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Mr. Potato Head

arts Maturity 5-7 Next article →

Mr. Potato Head is a famous American toy that lets you build funny characters.

Mr Potato Head 1952
Mr Potato Head 1952

You can use many different plastic parts to make a face. These parts include eyes, noses, mouths, and even mustaches. You can also add accessories like hats, glasses, shoes, and pants. Some sets even come with a pipe or a car. This toy is special because it lets you use your imagination to create many different looks. It is a way for people to play and be creative.

Playing with the toy is a simple and fun thing that happens. You take the plastic parts and attach them to a potato body.

Mr Potato Head at Hasbro Pawtucket headquarters
Mr Potato Head at Hasbro Pawtucket headquarters

In the beginning, the toy worked differently. You used small metal pins to stick parts into real vegetables. This was a way to make a "funny face man" out of food. Later, the parts became larger and safer for children to use. Now, the parts fit into slots on a plastic body.

A toymaker named George Lerner invented the toy in 1949. He was born in Brooklyn and liked making things. Some people think he got the idea from playing with vegetables as a child. Others think he was inspired by his own children playing with food. In 1951, Lerner made a prototype for the toy. He first tried to sell it to Post Cereals to put in boxes. Eventually, the company Hasbro bought the rights to make the toy.

Mr. Potato Head has a very long and busy history. On April 30, 1952, it became the first toy ever advertised on television.

In that first year, more than one million kits were sold. Mrs. Potato Head joined the toy family in 1953. By 1964, Hasbro started including a plastic body in every box. Since then, people have bought over 100 million of these toys. The toy was even inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2000.

You might recognize these characters from movies or big parades. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head are famous characters in the Toy Story films. They have even appeared as a big balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. You can find many different versions of the toy today. There are even Star Wars versions like Darth Tater and R2-POTATOO. Some sets let you dress up as a pirate, a chef, or a princess. It is a toy that has stayed popular for many years.

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File:Mr Potato Head 1952.jpg
Mr Potato Head 1952.jpg
File:Mr. Potato Head Celebrates a Birthday in Lima, Peru.jpg
Mr. Potato Head Celebrates a Birthday in...
File:Mr Potato Head at Hasbro Pawtucket headquarters.jpg
Mr Potato Head at Hasbro Pawtucket...
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