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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Treetotal on Wednesday 20 November 13 16:25 GMT (UK)
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I recently bought a book from a charity shop called "Remember When":
This volume presents a picture of everyday life in the 20th century - from the late-Victorian era to the new millennium - exploring all aspects of society as reflected in the legacy of packaging, advertising, magazines and newspapers, toys and games, and royal and commemorative memorabilia that has accumulated over the century. A sourcebook of images and anecdotes for those interested in the past, it includes memories of the first Kit-Kat to Beatlemania, Meccano to the Picture Post, Bisto to Barbie and other brand names....What gem of a book 8)
Which got me thinking about toys from the past and what our ancestors would have received for Christmas...and also comparing the toys then and now.
Sweetshops, post office sets and games compendiums see so far into the past now with modern technology taking over childrens' lives.
I would love to hear memories from others about their favourite toys as we have school children who come into the Family History Unit where I am a volunteer, and I have created a corner with books and toys from the past....the favourite being a Victorian metal hoop with a stick attached...for hoop rolling.
Over to you ;)
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I remember my dad telling me that in the late 1920's one of his brothers got a tin mechanical toy that was a man pulling a rickshaw. It got trodden on on Christmas day and wrecked and that was an absolute disaster as that was his only present - it was as much as their parents could afford.
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Well done for starting this thread, Carol!
One of my most impractical Christmas presents was given to me by my parents when I was six. It was a tiny cooker which really worked. Can you imagine that - it heated up using little white tablets which you lit with a match. There was one for each hob and one to go in the oven. This contraption came with a full set of miniature saucepans and frying pans, spatula, fish slice etc. It was brilliant. The only draw-back, of course, was that it wasn't the sort of thing you could let a six-year-old play with unsupervised. The only time it was ever used properly was on Boxing Day when my father and mother had great fun cooking a miniature meal of egg and chips on it, whilst I was made to keep my distance in case I knocked something over.
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Meezer....you can just imagine the heartbreak of that little boy on Christmas day can't you :'(
GS...that really cracked me ..up....It wouldn't happen today with all the "Elf and Safety" issues...I wonder how many times you have told that story???
Thanks for sharing.
Carol
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Oh gosh I had one of those cookers too but mine worked by having a pan of meths lit in it - talk about lethal! Like you I wasn't allowed anywhere near it (why did they buy us these things?!) I can just remember my dad boiling up some lemonade in one of the little pans.
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My interests as a child were quite opposite; if I wasn't out cycling, making dens/camps, roller skating, climbing trees or playing traditional playground games like hopscotch, I had my nose stuck in a book, was drawing/colouring, doing jigsaw puzzles or playing jacks. The latter all the sorts of insular, quiet things that required great patience. I loved Spirograph, and one of my best ever Christmas presents was a box of Caran d'Ache felt pens that were just like watercolours. I don't think they make them any more. I loved dressing my Sindy doll though! And I remember being very fond of the cut-out paper dolls and their clothes with the little tabs you folded over the doll to change the outfits.
Last year our class at school spent a wonderful day out at the V&A Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green, London. Their collection of toys spans from the 1600s to the present day - check it out on www.museumofchildhood.org.uk. What a trip down memory lane that was! But I would like to revisit it at my leisure instead of a rushed time in charge of a group of 5/6yr olds, on a snowy day coach trip with a child who was sick :(
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Oh gosh I had one of those cookers too but mine worked by having a pan of meths lit in it - talk about lethal! Like you I wasn't allowed anywhere near it (why did they buy us these things?!) I can just remember my dad boiling up some lemonade in one of the little pans.
Remember buying our son a traction engine that run on meths but that was back in the days when it was "it's ok because they sell them for kids to play with" It's a wonder my generation survived when I think of the things we did :o
Mo
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My interests as a child were quite opposite; if I wasn't out cycling, making dens/camps, roller skating, climbing trees or playing traditional playground games like hopscotch, I had my nose stuck in a book, was drawing/colouring, doing jigsaw puzzles or playing jacks. The latter all the sorts of insular, quiet things that required great patience.
That just about sums me up too!
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Those little white blocks for the cooker thing had a very specific smell and a brand name. Was it Meta-something? Never really played with mine as I was not the domestic type. Wasn´t much impressed by my toy ironing board or my dolls´pram. But a few years late the Man from Uncle gun was a real gem.
