Fisher-Price, Inc. is an American company that produces

educational toy Educational toys (sometimes also called "instructive toys") are objects of play, generally designed for children. Educational Toys help with motivation, helping kids use their imagination while still pulling in the real world. These toys are imp ...

s for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, headquartered in East Aurora,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It was founded in 1930 during the Great Depression by

Herman Fisher Herman Guy Fisher (November 2, 1898 – September 26, 1975), was born in Unionville Pennsylvania. He is best known as a co-founder of the toy brand Fisher-Price. Education Fisher graduated from the Pennsylvania State University where he was ...

, Irving Price,

Helen Schelle Helen M. Schelle (1893 in Piqua, Ohio – 12 April 1984 in Piqua, Ohio) was co-founder of the toy manufacturing company Fisher-Price. Schelle was born in Piqua, Ohio and moved to New York as an adult, where by the middle of the 1920s, she had becom ...

and

Margaret Evans Price Margaret Evans Price (March 20, 1888 – November 20, 1973) was a U.S. toy manufacturer. With her husband, Irving Price, and Herman Fisher, she co-founded Fisher-Price Toys in 1930. Margaret Evans was a children's book illustrator and artist ...

. Fisher-Price has been a

wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

since 1993. Notable toys from the brand include the Little People toy line,

Power Wheels Power Wheels is a brand of battery-powered ride-on toy cars for kids ages one to seven years old. Power Wheels ride-ons are built with kid-sized, realistic features – in some cases, real working features like FM radios, opening/closing doors a ...

View-Master View-Master is the trademark name of a line of special-format stereoscopes and corresponding View-Master "reels", which are thin cardboard disks containing seven Stereoscopic 3-D pairs of small transparent color photographs on film.Mary Ann & Wo ...

Rescue Heroes Rescue Heroes are a line of Action figure, action figures targeted towards preschool-age children, released by Fisher-Price. The line was first introduced in 1997, depicting various rescue personnel, such as firefighters, police officers, and con ...

, the

Chatter Telephone The Chatter Telephone is a pull toy for toddlers 12 to 36 months of age. Introduced in 1961 by the Fisher-Price company as the "Talk Back Phone" for infants and children, which was updated to the name Chatter Telephone in 1962, is a roll along pu ...

, and the

Rock-a-Stack Rock-a-Stack is a toy by Fisher-Price with colorful rings that have to be placed in order of size onto a tapered pole mounted on a rocking base. When stacked correctly the hollow plastic rings follow ROYGBIV color progression. The Rock-a-Stack is ...

. The company also manufactures a number of products and toys designed for infants.

History

Fisher-Price was founded in 1930 during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, Irving Price, Price's illustrator-artist wife

and

. Fisher worked previously in manufacturing, selling and advertising games for a company in

Churchville, New York Churchville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, New York (state), New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 2,091, up from 1,961 ...

. Price had retired from a major variety chain store and Helen Schelle previously operated Penny Walker Toy Shop in

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

. Fisher-Price's fundamental toy-making principles centered on intrinsic play value, ingenuity, strong construction, good value for the money and action. Early toys were made of heavy steel parts and ponderosa pine, which resisted splintering and held up well to heavy use. The details and charm were added with colorful

lithographic Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

labels. Mrs. Price was the first Art Director and designed push-pull toys for the opening line, based on characters from her children's books. The mayor of Aurora, New York supported Fisher by raising $100,000 in capital. In 1931, three of the four founders took 16 of their wooden toys to the

American International Toy Fair The North American International Toy Fair (formerly the American International Toy Fair and also known as Toy Fair New York) is an annual toy industry trade show held in mid-February in New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and at to ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and they quickly became a success. The first Fisher-Price toy ever sold was "Dr. Doodle" in 1931. In the early 1950s, Fisher-Price identified

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

as a material that could help the company incorporate longer-lasting decorations and brighter colors into its toys, introducing "Buzzy Bee" as the company's first. By the end of the 1950s, Fisher-Price manufactured 39 toys incorporating plastics. During the 1960s, the

Play Family Little People is a :Toy companies, toy brand for children ages 6–36 months and to ages 3 and up, originally produced by Fisher-Price, Inc. in the 1960s as the Play Family People. The current product line consists of playsets, mini-sets and ac ...

