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15 Sep 00 - 12:17 PM (#297951) Subject: Kid's stuff From: Bert With our abysmal failure to come up the the rules for 'Gobs'. What other kid's stuff is being lost in this technological era ? Do kids still play (or do) ... Milk tops, Hop Scotch, Conkers, Dolly down the reel, Kingy in the middle, Train spotting, Avoiding cracks in the pavement, Touch your collar and say a rhyme when you see an ambulance???? So here's a challenge, write the rules for some kids game and post them to this thread. Before all is lost. |
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15 Sep 00 - 12:46 PM (#297991) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Bagpuss We used to play Lamposts (aka curly cabbages), and at school we had an alternative to conkers, called lollysticks. Basically, one person held both ends of the stick from an ice-lolly and the other person used their stick to try to break it. I was champion! I'm going to ask my sister if she can remeber the rules for chucks (gobs). Bagpuss |
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15 Sep 00 - 02:07 PM (#298051) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Bert Hey Bagpuss, we used to play that with matchsticks. Bert. |
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15 Sep 00 - 02:58 PM (#298099) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: SINSULL Pick-up-sticks, haven't seen any kids playing with them in years. |
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15 Sep 00 - 02:58 PM (#298100) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Tig When I was at college my special study was on Children's playground games. I sometimes update it when I'm in school teaching. Some things never change, the oral tradition strikes hard in some cases and unfortunately these days some kids only play games based on TV. but yes they do still play conkers - I got hit with one yesterday on the yard!!!! |
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15 Sep 00 - 03:12 PM (#298110) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Naemanson INSERT THE CD INTO THE DRIVE AND TYPE INSTALL.... Oh, I don't think that's what you were looking for! But it is why all those other games have gone away. How can hopscotch hope to compete with DOOM or DIABLO where you get to kill all those nice juicy monsters without even leaving your chair? For hopscotch you have to go outdoors, for crying out loud, and you could get sunburned or have to breath that grimy outside air! Not to mention that you might get dirty. And, to top it off, hopscotch is not COOL! Makes you sick, doesn't it? |
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15 Sep 00 - 03:29 PM (#298122) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: mousethief I remember playing touch football in the street, and baseball in Chris Bowe's backyard, having bike races around the block, making wood things we called "hydroplanes" and dragging them behind our bikes on strings, playing hide-and-go-seek and freeze tag and Mother-may-I and red light/green light, shooting bb guns in the woods across the street from Mark Wiles's house, and a zillion board games in Mikey Sipila's carport (and sometimes in the house) on rainy days (anybody else like "Mille Bornes" as much as I do?). My wife and I try to shoo the kids outside as much as we can on nice days -- especially the littler ones. But there is no question, their "growing up" experience is vastly different than what ours was. Sigh....
Alex |
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15 Sep 00 - 05:27 PM (#298210) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Tinker Thanks for the memories… Is this your Kingey in the Middle? CHANGE SEATS: THE KING'S COME In this game as many seats are placed round the room as will seat all the players but one. This one stands in the middle of the room, repeating the words: "Change seats, change seats"; but no one moves unless he says: "Change seats: the king's come." Then all must change seats. In the bustle the one standing can generally manage to secure a seat, when the person left out must take his place. The person in the center may tell a story if he chooses, bringing in the words; "Change seats," occasionally, and sometimes he may say slyly: "The king's not come," when everyone should, of course, remain seated; but some are sure to mistake the words for," The king's come," and jump up, when the center player can slip into a seat. From: Games for All Occasions, Revised Ed., Mary E. Blain, Grosset& Dunlap@1930. This great book was a gift from my grandmothers shelves and is now extremely worn. My own boys do know that stepping on cracks could break your mothers back. Hopscotch is still played, but I cringe when I see a ready made rug in catalogs…what happened to chalk or stick lines in the dirt. I remember London Bridge, Blue Bird, I met her in ST Louie, Punchinello…. Five years ago I taught Red Rover to my Brownie Troop (6,7, &8 year olds). Much to my chagrin, (And the other parents who had arrived for pick up and were reminiscing) they informed us the game was violent and rough and they were sure it wouldn't be allowed at school. It just wasn't nice. UGGGGH! They did Learn "What time is it Mr. Fox?" at school. Other games like Red Light Green Light, and Sharks and Fishes have come home modified into soccer drills by an enterprising local British trainer. Thanks, this was fun. Tinker |
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16 Sep 00 - 09:26 AM (#298610) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: GUEST,rabbitrunning We played games in the yard as dusk was approaching (and sometimes, when we were good, until it was actually *gasp* really dark. Statues; Starlight, Moonlight, hope I see the ghost tonight; and anything else that was fun on a nice cool lawn. But whenever a car came down the street, it was considered absolutely necessary to fling ourselves to the ground and hide our faces until it passed. At which point we would jump up, make finger-guns at the receding tail lights, and shout, "Bang! Bang! Yer stinkbombs are bleeding!" After which we would return to our interrupted game. Ah, memories. ;D |
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16 Sep 00 - 02:07 PM (#298719) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Susan from California My daughters will still sometimes play a playground game called "snails" in the driveway, teaching the neighborhood little ones. It goes like this: 1. Draw a large spiral on the driveway/street/anywhere that is paved or concrete with chalk. 2. Make boxes by connecting the sides of the spiral with lines that are roughly perpindicular. 3. Toss a marker-a stone or a stick-on to a "square". 4. Hop on one foot, pick up the marker, continue until you reach the center of the spiral without touching your other foot down, and hop out. You can then put your initials into any box you choose. 5. You may put both feet down in any box that contains your initials. 6. Continue until all boxes are full. The person with the most boxes, wins. As I was typing, I realized that this is an obvious variation of hopscotch, but in the 10 years that my daughters have played this game, I didn't realize it until now!! |