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Very interesting to hear about the cooker that GS and others mentioned...not come across that before...most of my toys were art related or books and puzzles but I did have a game called "Confucius" with a magnetic figure with a wand....also "Concentration" which was a game of pairs.
Carol
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Very interesting to hear about the cooker that GS and others mentioned...not come across that before...most of my toys were art related or books and puzzles but I did have a game called "Confucius" with a magnetic figure with a wand....also "Concentration" which was a game of pairs.
Carol
I had a similar game, Carol which was kept for me at my Gran's house called The Magic Robot. I think you asked the robot a question from a question and answer card and he swung (magnetically) with his wand to the correct answer. Don't know if I described that very well! :P
My favourite Christmas gift was a blackboard and separate easel. My dad ( a time served joiner) made this for me although I believed Santa made it with his elves. He painted the easel a lovely shade of pale pink and stuck beautiful nursery transfers on it. I loved it and spent many happy hours "playing schools", teaching my dolls. :D :D
Looby :)
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My earliest xmas pressie I can remember was when I was five, included several large jigsaws, two children sized parasols, and a toy battery operated sewing machine. I woke the whole household up very early as I caught my finger in the needle. ;D Made many dolly clothes with it and I still have the machine.
At the bottom of the sack was the fruit, nuts and sugar mice.
Cheers
KHP
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My favourite was the wooden stilts my Dad made ,used them for years. The other kids who had stilts would get together for stilt races along the length of the street.
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I'd forgotten all about those cookers, GS - I had one as well, and like you, I wasn't allowed to use it unsupervised. What a strange toy to give a young child.
My uncle (the one I have since found out was never married to my aunt ;D ) was very good at woodwork and one Christmas he made me this wonderful dolls' house, or rather dolls' bungalow, where the roof lifted off so you could see inside. My parents bought me all the furniture and I spent hours playing with it. When I was about 9, I was allowed to redecorate it using scraps of wallpaper and paint.
He also made my brother a model farm with barns and farmhouse - no plastic animals then, they were all lead.
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I had a similar game, Carol which was kept for me at my Gran's house called The Magic Robot. I think you asked the robot a question from a question and answer card and he swung (magnetically) with his wand to the correct answer. Don't know if I described that very well! :P
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Described it perfectly Looby! Had one of those myself when I was a boy in the 70s! ;D Also remember that every Christmas we (my siblings & I) always got Annuals (Books that is not plants! :P ;D) Matchbox cars was another, plastic toy soldiers & cap guns were also a couple of others. As regards the cap guns, I had both the ones with the plastic caps & the paper roll caps over the years! Oh happy days, lots of lovely memories!
Just remembered something about cap guns or similar, I seem to recall having a gun that you scooped out pieces of potato & then fired them from the gun. Am I remembering right or is my memory faulty & there was no such thing?
Just caught your post Groom. I remember having a model farm as well one Christmas, with farm animals, little milk churns etc, I'm pretty sure they were shop bought though rather than homemade! ;D
Great thread!
Kind regards
David
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Just remembered something about cap guns or similar, I seem to recall having a gun that you scooped out pieces of potato & then fired them from the gun. Am I remembering right or is my memory faulty & there was no such thing?
Had one as well - I seem to remember that it was called a Spud Gun :)
Steve
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Oh how I remember stilts, Alienlady. There was a programme on children's television one night where they showed how your father could easily make you a pair of stilts. To the delight of me and my older brother my father made us a pair each that very evening. So the next day, brother and I spent a while in the garden mastering the art of stilt-walking and then set off to do a round of the married quarters to show all our friends what we had. Within a couple of days practically every kid on the camp was stilt-walking. Was great fun.
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Yes that's the same thing Looby describes David...I wonder why I thought it was called Confucius Says...I thought the one I had a had chinese figure ???
My Dad made wooden stilts too and put rubber tips on the end ;D
Posts crossed GS...we had to lean against the wall to get on them ;D
Carol
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Ahh thanks Steve, that was it! Spud Gun was exactly what it was. Glad my memory isn't going faulty just yet! ;D
Kind regards
David
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Did anyone else make two holes in the base of tin cans, thread string through them to hold on to, and walk about on them?
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Oh yes, Jan, that was another good game. And you could also join the tin cans with a long piece of string to make a telephone.
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Carol,
re The Magic Robot Game. It's primary name was the Magic Robot Quiz Game but one of its alternate names was.....
Confucius Say: Magnetic Quiz Game. It had a lot of other alternate names as well.