(later known as Little People) product line was introduced and soon overtook the popularity of earlier toys. The 'Family House' was one of the more popular Little People playsets. Herman Fisher retired at the age of 71 in 1969 and The Quaker Oats Company bought Fisher-Price the same year. In April 1990, Quaker Oats announced they would spin off Fisher-Price as a

publicly traded company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

, of which their shareholders would control the company. This was following struggling sales and competition from rival toy companies. The deal was completed at the end of June 1991, with the company trading on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. On August 20, 1993,

and Fisher-Price announced that they had agreed to merge for $1 billion to create a single company. Fisher-Price's company assets would be folded into Mattel although they would keep their New York-based offices. The deal closed at the end of November, and Fisher-Price became a fully-owned subsidiary. A new management group set the company's focus on basic, infant and preschool products and began expansion into international markets. By 1997, Mattel decided to market all of its

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

products under the Fisher-Price name. In 2004, Royal Caribbean Cruise lines launched Fisher-Price Cabanas, for children on each of their cruise ships.

Recalls

On August 2, 2007, Fisher-Price recalled close to a million toys, including the Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street toys, because of possible hazards due to the toys being coated in lead-based paint.

Rock 'n Play

Fisher-Price recalled all 4.7 million of their

Rock 'n Play The Rock 'n Play was a baby sleeper produced by Fisher-Price. The product launched in 2009 and sold 4.7 million units before its initial recall in 2019. Approximately 100 infant deaths have been connected with use of the sleeper. Several of the d ...

sleepers on April 12, 2019, days after the company recalled 250,000 infant soothers. The product, introduced in 2009, holds the sleeping baby in an inclined position. More than 30 infants have died while sleeping in a Rock 'n Play. The

Consumer Product Safety Commission The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC, CPSC, or commission) is an independent agency of the United States government. The CPSC seeks to promote the safety of consumer products by addressing "unreasonable risks" of injury ...

said these deaths occurred "after the infants rolled over while unrestrained or under other circumstances". Years before the introduction of the Rock 'n Play sleeper in the mid-1990s, the

American Academy of Pediatrics The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States. It is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C. The AAP has published hundreds of poli ...

' ''Back to Sleep'' campaign recommended that "babies should not sleep for long periods in inclined devices". In babies under one year old, dying during sleep (also known as

SIDS Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sometimes known as cot death or crib death, is the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Diagnosis requires that the death remain unexplained even after a thorough autopsy and ...

, or "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome") is the leading cause of accidental death. The recommendation that babies sleep flat on their backs, in an empty crib, has cut this death rate in half. The Rock 'n Play was designed 15 years after these sleep recommendations were published and, according to an article from ''The Washington Post'', violated them. Fisher-Price sold the Rock 'n Play without first getting medical advice from more than one pediatric specialist and without doing any real-world safety tests. They continued to sell it for years after the first deaths were reported. In January 2023, Fisher-Price re-announced the recall after additional infant deaths were reported.

Products

Fisher-Price has created approximately 5,000 different toys since the early 1930s. One of Fisher-Price's best-known lines is Little People toys, which includes people and animal figures, along with various play sets such as a house, farm, school, garage and vehicles. The figures, which originally were wooden peg-style characters, are now molded of plastic and have detailed features. In addition to Little People, some of the toys and toy brands that have remained popular for many years include

, the

and the

. Other brands marketed under the Fisher-Price name over the years include

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

Dora the Explorer ''Dora the Explorer'' is an American media franchise centered on an eponymous animated interactive fourth wall children's television series created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes, and Eric Weiner, and produced by Nickelodeon Animation ...

and

See 'n Say See 'n Say is an educational toy created by Mattel in 1964 after the success of Chatty Cathy. It was the first Mattel talking toy allowing children to choose the exact phrase as heard. Although the first release focuses on farm animal sounds, it ...

. Fisher-Price also designs and sells infant care products and has begun developing electronic toys for preschoolers. In 2009, Fisher-Price bought all toy rights to

Thomas & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' is a British children's television series which aired from 9 October 1984 to 20 January 2021. Based on ''The Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher Awdry, Christopher, the series was developed for ...

, except for the Wooden Railway line. Through Mattel's 2012 acquisition of

HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (stylised as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sophie Turn ...

, which subsequently became a division of Fisher-Price, Mattel now owns the property outright. With this, toys based on

Mike the Knight ''Mike the Knight'' is a British/Canadian CGI-animated children's television series created by Alexander Bar and written by Marc Seal. The series premiered on Treehouse TV in Canada on September 8, 2011, and aired until January 13, 2017. Premi ...

and

Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment which ran from to in the United Kingdom through the CBBC strand and later CBeebies. The series centres on the adventures ...

have been subsequently released.

Current

Thomas and Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' is a British children's television series which aired from 9 October 1984 to 20 January 2021. Based on ''The Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, the series was developed for television by Brit ...

