When you were a child

[Miss Chicken]

Did you play or play with any of the following

Hopscotch
Jump rope
Yo-yo
Hula hoop
Pogo Stick
Lawn darts
Quoits
Twister
Elastics/Chinese jump rope

Feel free to add to the list.

I was hopeless with a hula hoop, yo-yo and pogo stick.

We didn't play lawn darts.

We used to play a game in which we threw a knife or fork into the lawn and the other child had to put their foot or hand into where it landed. Very much like Twister.

We also used to put a ball into one of Mum's old stocking and then tie it to one leg and spin it around and we had to jump the other leg over it.

We also played a ballgame called Sevens which we played with a tennis ball thrown at a wall.

And we made stilts out of old tin cans and strong string.

And we made paper fortune tellers.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I played with:

- GI Joe action figures a foot tall
- Micronauts
- Star Wars Droid Factory
- Those weird plastic things where you stick a pen in it and twirl around on a piece of paper and it makes these squiggly psychedelic designs
- Lite Brite
- Legos
- Waterpowered rocket launcher

 

[Miss Chicken]

- Those weird plastic things where you stick a pen in it and twirl around on a piece of paper and it makes these squiggly psychedelic designs

Spirographs?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ That's the one!

 

[Miss Chicken]

Did you make any of your own toys? Or play many outside games?

I played Knuckles which is similar to the American game of Jacks. When my mother played it as a child she actually did use sheep knucklebones, but by the time I played it bright plastic knuckles were sold in toy shops.

We had Pickup Sticks, and Barrel Full of Monkeys.

 

[Gov Kodos]

The Noble Knights Collection took up a lot of time as a kid here's a melodramatic youtube and other link http://www.entertainmentearth.com/item_archive/archive_list.asp?theme=Noble+Knights

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXJIfbZRlFY[/yt]

The other was Major Matt Mason, cool space adventure stuff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Matt_Mason and http://www.wildtoys.com/MMMPage/index.asp

 

[scotpens]

And we made paper fortune tellers.

Yeah, a lot of us kids made those folded paper thingies. We’d spice them up by making the “fortunes” dirty.

The Hula Hoop craze was in full swing when I was about six or seven. I was hopeless at Hula-Hooping. The damn thing always ended up on the floor within eight seconds.

The boy next door and I used to play astronaut by collecting bits of junk from the garage and attaching them to the arms of lawn chairs. Those were our rocket ship controls. A couple of plastic toy helmets and we were ready for adventures in space.

Hopscotch and jumping rope were for girls. (They have cooties, you know.)

 

[iguana_tonante]

I played soccer and built Legos. That's pretty much it.

 

[Miss Chicken]

When I was a kid we were more or less kicked outside unless it was a rainy day. We weren't allowed to take our indoor toys outside so we had to make so with only a few outdoor toys - balls, jump ropes, cap guns, a piece of chalk etc

When we played Cowboys and Indians there weren't enough cap guns to go around so some children just used their fingers.

 

[bbailey861]

When I was a kid we were more or less kicked outside unless it was a rainy day. We weren't allowed to take our indoor toys outside so we had to make so with only a few outdoor toys - balls, jump ropes, cap guns, a piece of chalk etc

When we played Cowboys and Indians there weren't enough cap guns to go around so some children just used their fingers.

Very True. If it was nice outside then so were you. We played a lot of cowboys and indians - and WWII Allies vs Nazis. I played marbles too.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I played as a child....

Kick the can.
Rounders in the car park at the bottom of the flats.
The tree swing game(Everybody climbs the tree and jump on the swinging wire at the same time, some wont make it).
Bikes and jumps.
Lift sticking(all jump up and down in the lift and it wil fail between floors)
Stank marbles.
Up the woods at the back of the flats watching people flying their model planes was brillaint.
Gingy bottle collecting was fun because it reaps rewards at the ice cream van.

 

[T'Girl]

Hula hoop.

Which explains a lot about how I dance as an adult.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Hopscotch - Only rarely when the girl neighbors drew one in the street
Jump rope - sucked at it
Yo-yo - regularly and became quite good at the tricks
Hula hoop - came out when I was in my teens and could do it OK
Pogo Stick - I am a Hula Hoop Jedi. My longest was 22 minutes and I could eat and drink while jumping. I have a Flybar now that I use occasionally
Lawn darts - nope
Quoits - whazzat?
Twister - came out after I was grown
Elastics/Chinese jump rope - not familiar

Model airplanes and slot cars were my main hobbies from age 6 or so through late 20s. I'd still be flying small electric RC planes if time and budget permitted.

 

[Pingfah]

I played with all of the things in the OP, although my main obsession was Meccano, a toy even greater than Lego.

 

[Holdfast]

I've played most of the toys & games mentioned, but I think yo-yos would have been my favourite from that list. I got pretty decent doing the tricks at one point, though my mother always warned me that I'd end up breaking something if I kept playing with it indoors. Naturally, I eventually did break something.. in fact, two things...

(Of course, my real favourite toy of all time was Transfomers. )

 

[Pingfah]

^ Coca Cola & Sprite yo-yos?

 

[Holdfast]

^ Coca Cola & Sprite yo-yos?

Hell, yes.

The Sprite one was my favourite...

 

[Pingfah]

We were all mad for them at my school, I think there was a year or so when every schoolkid in the UK had one of those in their pocket.

They were actually really good yo-yos IIRC. I seem to remember there being two different kinds, standard and deluxe?

 

[Holdfast]

We were all mad for them at my school, I think there was a year or so when every schoolkid in the UK had one of those in their pocket.

They were actually really good yo-yos IIRC. I seem to remember there being two different kinds, standard and deluxe?

Same here. Everyone had one. I think you're right about there being two kinds; IIRC the deluxe versions were sparkly and better constructed, but you had to collect something or other to get those. Not sure.

Man, this all brings back memories. We drove our teachers nuts with all the damn yo-yos, to the point that they used to confiscate them regularly, if they caught us playing with them indoors, or during lessons.

You know, I think there's even a Simpsons episode out there parodying the yo-yo craze of that era.

 

[RandyS]

I played with girls.