Link to some details about it here: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17568/magic-robot-quiz-game
Kind regards
David
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Anyone remember 5 stones (I think that's what it was called)? Small wooden cubes with ridges. Must have spent hours sat on playground/pavement with friends.....could even play it inside.
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I loved my cowgirl dressing up outfit - a "suede" skirt with fringing down the side, matching waistcoat, "cowgirl" hat, belt and coloured holster which held a"pop gun"- when you fired it a cork attached to the gun by a piece of string popped out. I always wanted to wear my wellingtons with this outfit - eventually when Mother asked me why I needed the wellingtons I said "For when I get the cows in" -perfectly logical for a six year old who had only seen cows in pictures!
Suz
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Anyone remember 5 stones (I think that's what it was called)? Small wooden cubes with ridges. Must have spent hours sat on playground/pavement with friends.....could even play it inside.
I think this is the game we called "snobs" - although the cubes were a type of chalk (unless I had the cheap version)
Suz
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Mine were a typed of chalk as well, Suz - different colours. Then we progressed to Jacks - metal five pointed one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacks_(game)
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Maybe mine were a type of chalk......too long ago to remember. Jacks......that's what I've been trying to recall the name. Great fun and easy to carry around......happy days. :)
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My Jacks were made from the knuckles from the leg of lamb. Had to wait five weeks for a set, cleaned and painted them.
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I was rubbish at jacks, never had that kind of dexterity. I was really good at marbles though and ended up with a huge sack of them which I'd won. We used to create complicated marble runs in the hard earth, a bit like a golf course and run marbles tournaments.
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5 stones/jacks or various names were known as knucklbones in NZ, you could get metal versions with instructions for each challenge or we also used to save the knuckles from joint of meat i.e lamb knuckle.( as Nanna52 said ) My brother had such chunky hands he'd have all five 'bones' on back of his hand all the way through quite often ... I'd challenge him with 5 even stones off the road to make it fairer. We were about even at marbles ;D
Most of our toys were home constructed or adapted from something else.
Christmas being Summer time in NZ meant stockings were usually filled with bucket and spade, tennis ball, cut out books or colouring books or cheap toys.
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Wooden yoyos. I was forever getting the string tangled up.
What about roller skates - not boots, but just the skate bit, with leather straps that went over your foot and across your ankle? The number of times I came off those as my shoe came out of the strap. They had a sliding bits underneath so you could extend them as your feet grew.
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And when the leather straps perished, we used string to tie them on; which is how I managed to break my arm.
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I had skates like that; spent hours on them ......especially skating up to lamposts, grabbing hold and swinging round. Very little traffic around during the day so we could skate along pavement, down a slope, across the road and up another slope..........don't think children could do that today but not many had cars and those that did were out at work. SImple pleasures. :)
I remember using string GS but I broke my arm falling off a horse.
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What about cap guns then? And those little bomb things which you put caps in and dropped onto the pavement so they exploded? And did anyone else roll up several caps together and then drive a nail through them. That made for an interesting explosion. When you think about it, it's a wonder any of us ever survived intact.
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Had a cap gun.....part of my cowgirl outfit. No nails though......probably hidden away in the shed.
Chalking on the pavement slabs for hopscotch tended to annoy my mum.....no idea why.
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Part of my xmas pressies each year were a cup/saucer and bread plate. By the time I got to my late teens I had a good supply of china. ;D
Cheers
KHP
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Did anyone else make two holes in the base of tin cans, thread string through them to hold on to, and walk about on them?
Yes - great fun Jan. I had stilts as well and I became so skilled I could get up on them without help from a wall. My friends and I seemed to skip a lot, both singly and with a person holding each end of a long rope and a third person jumping over it as they turned. We played and Twoball and Threeball against any handy wall as well.
Great thread Carol - still reading through so I'm probably repeating stuff that's already been mentioned. ::)
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Just remembered the elastic game, with two people with elastic around their legs, with a third person doing moves in the middle, and you kept raising the elastic until it was very high. If there were no people available it was put around a couple of dining table chairs.
I had stilts as well and could manage getting on them without a wall :D
Cheers
KHP
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In the winter when it was snowy we would make the most lethal ice slides in the school playground. We would trample down the snow then before hometime we would pour water over it so that it would freeze overnight - it was a real group effort as the whole junior school would be involved.
Can you imagine slide construction being allowed in school today?
