Rock-a-Stack is a toy by Fisher-Price with colorful rings that have to be placed in order of size onto a tapered pole mounted on a rocking base. When stacked correctly the hollow plastic rings follow ROYGBIV color progression. The Rock-a-Stack is designed to teach young children about colors and to help them develop their hand-eye coordination and shape perception. Since the introduction of Rock-A-Stacks in 1960, over 40 million have been sold. While Ernest Thornell was the Fisher-Price designer of this toy (from a phone conversation on 8-31-16 between Ernest Thornell and Eric Smith), the Rock-a-Stack is stylistically similar to the earlier Rocky Color Cone wooden stacking toy designed in 1938 by Jarvis Rockwell (brother of Norman Rockwell) for Holgate Toys.[1]
The Rock-a-Stack was produced at Fisher-Price's production facility in Holland, New York from 1962 until the factory's closing in 1990 when production was moved to other facilities in Murray, Kentucky and Mexico. Former employees of the Holland, New York factory each received a Rock-a-Stack as a parting gift on the final day of operations at the factory.[2]
Since the Rock-a-Stack's initial release in 1960 some key design changes have taken place:[3] [4]
In 1985, the Fisher-Price Rock-a-Stack, Chatter Telephone and Activity Center narrowly missed being included in NASA weightlessness toy experimentation due to the lack of time to perform safety tests prior to the March 1985 launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger.[5]