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Yes, as a kid, I had a slinky. So did many of my friends. What's more, I remember the catchy commercials.

Well, amazingly enough, the slinky is still going strong. In fact, on CNBC's "Business Nation," there is a look at the intriguing history of this popular toy.

Richard James, an engineer from Pennsylvania, invented the Slinky in 1945. For the most part, the device hasn't changed much (and is still American-made). Like many great innovations, the Slinky was an accident. Richard wanted to develop a device for shipboard instruments. But, in the development process, he accidentally dropped some springs -- which had a rhythm.

Hmmm... could it be a toy? Richard's wife, Betty, thought so and even came up with the Slinky name. Richard actually spent two years refining the Slinky. And, when it launched, it was an instant hit.

How many Slinkys have been sold? More than 300 million.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) does not want to be known as a place where there are products that could hurt little kids. It is bad for public relations and thus bad for business. So the world's largest retailer is going to set standards for toys that are much tougher that those of the U.S. government.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart does not just want the toys to be manufactured more safely. The paper writes, "The initiative also encourages suppliers to mark children's products with 'traceability information', including the factory in which the goods were made. About 80% of the toys sold in the U.S., including those marketed by U.S.-based toy makers, are manufactured in China."

Wal-Mart is a little late to the party. The threat of lead and other toxins has been causing trouble for retailers for over a year. Several of the company's competitors already have similar programs in place. And Wal-Mart sources a lot of inventory in China, so it may not want to be seen as leading the pack in a public relations war with the People's Republic.

The news also begs the question of why Wal-Mart was not inspecting the toys on its own. Of course, that would be expensive.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 newsletter.

The Associated Press reports that tests on 1,200 children's products -- most of which are available for sale -- revealed that 35% contain more lead than allowed by federal recall standards used for lead paint. Lead poisoning can cause irreversible learning disabilities and behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death

Of the toys tested from the shelves of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us, here are three that had particularly high lead levels:

• A Hannah Montana card game case,
• a Go Diego Go! backpack; and
• Circo brand shoes.

This post is part of our Hottest Products of 2007 feature. Also check out our other Hottest Products of 2007 posts and let us know which product you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Webkinz are the most annoying trend since Beanie Babies, which were the most annoying trend since Cabbage Patch Kids. They also are among the most cleverly marketed products ever.

Ganz, the closely held Canadian company behind Webkinz, seems to have figured out how to entertain today's media-saturated kids.

"More and more, kids are going to the internet," Ganz says on its website. "Why? It's interactive. Instead of passively watching television, the internet gives kids choice. They can play games, chat with friends and express themselves. They decide how to have fun."

With all the recalls this year of toys made in China -- due to lead paint and other hazards -- TheDailyGreen was kind enough to publish a list from Toys "R" Us marked "not made in China."

The list includes the item numbers on the Toys "R" Us web site. And unfortunately, there are no guarantees that all the products are really not made in China. Even if the toys are made in countries other than China, that does not necessarily mean that the toys are safe.

To be sure, you'll need to check the safety of the toys yourself by calling the manufacturer. It would be nice if the government could help make toy shopping safe for Americans. But it won't so you'll have to take responsibility for protecting your children from toy manufacturers.

According to The Associated Press, traditional made-in-America toys are making a comeback. "As consumers look for alternatives to Chinese-made toys following a series of recalls this year, dozens of small toy companies are struggling to meet surging demand. Some owners report online sales up as much as fivefold from last year. They're hiring extra workers, expanding warehouses and adding extra assembly shifts."

Perhaps with Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) on the skids and Chinese-made toys under the microscope, we are looking at a return to the "Made in America" ideals that Sam Walton espoused, as evidenced by the title of his autobiography, which seems ironic given Wal-Mart's reputation today.

But I would argue that the shift toward American-made toys is good for more than just economic reasons. Shifting away from cheap imported electronic toys toward traditional wooden toys is good for kids' development -- playing with blocks builds a lot more creativity than Gameboy does.

If you're looking to profit from the recall madness as an investor, your options are pretty limited. 1-800-Flowers.com (NASDAQ: FLWS) owns HearthSong and Magic Cabin, but those are a relatively small portion of the company's business. But if you believe in the 1-800 Flowers business' growth story, the stock may be worth a look.

This holiday season parents will need to choose between buying American and getting the toys their kids want. According to USA Today, That's because 80% of all toys sold in the USA are made in China. Some internal toy-industry estimates show only about 10% are actually made here.

Not only are few toys made in the U.S. but the ones that are don't appeal to the typical American child. That's because 10% of toys that are U.S.-made are wooden, old-fashioned "nostalgia" toys, such as blocks or puzzles, that may not hold the interest of kids older than toddlers. As noted in my post last month, there's Slinky, the twisty-wire-walking toy from the 1950s, and some plastic toys like K'Nex construction sets.

And here's the bad news about U.S. toys -- while they're safer than those made in China, they have some problems of their own. For example, U.S.-made toys were the subject of four of the 40 toy recalls the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) announced in the 2006 fiscal year, or 10%. Chinese-made toys were the subject of 28, or 70%. The other recalls were divided among toys made elsewhere in Asia and Europe.

If you have advice for parents seeking safe American toys that their children will actually want to own, please comment below.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

Every time investors turn around, things get worse at Mattel (NYSE: MAT). The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission requires companies to "report all claims of potentially hazardous product defects within 24 hours." Mattel apparently has not been doing that. The company took several months to review data on the nearly 18 million play sets that it recalled last month.

The CPSC says that it has had about enough of Mattel's behavior. The commissions chairperson calls Mattel's approach "fallacious and wrongheaded."

Although the commission is fairly small and cannot handle all of the cases that it should, it is astonishing that Mattel would makes its position with consumers worse by adopting a stance that might be viewed as irresponsible.

A month after Mattel's (NYSE: MAT) massive recall of lead-paint contaminated toys, Toys "R" Us is joining the party. The toystore juggernaut is recalling 27,000 Chinese-made paint and crayon sets. The wooden box contains lead, as do some of the paints.

Obviously these toy recalls are bad news for the company's involved -- Mattel and stores that rely heavily on low-cost imported goods. If parents get scared and transition to higher-quality products, these companies will suffer.

That's where 1-800-Flowers.com (NASDAQ: FLWS) comes in. The company also owns HearthSong and Magic Cabin, which could see increased sales if consumers flock to quality. These companies manufacture toys that are more classical and, I would argue, better for kids than a lot of the cheap stuff -- lead paint concerns aside.