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Just remembered the elastic game, with two people with elastic around their legs, with a third person doing moves in the middle, and you kept raising the elastic until it was very high. If there were no people available it was put around a couple of dining table chairs.
I had stilts as well and could manage getting on them without a wall :D
Cheers
KHP
French Skipping KHP ;D
Carol
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Thank you :D I did remember about french knitting though ;D
Cheers
KHP
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Ahh...so many good memories coming back after reading everyone's posts!
Airfix models are still popular in our household. ;)
Cheers
Coco
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When you think about it, it's a wonder any of us ever survived intact.
Some time ago I read a piece about all the things we used to do and how it was surprising we were all still here. I cant find it now.
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My tin can stilts were made out of blue and white striped jam tins - jam seems to have come in tins at one time . I had wooden stilts which we still have and our girls used them.
Favourites - washing machine I wrote about on another thread - Hoover with wringer on the top. You wind the handle at the back and it agitates the water. Still works now.
Dolls bungalow, roller skates like groom described, car garage with a lift to get the cars to the top floor, betta builda - bit like Lego only smaller, sindy doll and making things for her such as a wardrobe made out of a shoebox with string for a rail and matchboxes with those gold stud fold back clips for a handle to make drawer handles.
A ladybird book of things to do and make and making a toy that moves using a wooden cotton reel, cutting the edges to make it sort of serrated so it has some grip, then put a bit of candle on the end and an elastic band through the middle held on a used matchstick. You wind up the band with the matchstick then put it on the ground and watch it go - great fun. Best description I can manage. If I can find the book I'll post a pic. It's a good one for doing with bored kids but plastic cotton reels don't work as well imo.
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I remember those cotton reel things CF, they were fun, weren't they! Also, little toy field guns which fired spent matches.
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Some time ago I read a piece about all the things we used to do and how it was surprising we were all still here. I cant find it now.
Found it - it is so true
http://www.easypeasy.com/guides/article.php?article=301
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That is so true, Jan - brought back a lot of memories too. Forgotten about the original go-karts, what fun they were.
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Funny article :) - except the word "cupcakes" hadn't conquered the UK at the time from what I remember? Weren't they just cakes or angelcakes?
Trystan
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Cupcakes when I was young were what we called "Fairy Cakes" just simple sponge type cakes, not the fancy ones you get now that cost a fortune for one small cake.
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Ah, it was fairycakes I was thinking then, not angelcakes!
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Or Butterfly cakes when I was young.
Cheers
KHP
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Angel cake was the one with pink, yellow and white layers with icing in between. And then there was the advent of Devil's Food Cake from America, courtesy of a Betty Crocker cake mix, I believe.
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Butterfly cakes - that was where you cut a bit of the lid off and cut it in half, filled the hole with butter icing and put the lid back on like wings, wasn't it?
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Yes, and you could also put a smidgen of jam under the butter icing .... we used mock cream instead.
Cheers
KHP
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String could be used for many games so if we ever got anything tied up with string it was always saved
Cats Cradle - long piece of string tied in a circle, using both hands and all your fingers to make patterns
Same string could be used for conkers or as it was mainly boys that lived near tying me up when they were playing cowboys and indians :)
Mo
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I loved to play Cats Cradle, Mo. I taught my granddaughter how to play when she was 7 and she now loves it too.
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Some years ago we were on a coach holiday and our seats were at the back of the coach. The other people around us were of a certain age and we passed many a mile playing cats cradle. Everything went well until someone found some conkers, played that until we got banned ;D
Mo
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Oh! I remember most of these things ;D - Roller skating, Hopscotch, Jacks, French Skipping, Cats Cradle, Butterfly cakes, my suede effect cowgirl outfit and guns with caps ( I can still smell them). When walking the dog recently I spotted a group of children climbing a tree to shake out the conkers and I fleeting thought how unusual this was in todays modern age, but so nice to see that they were still doing the same things we did.
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I remember quite a few of the things you've mentioned. I also remember two of my favourite games were KAN-U-GO (card game like Scrabble without a board) and a precursor (I think) to Lego, where you built houses by putting thin metal roads into holes on a green board and slid bricks, doors, windows between them. Blowed if I can remember the name though....
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Great thread full of good memories Carol!
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Here in Oz we called cup cakes patty cakes.
My best memory is my Dad telling us that his father grew up in Clifton near the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Papa and the local kids used to slide down the banks near the Bridge. Papa and his brothers used to then get into trouble from their older sister for having torn and dirty clothes. Their mother had died and the older sister was doing her best to bring up the kids.