(2010-present) *

Imaginext The Imaginext System is a brand of role-playing, adventure toys designed for kids 3 or older made by Mattel, under the label of Fisher-Price. History At the time of its introduction at the 1998 Toy Fair,

(2002–present) * Laugh & Learn (2004–present) * Little People (update of the

line) (1959–present) *

(1985–present) * Rainforest Jumperoo * Smart Toy * Think & Learn *

Batwheels ''Batwheels'' is an American animated Superhero fiction, superhero children's television series that premiered on September 17, 2022, on Max (streaming service), HBO Max. It made its linear premiere on October 17, 2022, on Cartoon Network's presc ...

(2023-present) * Linkimals (2019-2024) * Link Squad (2024-present)

Baby-oriented

* Bassinets * Soothers & Mobiles * Entertainers & Activity Centers * Jumperoos * High chairs & Booster Seats * Domes * Floor Seats * Tubs & Potties * Carriers

Historic

Woodsey

During 1979–1983, Fisher-Price issued the Woodsey line of toys, whose characters were forest animals. It was accompanied by the ''Woodsey Log Library'', a companion book series written by Marci Ridlon and illustrated by

Cyndy Szekeres Cyndy Szekeres (October 31, 1933 – November 22, 2024) was an American children's book author and illustrator who has produced more than 130 books in the tradition of Beatrix Potter and Garth Williams. Best known for her anthropomorphic animal ...

. Installments in the series included ''Grandma & Grandpa's Grand Opening'', ''Uncle Filbert Saves the Day'', ''Mayor Goodgrub's Very Important Day'', and ''Lightning Strikes Twice''. Later in the line's run,

Michael Hague Michael Hague (born September 8, 1948) is an American illustrator, primarily of children's fantasy books. Biography Among the books he has illustrated classics such as ''The Wind in the Willows'', ''The Wizard of Oz'', ''The Hobbit'' and the sto ...

took over as illustrator with ''Bramble Beaver's Bright Idea'' and ''The Seasons with V.B. Bird''.

Other franchises

* 3rd & Bird related products (2008–2010) * Adventure People * Alphabet magnet board * '' ALVINNN! and the Chipmunks'' related products (2015–2020) * Amazing Animals *

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

(Powertouch, Pixter and Easy Link only) (2002–2009) (Moved from

Playskool Playskool is an American brand of educational toys and games for preschoolers. The former Playskool manufacturing company was a subsidiary of the Milton Bradley Company and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Playskool's last remaining plant ...

)) * Baby Gymnastics *

Baby Looney Tunes ''Baby Looney Tunes'' is an American animated television series depicting toddler versions of several ''Looney Tunes'' characters. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation as its first preschool animated series. The series focused on real world ...

Video games

Starting in the 1980s, seven games which carried the Fisher-Price name were developed by

GameTek GameTek was an American video game publisher based in North Miami Beach, Florida, known for publishing video game adaptations of game shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. GameTek was a trade name for IJE, the owner of electronic publishing ri ...

for the PC and the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

. In 1990, three of these titles were ported to the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

: * ''Fun Flyer'' (1984) (never shipped initially, but eventually released in 1990) * ''Firehouse Rescue'' (1988) * ''Little People Bowling Alley'' (1989) * ''School Bus Driver'' (1989) * ''My Grand Piano'' (1989) * ''Perfect Fit'' (1988) * ''I Can Remember'' (1989) Titles developed by

Davidson & Associates Davidson & Associates, Inc. was an American developer of educational software based in Torrance, California. The company was founded in 1984 by husband-and-wife Bob and Jan Davidson, the latter of whom led the company as president until January 1 ...

include: * ''Fisher Price ABC's'' * ''Fisher Price 123's'' * ''Fisher Price Sing Alongs: Barnyard Rhythm and Moos'' * ''Fisher Price Dream Dollhouse'' * '' Fisher Price Ready for School'' * ''Great Adventures Castle'' * ''Great Adventures Pirate Ship'' * ''Great Adventures Wild Western Town'' * ''Puddle Books Series'' * ''Learning in Toyland'' * ''Ready for School Toddler'' * ''Ready for School Preschool'' * ''Ready for School Kindergarten'' * ''Ready for School Reading'' * ''Ready for School 1st Grade'' Other titles 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

Other Fisher-Price products include Activegear for families on the go, books, software, car travel accessories, footwear, music, eyeglasses and videos.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Mattel subsidiaries Toy brands Toy companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in New York (state) Companies based in Erie County, New York American companies established in 1930 Toy companies established in 1930 1930 establishments in New York (state) 1969 mergers and acquisitions 1991 initial public offerings 1993 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange