5 items
The craft kit where you arranged colored beads on a peg tray and spritzed them with water to fuse them into art—no heat, no ironing. A 2007 hit that turned into one of the decade's most alarming recalls when the beads' coating turned toxic inside the body.
Mattel's chatty animatronic fashion dolls that gossiped about clothes, boys, and shopping—and actually "knew" what you'd dressed them in. Sensors in their outfits and accessories let them react, and infrared in their shoes let them talk to each other.
Robotic plush pets that responded to your touch—purring, nuzzling, blinking, and dozing off if you left them alone. The line started with an uncannily lifelike cat and grew into the big-ticket rideable Butterscotch pony that topped a lot of 2000s wish lists.
The moldable indoor "sand" that played like dough and, famously, never dried out. You could pack it into molds and crumble it back apart again and again—no water needed—which is exactly why it ended up ground into so many living-room carpets.
A little plastic house with an LCD screen and a digital girl living inside it—part Tamagotchi, part dollhouse. You fed her, played games, dressed her, and sent her to bed, and if you neglected her long enough she'd pack up and leave.