In 1994, I made a visit to Clifton and the banks near the Bridge and there was a large group of kids sliding down the banks!
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I remember quite a few of the things you've mentioned. I also remember two of my favourite games were KAN-U-GO (card game like Scrabble without a board) and a precursor (I think) to Lego, where you built houses by putting thin metal roads into holes on a green board and slid bricks, doors, windows between them. Blowed if I can remember the name though....
Bayko :) we have a set of that at my parents house. Apparently it sells at toy fairs these days if its in good condition. No idea what state ours is in as it was well played with by my elder brother before me.
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I used to love dressing cardboard flat dolls with paper dresses etc pushed out of a book of clothes from a book - do you remember those?? I loved dressing those dolls, male and female with all sorts of outfits.
KHP - We played jacks with lamb knuckle bones too - and they hurt I remember - I was never very good at it I have to say.
Also loved playing in the sandpit with our matchbox toys and my favourite a cattle truck with the proper sides for cattle. We made the sale yards in the sand and room for lots of backing and filling of vehicles!
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I remember all the guns particularly the spud on as I was always my brother's target . Also for his pea shooters ! This summer I actually taught some kids to play elastic ! Bless them they are now addicted. Skipping was played with the rope holders on opposite sides of the road (no traffic then) and all the kids joined in. Another street game was rounders . kids from one half of the street challenged the other .
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I too remember the guns as I had two brothers. When I was quite small I used to follow my elder brother and his friends into the woods and they would get fed up with me. So they would tell me that I was their captive, tie me to a tree, and run away. Fortunately they always came back to release me.
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Subuteo - has that cropped up here yet?
I remember my brother had the football game of Subuteo and the whole family became obsessed with it. The green baize 'football pitch' would be spread out on the floor and we would all be on our knees scrabbling around the pitch flicking the little men at the little plastic ball to move it up the pitch and score. I was 5 years younger than brother so not much use at scoring goals but I loved playing with those little footballers on their semi circular bases.
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Bayko :) we have a set of that at my parents house. Apparently it sells at toy fairs these days if its in good condition.
My husband has still got his precious Bayko building blocks, in their original boxes ::)
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Carol,
re The Magic Robot Game. It's primary name was the Magic Robot Quiz Game but one of its alternate names was.....
Confucius Say: Magnetic Quiz Game. It had a lot of other alternate names as well.
Link to some details about it here: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17568/magic-robot-quiz-game
Kind regards
David
Thanks for that David...Yes it brought back memories ;D
Lots of nostalgia here and it's great to hear all the familiar toys and games from the past...keep 'em coming...I am adding them to a spreadsheet :D
Dress up dolls was a great way to past a wet afternoon...I also had a jewellery making kit that I loved...lots of coloured gems attached to plastic rods that you snapped off to make rings and things...also "Pick up Sticks"....and the favourites in our house used to be Lego...and Meccano....hours of entertainment here.
I do remember having a tin wind up penguin that waddled along and laid eggs!!!
Carol
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Ah yes - pick up sticks!! and marbles/alleys/allys (?sp)
and Meccano - and Dad had a very special Donkey Engine which came out on special occasions to drive Meccano engines, pumps etc. that was pretty good!! :D
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I do remember having a tin wind up penguin that waddled along and laid eggs!!!
I had a plastic hen, I'm sure it's brand name was Hetty The Hen. you pressed down on its head to make it squat down and each time you pressed it laid an egg. Great fun.
And here it is:-
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0x0p/
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Oh yes...I remember something like that too Maggie....and the free little toys from cereal packets...A Pluto type dog with moveable legs that walked if you put it on a sloping surface....and a small scribbling pad with a peel back plastic sheet to erase the drawing...I think they came with "Lucky Bags" ;D
Carol
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Not sure how old I was - probably about eight or nine - when I got the best book ever for Christmas. I have no idea what it was called, sadly. It was a book of children's stories each one of which had one of those pop-up illustrations: you opened the two pages out to their full extent and a scene jumped up, and by moving the pages up and down something in the scene moved. One was of a toucan on a log and when you moved the book its beak pecked and there was a sawing sound which came from sandpaper inserted on the card. Another was a fairy house with see-through windows and when you held it up to the light you could see a real fairy reflected onto the far wall. How exciting was that! I do wish I still had that book, it was a true work of art.
