🧸 Vintage Safefit Sesame Street Playmat 1989

✨️This is a fun VINTAGE Sesame Street activity play mat! It features Elmo, Big Bird, and other friends from Sesame Street. Great for babies and toddlers to explore different textures and colours! ✨️The Sesame Street activity playmat shown in the image was likely manufactured around the year 1989. The toy was produced by Playskool and often described as a "Fold N Go" activity mat. ✨️Playskool, the company that originally manufactured the Sesame Street activity playmat, is not a standalone company anymore but is still an active and major brand. The original manufacturing company was acquired by Hasbro, Inc., which now manages the brand through licensing agreements. ✨️Playskool Company History Early Years (1928-1968): Playskool was founded in 1928 as the "Playskool Institute" by Lucille King, a teacher from Wisconsin who designed educational wooden toys. After several ownership changes, Manuel Fink and Robert Meythaler bought the business in 1940 and established the Playskool Manufacturing Company. The company grew through acquiring other toy companies, including the J.L. Wright Company, which made Lincoln Logs, and the Halsam Company, a producer of wooden blocks. ✨️Acquisition by Milton Bradley (1968): Playskool became a subsidiary of the Milton Bradley Company in 1968. ✨️Acquisition by Hasbro (1984): In 1984, Hasbro, Inc. acquired Milton Bradley, and the Playskool manufacturing plant in Chicago was subsequently closed. Playskool then became a brand and division of Hasbro, operating out of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. ✨️Hasbro Era (1984-Present): Under Hasbro's ownership, many preschool products were rebranded with the Playskool name, including Play-Doh and Tonka. Hasbro also licensed the brand name to other vendors for various products like books and apparel, and for toys based on popular children's shows like Barney, Teletubbies, and Sesame Street. ✨️Current Status Playskool is still around as a brand, but its products are now manufactured and distributed by other companies through licensing agreements with Hasbro. In 2023, Hasbro made a licensing agreement with the toy company PlayMonster to take over production of many Playskool toy lines. In 2025, it was announced that Just Play Products also signed an agreement with Hasbro to relaunch certain Playskool product collections. So while the original manufacturing company is defunct, the Playskool name and brand continue to thrive under new management and licensing deals.