's a glimpse into Little People Cultural Diversity

[HardyGirl]

I'm not so sure black kids not having FP Little People was an issue b/c of lack of black figures as much as it was a cultural thing. I knew plenty of black kids who had white dolls/action figures. And black kids had other FP type toys like that Chatter Phone, and the school days desk and the wind-up radio music box. But the kids I grew up w/ just never owned any Little People. The first black kid I saw w/ an FP Main Street set was my little cousin Dane and his family lived in Laguna Beach CA (a prodominently white area). I really don't know why this was the case. I just thought I wasn't supposed to own any. Weird how kid's minds work, huh?

[Scout]

This brings back memories! I had the farm, the castle, village, and parking garage, I think. I had a cousin who had some of the others. One really neat thing about these in the '70s was that they were bright colors and they weren't just "for boys" or "for girls." Mine got handed down to brother and then sister. Some time in the '90s I was in a toy department somewhere and saw, in the boy aisle, an FP castle that was all black and purple and had knights and dragons, while in the girl aisle the castle was pink and teal and full of little princesses who...I don't know, were just supposed to pick flowers all day? Made me a little queasy.

[Hulk]

Great collection. I have always thought that if there were another line of toys I'd like to eventually collect from my childhood, these would be them. They really predated Megos as far as toys that I remember using my imagination with, and they just have good vibes to them. Thanks for sharing.

[smonte00]

I think I had the airplane. I forgot that they used to be made of wood.

[nvmbrsdoom5]

Fisher Price toys are great. I played with them for a long time....probably much longer than I should have! I used to even use the castle with my Star Wars and Micronauts, etc. The castle playset and the garage were definitely my favorites. Yet another in a long line of vintage toy series that I would love to collect someday, but haven't delved into it yet. I did bid on the garage a couple of times on Ebay recently but always got outbid.

Whenever I try to tell people about these toys to see if they remember them, there's always two things that jar their memories.....the Sesame Street playset, or the little black and white dog with the red collar. People always seem to remember those.

Good luck with the collection, I'd love to see more pics later as you get even more!

[grayhank]

I made my first custom from the little black & white dog with red collar. I made an all black head dog with white details. Nothing fancy just reversed him a bit. Did you know that the dog also came with Yellow (rare) and Blue (rarest) collars as well. Plus there was a dalmatian which I never knew about until I starting buying these again.

The Little People Dog Show - My custom Black Dog on Right