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Now advertised as a 'retro' toy, what about Slinky, the walking spring ;D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slinky
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Each Christmas I got a Rupert The Bear Annual, wrapped up in brown paper with string of course because it was a long time ago and Christmas wrapping paper hadn't been invented. ::)
There was always a page instructing on how to make an origami model out of paper and I loved making these. Some of them were fiendishly difficult so I would pester Mum & Dad to help me and it probably did nothing to make their Christmas Day easier. I remember making a paper kettle, and the book told you that once you had made it you could put some water in it and hold it over a candle and the water would warm up without the paper igniting :o :o :o
There was a paper bird with flapping wings as well - I still make those for the grandchildren.
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Thanks for posting the link Maggie..I do remember it...can't find the penguin though but It may have been my older Sister's toy...it was definitely tin....I also have fond memories of the Christmas Annuals...Rupert, Dandy and Beano to name but a few!!!
I don't remember the old slinky Jen...but interesting as I didn't think it went back that far.
I can picture what you describe GS...magical pop up books ;D........ and also making origami items and paper planes.
Anyone remember "Poppet Beads"
Carol
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I remember so many of those already mentioned. Here are a couple I don't think have yet.
Magnetic dogs. A tiny metal corgi like dog on a magnate that mum would put on a metal tray and it would move around. (didnt know there was another one under it that mum was moving) I thought it was magic. (have them somewhere and if I find them will post a photo)
Spinning tops, still around to buy today.
I also remember one year I had a childs microscope. Really excited until I put a tiny pea maggot under it to look at. Terrified me and the microscope had to go back!
I also remember getting a china dolls tea set. Would spend hours with the teapot filled with water pouring out cups for dolls, mum, dad -everyone - over and over again.
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I remember my sister had a miniature garden which came with lots of plastic flowerbeds and flowers. Then there were all different sorts of fences to put round the gardens.
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I just LOVED my Muffin the Mule puppet. I do wish I still had him.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0x0q/
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I had one of those and Sooty and Sweep glove puppets.
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My elder brother always got the Eagle annual for Christmas; I got Girl and our little brother got Swift. As I got older I had Girls Crystal and School Friend annuals. I still have a few of them. Wish I had my brother's Eagle annuals, he had a full set.
And as mentioned, also Beano and Dandy, and Topper too.
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Does anyone remember playing tag , statues ,blind mans buff ,pin the tail on the donkey, tiddlywinks or fanning balloons ? great thread carol !
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I don't remember the name but you folded paper and wrote on the squares then held it on both forefingers and thumbs and manouvered it to tell fortunes ? Also folded paper again to cut out a row of attached people ?
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I remember that alienlady, but I don't know what it's called. I remember we made cats' cradles and other things with thin string. Still available but now packaged as a game - it would be wouldn't it, we just used thin string, old bits of wool etc. whatever was available.
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Absolutely ! Shoe boxes became so many things too , imagination is a wonderful thing but sadly lacking these days I think. I was certainly never bored there was too much to do or invent.
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Children still make those origami fortune tellers http://www.dltk-kids.com/world/japan/mfortune-teller.htm
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Not sure how old I was - probably about eight or nine - when I got the best book ever for Christmas. I have no idea what it was called, sadly. It was a book of children's stories each one of which had one of those pop-up illustrations: you opened the two pages out to their full extent and a scene jumped up, and by moving the pages up and down something in the scene moved. One was of a toucan on a log and when you moved the book its beak pecked and there was a sawing sound which came from sandpaper inserted on the card. Another was a fairy house with see-through windows and when you held it up to the light you could see a real fairy reflected onto the far wall. How exciting was that! I do wish I still had that book, it was a true work of art.
I had a book exactly like that. It was opened so many times the plastic windows fell apart but you could still see the fairy (I think ???) or maybe I just imagined it. I loved that book but especially that house.
Rishile
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What about "Biggles" - I used to love the books when I was a child (and I'm female :)). I've just found a whole collection set of them - 15 - and have bought them for my grandsons for one of their Christmas presents.
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I'm very excited that Rishile remembers that book as well - was such a beautiful thing and like yours, I suspect mine eventually fell apart.
How about street games then, like Kick the Can. Does anyone remember that? It was my favourite and we invariably played that just as it was getting dark, with the can conveniently positioned under a lamp-post.
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I remember my sister had a miniature garden which came with lots of plastic flowerbeds and flowers. Then there were all different sorts of fences to put round the gardens.
