Fisher-Price
Fisher-Price is an American company that produces educational toys for infants, toddlers, and children, headquartered in East Aurora, New York. Fisher-Price has been a subsidiary of Mattel since 1993.
History
Founded in 1930 by Herman Fisher, Irving Price, Price's illustrator-artist wife Margaret Evans Price, and Helen Schelle, the name Fisher-Price was established by combining two of the three names. Fisher worked previously in manufacturing, selling and advertising games for a company in Churchville, New York. Price had retired from a major variety chain store, and Helen Schelle previously operated Penny Walker Toy Shop in Binghamton, New York. 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 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.In 1931, three of the four founders took 16 of their wooden toys to the American International Toy Fair in New York City 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 as a material that could help the company incorporate longer-lasting decorations and brighter colors into its toys. "Buzzy Bee" was the first Fisher-Price toy to make use of plastic. By the end of the 1950s, Fisher-Price manufactured 39 toys incorporating plastics.
During the 1960s, the Play Family product line was introduced and soon overtook the popularity of earlier toys. Herman Fisher retired at the age of 71 in 1969 and the Quaker Oats Company bought Fisher-Price the same year.
In 1991, Fisher-Price regained its independence from The Quaker Oats Company and became a publicly traded company. Two years later, in November 1993, Fisher-Price became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel. 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 products under the Fisher-Price name.
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 Power Wheels, View-Master, Rescue Heroes, the Chatter Telephone, and the Rock-a-Stack. Other brands marketed under the Fisher-Price name over the years include Disney, Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, and See 'n Say.
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 except for the Wooden Railway line. Through Mattel's 2012 acquisition of HIT Entertainment, which subsequently became a division of Fisher-Price, Mattel now owns the property outright. With this, toys based on Mike the Knight and Bob the Builder have been subsequently released.
Toy recall
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 recall
Fisher-Price recalled all models of their Rock 'n Play sleeper on 12 April 2019. The product was introduced in 2009, and 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 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' 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 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 violated them. Fisher-Price sold the Rock 'n Play without first getting medical advice, and without doing any safety tests. They continued to sell it for years after the first deaths were reported.
Current brands and products
- Bright Beats
- Butterbean's Cafe related products
- EZ Play Railway
- Imaginext
- Laugh & Learn
- Little People
- Loving Family Dollhouses and accessories
- Mega Bloks
- Power Wheels
- Quizard the Learning Wizard
- Rescue Heroes
- Rainforest Jumparoo
- Smart Toy
- Spinnyos
- Storybots related products
- Think & Learn
- Thomas & Friends related products
Baby Gear products
- Baby bouncers
- Baby monitors
- Baby swings
- Booster seats
- Car seats
- Entertainers & activity centers
- High chairs
- Infant seats
- Play yards
- Rainforest Collection
- Strollers
- Tubs & potties
Historic brands and products
- Adventure People
- Alphabet magnet board
- ALVINNN! and the Chipmunks related products
- Amazing Animals
- Baby Gymnastics
- The Backyardigans related products
- Barney related products
- Bear in the Big Blue House related products
- Between the Lions related products
- Blaze and the Monster Machines related products
- Blue's Clues related products and Blue's Room related products
- Bob the Builder related products
- Brilliant Basics
- Chatter Telephone
- Bing related products
- Bubble Guppies related products
- Cars 2 related products
- Cleo & Cuquin related products
- Construx building toys
- Corn Popper
- The Croods related products
- Dance Baby Dance!
- Doodle Pro
- Dora the Explorer related products and ' related products
- Dragon Tales related products
- ESPN products
- Fimbles related products
- Flip Track
- FP3 player
- Fun 2 Learn
- Fusion Crew
- GeoTrax
- Go Diego Go related products
- Guess with Jess related products
- Handy Manny related products
- Higglytown Heroes related products
- It's a Big Big World related products
- Jake and the Never Land Pirates related products
- Jolly Jumping Jack crib toy
- Jungle Junction related products
- Kid Tough Electronics
- The Koala Brothers related products
- Krypto the Superdog related products
- Kung Fu Panda 2 related products
- LazyTown related products
- Learn Through Music
- Little Bill related products
- Little Einsteins related products
- Little Mommy
- Lunar Jim related products
- Baby Smartronics
- Little Superstar
- Matchbox Junior
- ' related products
- Mickey Mouse related products, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse related products and Mickey and the Roadster Racers related products
- Mike the Knight related products
- Miracles and Milestones
- Movie Viewer
- Go Jetters related products
- My Friend Dolls
- Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends related products
- The Muppets related products
- Ni Hao, Kai-Lan related products
- Ocean Wonders
- The Octonauts related products
- Oreo Matchin Middles Game
- Peek-a-Blocks
- Peppa Pig related products
- Pixter
- Planes related products
- Play Family
- Pocket Rockers
- Pop-onz
- PowerTouch Learning System
- Puffalumps
- Purr-tenders
- PXL-2000 camcorder
- Rolie Polie Olie related products
- Roll-a-Rounds
- Roly Poly
- roly mo showrelated products
- Sesame Street related products
- Shake 'n Go!
- Shimmer and Shine related products
- Smart Cycle
- Smart Shopper
- Snap 'n Style Friends & Fashions
- SparkArt Creativity System
- SpongeBob SquarePants related products
- Star Station Entertainment System
- Sunny Day related products
- Talk-to-Me books with record "discs" built into the pages
- Team Umizoomi related products
- Toddlerz
- Toots the Train
- Toy Story 3 related products
- Toy Story 4 related products
- VeggieTales related products
- View-Master
- Woodsey
- Waybuloo related products
- Winnie the Pooh related products and My Friends Tigger & Pooh related products
- Wonder Pets related products
- Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! related products
Video games
- Fun Flyer
- Firehouse Rescue
- Little People Bowling Alley
- School Bus Driver
- My Grand Piano
- Perfect Fit
- I Can Remember
- Fisher Price ABC's
- Fisher Price 123's
- Fisher Price Sing Alongs: Barnyard Rhythm and Moos
- Fisher Price Dream Dollhouse
- 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 1st Grade
- Great Adventures Pirate Ship
- Time to Play Pet Shop
- Big Action Construction
- Big Action Garage
Other Fisher-Price products