Ho-Hum…the holidays are over. It’s January. It’s cold, with minimal sunshine and overcast skies during the day. The novelty of playing out in the snow is gone. Teachers are giving us more homework. 

Even in the doldrums of winter in the early 1970s, Colorforms always captured my interest and kept me busy for hours. They were my “go-to” toy, and my mom liked them too because I played with them independently.

I had many boxes of them stashed neatly on top of each other behind our family room’s 1970s Louver doors, where we kept many of our toys. 

For those reading this who are under the age of 30ish, Colorforms were a reusable toy that came in a flat, rectangular box with a glossy background scene on it. Inside was a variety of repurposed vinyl stickers on black cardstock that you stuck to the background to create different fun scenes.

Colorforms were a multi-sensory toy. I loved the synonymous smell of the vinyl stickers and the sound of my little fingernail picking them off the cardboard. 

Two kinds of kids played with Colorforms: those who put the stickers neatly back on the cardboard so the next person who played with them had a clean slate, versus untidy kids who left all the stickers on the scene and didn’t care about placing them back in their original place. Ugh! Most of the time, I was the one who made sure the Colorforms were tidy.

My Colorform collection was broad. Of course, I recently searched the different sets that were available in the 70s, and I was thrilled to be reacquainted with some of my favorites! 

I had a Raggedy Ann and Holly Hobby set where the stickers were outfits that you put on the Colorform base dolls. I had multiple sets of Peanuts, including one featuring Charlie Brown playing baseball and another with Snoopy as a magician. 

Micky Mouse’s Playhouse was one of my favorites. As soon as I saw it on a website, it was as though it was yesterday that I was playing with it, lying on the shag carpet in our family room. One of the scenes in it was a kitchen, and I loved placing all the little Colorform kitchen accessories in the refrigerator and on the countertop. 

I wish they would make a comeback, but kids today would find Colorforms super boring. Imagine a toy that kept you busy for hours that you didn’t have to plug in or charge. Cheers to the hours us Gen Xers spent being creative and using our imagination!