In 1965 the inventor of the Fischer wall plug, Artur Fischer, gave construction kits as a Christmas present to large customers. A year later fischertechnik was at the toy fair. Fischer also supplied school classes, to give children Lust auf Technik und Tüfteln, a desire for technology and tinkering. He himself filed more than a thousand patents and utility models.
The Kosmos kits go back further. Kosmos made kits for electricity in 1921, optics in 1923 and chemistry around 1927.