Kids' Summer Games
Today is a rare perfect-weather March day in central Pennsylvania. I've been able to sit in the sun and read, as well as do a wee bit of cleaning in the yard. The balmy breeze and sunshine take me back . . . to the 1950s and '60s . . .
Do you remember jump-rope songs? Mabel, Mabel, set the table; don't forget the red hot pepper! . . . Fudge fudge, call the judge, mama's got a brand new baby! . . . Blue bells, cottontails, evie ivy overhead. Did you ever jump double-dutch? I was a decent rope jumper, but double dutch was beyond me.
How about jacks? Onesies, twosies . . . You're out because you moved a jack! Then there was dodgeball . . . kickball . . . wiffle ball. Red rover was also a big hit: Red Rover, Red Rover, Let Billy come over! A neighborhood game of Tag or Hide and Seek was a good way to spend a warm evening.
The little kids would play Mother May I and Red Light Green Light. And when it started to get dark and the lightning bugs began flickering, we'd beg our mothers for Mason jars to hold a few of the ones we'd catch. We always added grass t the jar to make it like home for the fireflies, and only ever kept them winking at us overnight. They were always set fee the next day.
Great childhood memories! I'm sure I was the kind of kid who pestered mom to get out the summer play supplies on the first nice day like today. Some things are just universal. What summer games did you play as a kid?
- AnneH's Stories
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A Museum of Childhood
While we're talking about fun things for kids, check out the Museum of Childhood website from the Victoria & Albert Museum (warning -- don't follow this link unless you have some time to play!)
http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/
I like the idea of a "Museum of Childhood" -- what a great concept! The closest we come to it here are things like toy museums, and that's just not the same thing. Nobody here seems to be looking at the "big picture" of being a kid in America.
Time for hoops
My thoughts wandered outside yesterday, too. I remembered that when we were kids, the yards were pretty squishy on these first spring days up in Elk County, PA, so we usually headed to the neighbor's place. They had a basketball hoop and a PAVED driveway. We played countless games of h-o-r-s-e. In between, or if you happened to exit the game early, you could ride your bike around and around without getting it all slopped up on the dirt road. Good times!
Hula Hoops!
You made me remember hula hoops. They are definitely for the younger set . . . I tried one about a year ago, and it was both sad and embarrassing! Anne H.
aaaaaaahhhh warmth!
Yes, it was the kind of day that got you geared up for summer! I played everything you listed--we were just continually outside. We had an old metal swingset too, that was such fun!
Now that I'm the mama, I look forward to these days to run my kidlets ragged. Yesterday we took them to a local park and let them run run run....we even egged them on TO run run run!!! Get them tuckered out, and boy were they ever!