30 August is National Slinky Day, a day that was created to celebrate a Toy Hall of Fame Superstar that came from a very humble beginning.
But, with it’s catchy jingle as it “walks” down the stairs it quickly caught the attention of millions of children worldwide, causing it to rise in popularity and compete with toys like Barbie, GI Joe and Lego.
In 1940 the inventor of the slinky, Richard James, accidentally knocked a spring from a shelf and watched in amazement as it “walked” down a series of books to the tabletop, eventually ending on the floor – neatly coiled.
He told his wife that if he could get the right property of steel and tension, he could make the spring walk. It took him almost a year, but he succeeded and created the slinky toy.
With a $500 loan, they made 400 slinkies, opened a company to manufacture the toy in bulk and sold it for one dollar each. Although the toy was interesting, it did not receive much attention. It only became a big hit when the toy was showcased inside Gimbels Department Store’s toy section. Within 90 minutes, all 400 slinkies were sold – with requests for more.
The slinky was introduced to the American Toy Fair one year later and, since then, have been marketed around the world in both metal and plastic form.
Celebrate today by grabbing one of these toys and see if you can make it go down a full flight of stairs. Figure out if you can get it to walk down a hill, or from a table down various household items (like books, chairs and end tables) to end up on the floor neatly coiled. If you are an extreme enthusiast, see if you can break the Guinness World Record for a slinky that travelled the longest distance.
Look into some of the science behind how the toy works and exactly why it does what it does.
Post photos or videos of your slinky skills on social media using #NationalSlinkyDay.
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