19 Everyday Items from the ’60s That Modern Kids Cannot Identify

It is hard to believe how much has changed since the good old ‘60s. Just the other day, I was talking to my grandson, and he was completely baffled the first time I described an ordinary household item. Why don’t we look back at some classic household items kids today have never seen?

1. Rotary Dial Telephone

Do you remember the satisfying sound of the click-click-click of the number dial? It was a dial phone. They simply wouldn’t understand the reasoning behind calling it dial phone. When I was growing up, we had a phone that was literally bolted to the wall. We used to stretch the entire cord across the room when we wanted to talk to someone privately. Having a phone in the house was great!

2. Flash Cube Camera

Before the invention of smartphones and digital cameras, we had these great gadgets. They had disposable flash cubes which were four-sided blocks that would blind you if you weren’t careful. It made a really loud noise each time the cube rotated and you don’t want to be anywhere near it when it goes off. We all knew it could be a dangerous toy, but that didn’t stop us from using it.

3. Slide Rule

Before there were even portable calculators, students were using these ingenious devices. They were able to perform multiplication and divison as well as logarithmic and trignometric problems. This would be a challenge to a kid nowadays since they can just ask it to Siri to do it for them.

4. TV Rabbit Ears

These devices were used to adjust the tv reception. We would try for hours to find the prime position for the best reception and would even use aluminum foil as a method to get the best reception. If someone walked in front of the tv at that moment it would ruin everything.

5. Vinyl Record Player

Vinyl records may be coming back, but kids today will never experience the magic of our record players. They had a built in speaker and a handle and allowed us to play our LPs and 45s whenever we wanted. We would treasure the experience of the needle gently dropping onto the record, followed by a crackle, and then the music would start.

6. Film Canister

In the 1960s, film roll containers became ubiquitous. We loaded the film into our camera, hoping it wouldn’t get exposed. After a week of developing, we could see the results of our photo. We were unable to take instant pictures and retakes were unthinkable.

7. Typewriter Eraser

This device’s unique design features a wheel of eraser materials along with a brush to clean up typographical errors. It would require skill to get it positioned correctly to erase an error, and brush away the remained debris to then type the letters without AVEING to backspace the key or rely on auto-correct.

8. S&H Green Stamps

In the 1960s, these small green stamps functioned like a form of currency. They were given out at selected merchants and were used as a form of loyalty reward. Shoppers would fill out their stamp books and redeem them for merchandise. Many families would spend their evenings licking stamps and filling up books in hopes of getting something from the S&H catalog.

9. Metal Ice Cube Tray

Old ice trays with aluminum and a lever were used as ice trays before plastic ones came out. You had to pull the lever to break the ice and sometimes it would spray water everywhere. The tough part was pulling the lever just the right way, because if the water was too loose then it would leak. However, if you had the lever set too tight, you wouldn’t be able to pull the ice out.

10. Transistor Radio

Before Walkmans came out, these radios were our music players. We would listen to the best AM stations and we had a single earpiece which was the latest technology at the time. It was awesome to be able to walk around with music in your pocket.

11. Milk Glass Pyrex

These pyrex dishes were in almost all American kitchens. They had different designs known as Butterprint, Gooseberry, or Snowflake. These dishes would go from the oven to the fridge and then to the neighborhood potluck. The kids of today would probably think of these as antiques, but we just used them.

12. Wringer Washing Machine

Many homes in the 60s had them and you had to be careful, because you could get your fingers caught in them. The whole process required just the right amount of muscle and attention. It was a task that took a lot of focus.

13. Soda Fountain Glass

Every drugstore soda fountain served all your drinks in these tall, fluted glasses. A root beer float or chocolate phosphate just didn’t taste the same without one of these glasswares! The design really captured the fizz and foam and the metal holders kept it all ice cold.

14. Carbon Paper

Before the copy machine became an office standard, making copies was messy. You’d write or type onto a top sheet, and it would transfer everything onto a bottom sheet. Afterward, you would have black smudges all over your hands. It was like a badge of office work!

15. Pocket Protector

Plastic shields were great for keeping your shirt pocket safe from pen stains, and they became a symbol of engineering and other technical professions. Every serious student or professional had one. Just try explaining to kids today why we needed protection from leaky pens!

16. View-Master

This was our virtual reality back in the day! You’d put a circular disk of slides into the device and look through the viewfinder to see 3D images of tourist attractions or cartoon characters. It was magical! There was a click to advance the images, and every new disk felt like a window to another world.

17. Metal Roller Skate Key

These tiny metal keys were important for customizing the fit of our strap-on roller skates to our shoes. We would wear them on a string around our neck for easy access. To adjust the clamps on your regular shoes, you would use the key to tighten or loosen them – if you lost your key, you were out of luck!

18. Dress Patterns

Many of us got new clothes from McCall and Simplicity pattern companies. Mom would carefully pin tissue paper patterns to the fabric, then sew it all together to make everything from school dresses to even prom gowns. The instructions on the patterns looked like a secret code that only experienced sewers would be able to figure out.

19. Bottle Deposit Return

Almost all children know the importance of an empty soda bottle, they are like gold. We would collect them from the neighbors and take them to the store to get 2 cents each. Each returned bottle paid for many comic books or candy bars. Today’s children with their plastic bottles don’t know what they are missing.