Nostalgia
 

MP has got me reminiscing about my playground days and the games we used to play. Favourites were

British Bulldog
Elastics (really long piece of elastic placed around ankles and a 3rd would have to do various actions - like a giant cat's cradle)
Cat's cradle:lol:
Leapfrog - how high could YOU go:ohmy:
I-spy - using a telescope type thing that you could see around corners with
Skipping rope - never mastered the double jump rope thingy though:frown:

In winter - making a skid patch on the snow:thumbsup:

Your turn:D

Re: Nostalgia
 

How young are talking? I had a pedal car. :D

The kid next door had a much better one. :frown:

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I had a red one:thumbup:

As young as you like, if it involved a playground:p

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Typical female. :rolleyes: had to mention the colour. I mean, how fast did it go? :D

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Does train spotting count?

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:lol: As fast as me wee legs would go:blink: Unstoppable downhill:rofl:

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My neighbour also had a push along steam engine. He kept his snacks in the tender.

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Elastics- which we called French Skipping. Skipping (under the moon and over the stars) but the best one was making jumps in the back garden out of dustbins and brooms, or whatever we could get our hands on, and then be horses and jump over them.
Also seasonal games like conkers and snowball fights ( the latter was rare as we lived in Wiltshire, which isn't generally snowy.)

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Juggling tennis balls against the wall

Penny toss - throwing money to get closest to a wall - closest wins the money

The hand clapping things - sorry cant think

marbles :)

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Marbles.

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:thumbup: used to love the metallic ones and the really big ones:D

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metal ones were called steelies :D

Can't remember what we called the big ones.

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We called the big ones "dobbers"

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That was a particular favourite of ours. I grew up in a terrace of 7 houses on an estate and we used to bounce the balls against the wall of the end house (we were in the middle one, thank goodness)


The man who lived there was a fireman and if he was on nights he used to spend most of the day chasing us away :)


I was just trying to remember some of the songs we'd sing while we were playing but they've all escaped me.

We also used to play 'What's the time Mr Wolf' and another game I can't remember the name of where one person stood across the road and would shout instructions like '3 giant steps' ''2 baby steps', I think you had to get across the road to them without being caught out. Or something.

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And trying to work out how many different things you could do in between ball bounces/throwing the ball. Under the legs, clapping, turning round, touching the ground etc:thumbsup:

This is such an inspirational thread:lol: <writes list of things to teach kids>

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Now that really is nostalgia. I think I've lost mine. :(

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Hopscotch

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I remember our school playground well (circa 1982?):

Boys would pretty much all play football on the playground - with a tennis ball and piles of school bags for posts. Teams varied from as little as 5 a side to as many as 16 a side depending on who was around. Teams were picked using the time honoured "Alternate Captains Choice" method that is designed to inflict maximum humiliation on the less athletic. I was never picked first, but never last either - 'middle-table respectability'!

Girls, for some reason favoured skipping or elastic based activities which involved running in and jumping over a long-ish rope wielded by too fierce maidens on each end. This whole activity occupied a lot of space!

Unfortunately this resulted in major turf wars. Young boys running around chasing a tennis ball would push girls out the way and interrupt the hypnotic rhythms of the rope and dodging the ropes was a significant hazard and interruption to the serious business of playground football.

After some discussion about the problem with the guys I proposed an innovative idea. We would highlight the ridiculously inefficient use of space that skipping ropes represented. I had a significant rope 'structure' between 2 large oak trees in my back garden, and with a little effort I was able to untie the thinnest rope - a blue nylon thing that wouldnt look out of place towing cars. It was (actually still *is* - its still in the parents garden tied to an oak tree, fashioned into a rope swing for my nephews enjoyed) about 60ft long and quite heavy to lug around. I brought it to school one day and at break time we set about the major task: We pulled out the rope and set up our 'skipping' territory. It was hard to get the thing swinging - but we did manage to occupy pretty much a full tennis court of playground - much the the annoyance of the girls! Who could only stand and watch while we dominated the space!

I don't remember getting into any particular trouble (I hadnt broken any rules) - or any long term resolution to the fundamental 'use of space' dispute ever occurring, but it was an interesting day - if only for the fact that for one day we didnt play football and all the boys attempted skipping for a while!

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DIY go-carts (we called them bogies back then) - complete with pram wheels :thumbup:

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Did anyone else push their Dinky / Gorgi toys around? :o

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pitch and toss

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I beg your pardon? :lol:

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Rope swings, bonfires, rat-a-tat-ginger, mob, camping across the fields :thumbsup:

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Throwing coins against the wall and the one who throws theirs closest to the wall wins them all.

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conkers

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That used to get so many boys into trouble at Grammar School:lol: Gambling dontcha know and that wasn't allowed;)

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Thank you - had never heard of it.

Had never heard of it as didn't go to grammar school. (Went somewhere far better! :lol:;))

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I suspect this could date me but anyway, here goes...

Marbles.

Jacks.

Averting eyes from the flasher at the hedge. :eek:

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We used to do something similar, but with lower jumps and then used our space hoppers as our "horses".

Also, hopscotch, jacks, skipping, elastics......

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I was Urchfont's silver jubilee space hopper champion in 1977- won a jubilee mug!!

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Talking of flashers, I was on duty at the front counter one day in the 80s and this very posh woman came in. She was dressed in a tweed skirt-suit, a twinset and pearls and wore an alpine hat. She also had an umbrella.

She burst in through the door and said, "I just wanted to tell you that I was in the park just now and this man exposed his penis to me. So I pointed at it with the end of my umbrella and said, 'Is that the best you can do' and he ran orf."

She then rushed out of the office again.

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I was a horse too. :thumbsup:

If it wasn't nailed down it became a jump.

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:rofl::rofl::rofl:

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'Stuck in the mud', one person was 'it' they had to tag people, if you got tagged you had to stand with your legs open and to free you one of the others had to crawl through your legs:rofl:

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British Bulldog, which had some rhyme about picking someone to be on your side and then a kind of tug of war, using the last two people to be picked. IIRC.

Kick can. That was kinda like hide and seek - one person was it, everyone else went to hide. It had to find everyone while, at the same time, stopping the others from coming out of hiding and kicking over the can. This sounds crap, but used to be awesome fun. Honest.

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Excellent :thumbsup:

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Cool:thumbup: We've got a space hopper - great for bouncing into a pool;) I have a video somewhere if ROMFT doing this into the paddling pool. Wonder how much it would be worth for me NOT to post it:lol:

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Whatever he says, I'll double it. :D

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To post or not to post :demon:

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It's a great game. Pure skill :D