After receiving thousands of nominations throughout the year from toy lovers of all ages, an internal museum advisory committee comprised of curators, educators and historians selected the finalists. A national selection committee then reviewed and voted for their top picks. Bubbles, little green army men and the Rubik’s Cube were selected from among nine other finalists: American Girl dolls, Fisher-Price Little People, Hess Toy Trucks, My Little Pony, Operation Skill Game, paper airplanes, pots and pans, Slip‘N Slide, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

About bubbles: During the 17th century, the earliest paintings of children playing with bubbles appeared in the region of Flanders (now part of modern-day Belgium). In the 19th century, London soap maker A. & F. Pears created an advertising campaign featuring a painting of a child playing with bubbles. In 1984, architect David Stein created the first giant bubble maker—Bubble Thing (a small, fabric loop producing bubbles more than 50-feet long). Today, retailers sell more than 200 million bottles of this inexpensive and clean toy annually.

 About little green army men: Made of molded plastic and standing two to four inches tall, little green army men marched onto the toy scene in 1938, representing soldiers in the mid-20th century United States military. Little green army men suffered a decline in popularity during the Vietnam War, but their sales increased in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995, they hit the big screen in Pixar’s Toy Story—and they appeared in two more Toy Story films. Today, they continue to prompt narratives of heroism and daring in children’s imaginations.

About Rubik’s Cube: Hungarian lecturer and architect Erno Rubik invented the Rubik’s Cube in the early 1970s and patented his puzzling creation. Ideal Toy Corporation brought the cube to the United States, where it intrigued mathematicians and children alike. Between 1980 and 1982, Ideal sold more than 100 million Rubik’s Cubes. By some estimates, more than 500 million people have tried to unscramble one of the cubes, which can be arranged 43 quintillion ways. ​

For more information, visit ToyHallofFame.org.

Established in 1998, the National Toy Hall of Fame annually recognizes toys that have inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period of time. The classic toys of the National Toy Hall of Fame sit alongside the collections of The Strong's National Museum of Play. The Strong and the Toy Industry Association (TIA) recently announced a partnership to house TIA’s Toy Industry Hall of Fame alongside the National Toy Hall of Fame in a cutting-edge museum installation at The Strong. Construction is expected to be completed by fall 2015.