Raggedyaggie, you reminded of two of my favorites, marbles and a kaleidescope. I was pretty good, but there was a boy (yech--he had cooties) who could always beat me.
Phoenix reminded me of marbles. I loved them and I was able to hold my own more often; also, they were so pretty.
Now I am remembering playing games with my cousins at family get together, Chutes and Ladders, Parcheesi, and of course Monopoly.
Phoenix I was an avid jacks player too and I loved hop scotch and jump rope, double dutch of course.
Quinn1, I used to cut the hair on my dolls and never really played with them so my mom gave up.
Glad to know Im not the only 'tomboy'
I loved Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders!
All these great toys have brought back some nice memories -- from my own childhood and also from my kids' (and also made me feel just a wee bit old since most of them were toys my kids played with).
quinn -- for years I thought my daughter was going to be a beautician when she grew up (and not a very good one, either). Every doll she owned got one or more haircuts. At one point she even tried to cut the dogs hair (we had a whippet with very short hair so thank goodness I discovered it before she'd done any damage). She also cut her own. And all this with kindergarten scissors!
P&L -- my Dad had a zillion books and my older sister and I used to use some of them to make rooms for our paper dolls. We'd lay them out all over the floor of my brothers' room (why mess up our own?) and then she'd leave (she's 10 years older then me) and I'd play.
The only toys I really remember from my childhood are the dolls (a new one each Christmas) and dollhouses -- they were tin, I think, and from Sears Roebuck (I thought Santa got all his toys directly from Sears).
I think that's why I so enjoyed my kids' legos and matchbox cars and such. Lite Brite and Etch-a-Sketch were among their favorites, too.
Ah, the memories. Thanks all.
G. I. Joe, G. I. Joe, fighting man from head to toe,
On the land and the sea and the air.
Oh, and my library card.
What can I say?
I was a weird kid!
maxsdadeo - the only way my parents could get me to go to my swimming lessons was to allow (?!?) me to go to the library each time i went to the pool. other parents thought that was weird.
Diane: My favorite "shooter" marble was sky blue with gold specks in it.
And how about the first sled! And when it was really cold, but there wasn't enough snow to sledride, a jigsaw puzzle sure came in handy.
Hmmm, that reminds me...I got my first bike for Christmas, and that particular year there was lots of ice and snow...didn't stop me from riding it up and down the alley behind our house (and it was one of those dirt alleys that had pot holes/mud puddles all the length of it, but they'd frozen over.) The year my kids got a sled, we didn't have much snow at all, but they still pulled each other around the yard.
ehBeth and maxsdadeo...(hi, max!)...
My kids both love reading books so much that on occasion, I've had to take away their privledge of reading as a punishment, because nothing else was worthy enough of the "crime". (Don't worry, the punishment didn't last long...just long enough to get my point across.)
Do any of you remember playing those group games -- outdoors? RedLight, GreenLight and 'May I' are the two that come to mind, but I know there were lots of them.
And Simon and hide and seek, all great summer games in my neighborhood.
And I think Kick the Can or something like that (though I can't remember how to play that one). I actually do remember the rules for the rest of them, though. Can't remember what day it is, but I can remember the rules to Red LIght, Green Light. Well, I guess the rules weren't all that complicated.
Lots of these posts remind me there were some really good things about the 50s. Like the freedom to play outside, even after dark and ride your bicycle any where without fear.
That is so true, Joanne. I grew up not that far from where I live now and there is no way that young kids can play outside after dark without supervision -- or play in the street, or even ride their bike in the street until much older. Lost innocence.
I had a scooter that I went everywhere with, we were inseparable!
And I bet it DIDN'T have a motor on it, either. I hate motorized scooters (especially when the kids ride them in the street which is against the law but which they do any way).
Yes, it did too have a motor on it, my right foot. And when that got tired, the left one worked almost as fine!
Actually, we had one like that, too. It was red I think. Also had a pogo stick. Remember pogo sticks?
And hula hops, the summer of hula hoops.
Do forget clackers; but I wasn't a kid then!
i remember my first hula hoop
my dad eventually used it to hold up the peonies
