The Space Hopper

2. The Space Hopper The space hopper bounced into the UK during the Summer of 1971 and children spent hours bouncing up and down roads. The toy is still popular today as you know – we have some in our playground games! BACK

3. The Walkman The walkman was invented in 1979 in Japan and hit the UK at the end of the 1970s. It was the item to have and hundreds of celebrities were seen out with their walkmans. Tapes were the new thing. Today we have the ‘walkman’ mobile phone and instead of tapes we have CDs and mp3s. BACK

4. Roller Skates Roller skates sped into 1972 and were popular throughout Britain. Unlike our roller skates today, you could only go straight in roller skates in 1972 and the best way to stop was to ride into a lamp post! BACK

5. Rainbow Zippy, George and Bungle were some of the most popular faces of 1972. Their television programme, ‘Rainbow’ was a children’s favourite. George and Bungle used to zip zippy’s mouth shut when he talked too much! BACK

6. Magna Doodle In 1974 the magna doodle became one of the most popular drawing tools for children. The magna doodle is still sold in shops today and hasn’t changed a lot since 1974. Over 40 million magna doodles have been sold since 1974! BACK

7. Jaws Jaws was released in 1975 and tells the story of a great white shark which hunts down people in an American town. The successful movie was famous for it’s haunting music. Play the Jaws theme tune BACK

8. The Wombles The wombles were a group of pointy-nosed furry creatures who helped the environment by collecting rubbish. Their motto was “Make good use of bad rubbish”. The wombles also had some top ten songs during the 1970s. Play the Wombles theme tune BACK

9. The Muppets Kermit the frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Fozzie the Bear were some of the most famous faces on television in 1976. Celebrities from all over the world wanted to be on The Muppet Show because it was so popular. The Muppets are still famous today. BACK Play

10. Abba Abba were one of the most popular bands in the 1970s. They launched onto the scene in 1972 and in 1976 they had three number one hits, ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Fernando’. Play an excerpt from ‘Dancing Queen’ BACK

11. Star Wars In 1977 a young man called George Lucas made a film with a small budget and a cast of unknown actors. However it became one of the most popular movies of all time. No-one expected it to be a success but the world loved it and we still know all the characters and have the action figures too. BACK

12. Star Wars Action Figures Following the huge success of the film Star Wars, action figures were the ‘must have’ toy in 1978. You could buy light sabres, space trooper masks, miniature Chewbaccas and much, much more. BACK

13. The Village People The village people were six men who dressed as a soldier, a biker, a cop, a builder, a cowboy and an indian. They sung the song, ‘YMCA’ which was one of the most famous songs of the 1970s and is still played at parties today. Play YMCA BACK

14. Skateboards Skateboarding was most popular in the late 1970s. The first skate parks started to emerge in the UK and adults and children to the streets on their skateboards and roller skates. They were only made of wood in the 1970s but are now made of plastic and do all kinds of things! BACK

15. Your Challenge… Your challenge is to make or draw one of these ‘artefacts’ from the 1970s using some of the junk you’ve collected. You could draw: • a Rainbow character • a Muppet character • a star wars character

16. You could make: • your own skateboard • your own Star Wars action figure • a walkman • some roller skates • a magna doodle • a mini space hopper • a shark from Jaws