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16 Sep 00 - 02:18 PM (#298726) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: GUEST,Kryptonium KICKFROG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no explaination needed the title says enough |
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16 Sep 00 - 02:29 PM (#298735) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: hesperis There are chalk lines on Orillia's sidewalk all summer, I sometimes still hop the things when I'm passing through. I used to play Red Rover, but I got banned from playing it, (by the other kids,) because I had organized my team well, and my team always won. I tried to show the other kids what I was doing, but they didn't understand it. When I was home educated, I made up a lot of games that only one person could play. It was fun. (Though not very social, I guess.) My favorite game was No Sand Tag. We'd play it in the playground, and climb the equipment in ways the designers never dreamed of, and you couldn't go to the ground. If you touched the ground you were automatically "It". For years, I was the only one who could go partway down the slide and swing into the underbelly of the wood thing, and then up into the top. If you went all the way down the slide, you would hit the sand. If "It" was coming down the slide after you, you had to be very fast! It was so much fun... I wish they'd make adult-sized playgrounds! Gym just doesn't do it for me. |
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16 Sep 00 - 02:41 PM (#298748) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Ely We used to play Red Rover at school--we always called Nathan Goldstein because he was little and, if you held your hands tightly, he'd just flip around your arms when he hit instead of breaking through. We also played fox and geese when there was snow on the yard of the Meeting house--I don't remember the rules, but it involved walking a big circle in the snow divided into quarters, and people running in the tracks. My favorite was Frogger--a bizarre and unsafe take-off on the old video game. We had a playground that had 4 or 6 swings in a row, and we'd get people swinging hard on all the swings, and the rest of us had to run in between down the length of the swingset. It's a wonder nobody got their head kicked off. Clapping games like Miss Suzy and Miss Mary Mack were all the rage when i was in second grade (?). I think the pattern we used was rights, together, lefts, together, both, together, [hands on thighs], together--"together" meaning you clap your own hands--while chanting Miss Mary Mack. Miss Suzy probably had a different clap because that one doesn't seem to fit the rhythm. |
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18 Sep 00 - 11:47 AM (#299970) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: mousethief I've heard that they are making adult-sized playgrounds in some places. I got the story second-hand so I don't know where you could go to look. Sounds like a lot of fun. All the "adult" (meaning grown-up, not lewd) entertainment these days seems to be electronic. Sigh.
Alex |
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22 Sep 00 - 01:00 PM (#303158) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Bert Kingy in the Middle was a ball game where you had to throw the ball and hit someone. It could get quite dangerous. |
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22 Sep 00 - 01:13 PM (#303170) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU Whenever I see kiddie swings, I have the urge to swing on them. Man, I haven't been on a swing for 5 years, when we were in Okinawa, at White Beach Naval Station just as the sun was going down....sigh... Did anyone ever do the Swing Longjump? You'd swing as high as you could, and at the apex of the arc, you jump off, the winner being her/him who jumped farthest. Note--this only works on playgrounds covered in sand! |
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22 Sep 00 - 01:19 PM (#303177) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: mousethief Mbo, that sure brings back memories! Did anybody else do the thing where you stand on the swing (can't do that with these strap things, has to be a hard swing) and push your feet side-to-side, swinging sideways? We'd wrap the outer 2 swings (of 3) around the side bars so they wouldn't get in the way.
Alex |
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22 Sep 00 - 01:53 PM (#303216) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Bagpuss When I was at primary school, every breaktime, all the girls would play 2-baller - where you sort of juggled 2 balls against a wall to a rhyme. We had hundreds of rhymes for it. I was amazed to discover that they didn't play it in other parts of the country. Bagpuss |
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22 Sep 00 - 01:57 PM (#303220) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Bert My sisters played that all the time. In the late Forties in London, ALL girls played it. Was never a boys game. |
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22 Sep 00 - 03:30 PM (#303338) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Tinker Definately loved swing longjumping. And battle swings -- straddled the seat swing and ramped the other guy on the next swing who was swinging in to ram you. The hard seats wacked and sent you back for round two... Mostly the guys, but when the neighborhood has 13 boys and two girls,well so the girls just joined in.. Tinker |
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23 Sep 00 - 07:17 AM (#303756) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Report from the Front: As a music teacher, I sometimes have playground duty at my school. We're in a fairly tame part of the world, so it's usually a pleasure, just walking around, enjoying the fresh air, chatting with the kids. Just this week I saw a bevy of 6-year old girls swinging a long jumprope and chanting "Cinderella dressed in yella went upstairs to kiss a fella How many kisses did she get" etc. Over on the swings a small boy "swang" as high as he could. When he was all the way back, he was completely in shade. When he was all the way forward, the sun sparkled all around him. I heard him singing "Sun.......shade.....sun......shade" Hand-clapping games such as "Miss Mary Mack" usually take place on the bus or indoors on rainy days. But the games live on! |
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23 Sep 00 - 07:44 AM (#303758) Subject: RE: Kid's stuff From: Jon Freeman A couple from my childhood: British Bulldog, King, Tracking/Paper chase. Do kids make dens now? Jon |