O yes still have mine made by Britains. It has a greenhouse with shelves and a garden swing as well as different types of flowers like roses and lupins.
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Famous five books - full set. Wiggy I loved those dress up dolls made of card too.
My brother 7 years older than me had an electric train set - not a massive one but still an electric train set. It lived in a wooden chest with a sliding lid. I wasn't allowed to play with it and parents said 'until I was older '. When I was 'older', they had sold it! I wasn't impressed at all.
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One year I asked for an Etch-A-Sketch and found out where my mother hid it. Any time I was alone in the house for the two months before Christmas I would go and retrieve it making sure it went back in the same place. It was probably worn out by the time I finally got it on Christmas Day and, of course, I had to pretend to be surprised.
Also, tin cans with string that we walked on. Condensed milk tins were the best because they made a lovely sound when they hit the ground.
I also received a washing machine that worked. It was ideal for washing my dolls clothes but took ages for the water to drain out of the small pipe at the back of the machine. I suppose I could have tipped it upside down to get the water out but that would have spoilt the fun.
Rishile
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I loved the Famous Five books too - wonderful stuff. And the William books, and Biggles and his female counterpart, Worrals. And all those wonderful Chalet School books.
And does anyone remember the 'Classics' comics where they presented classic novels in comic-book format? They used to have an amazing range: I particularly remember The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, Moby Dick, Treasure Island. Great stuff, I wish they still made comics like that.
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Many favourites of mine here too GS...I always had my nose in a book and nothing has changed...I loved Enid Blyton's "Secret" series...One morning during the school holidays...Mum brought in the post that had been delivered...I said rather touch in cheek..."Have I got a letter from Great Aunt Dorothy inviting me to stay for the summer in her fishermen's cottage in Devon?" My Mother gave me a withering look and said..."Don't be so stupid...you haven't got a Great Aunt Dorothy...and if you have nothing better to do than daydream....you can fetch me a loaf from the shops....you read far too many books!"
Mum and I talked about that conversation many times over the years ;D
Carol
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Famous Five, Secret Seven, Swallows and Amazons and of course, as GS said, The Chalet School books. I have to admit that I read a few of those fairly recently as well and they were as good as I remembered. I always wanted to go to boarding school after reading those.
I remember getting a toy post office for Christmas one year - miniature envelopes, stamps, postal orders, a franking machine and till.
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The Chalet School books. I have to admit that I read a few of those fairly recently as well and they were as good as I remembered. I always wanted to go to boarding school after reading those
I had a taste of what it was like going to boarding school for 2 school terms, do any of you older Lancashire ladies remember Whiteacre School at Whalley where you could through L.C.C. choose to go.
I loved it and was sad to leave and go back to my old school
Mo
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I used to love those toy Post Office kits with all the forms and the stamps. Used to amuse me for hours and in those days I wanted to work in a Post Office when I grew up, simply so I could tear stamps off a sheet.
When I was about ten I saved up my pocket money to buy a toy shop which had real glass bottles of sweets, a scoop, scales, paper bags, a till, plastic money. That was really good fun.
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Oo yes I had a toy shop that was painted wooden shelves in cream with a red trim with a front counter and little plastic pots with lids that you could put sweets in. Howver they were very small so mum used to fill them with the hundreds and thousand sprinkles that you put on the icing on cakes, and the silver balls likewise.
Its a pity I don't have pictures of any toys apart from my bike. Would have been lovely to see them again.
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Remembering all the toys and games we had, it occurs to me that we had to use our imaginations when we were playing - the toy shops, the toy post office, miniature garden, dolls houses, farms, games of cowboys and Indians etc. Nowadays a lot of even very young children spend time in front of the Wii or the computer and are entertained rather than entertaining themselves. My niece, who works in an Infants' school, said that a lot of the children come to school not knowing how to play and have to be taught.
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What an outdoor life we led as well, in fact It never seemed to rain, although I'm sure it did :)
We were allowed to get dirty as well. I remember playing at cake shops with my friends - we would gather soil, which around here is very black, and mix it with a bit of water to make mud, then mould it into pies and cakes to sell to our mothers who were game enough to come to our shop and enter into the spirit of things.
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I remember quite a few of the things you've mentioned. I also remember two of my favourite games were KAN-U-GO (card game like Scrabble without a board) and a precursor (I think) to Lego, where you built houses by putting thin metal roads into holes on a green board and slid bricks, doors, windows between them. Blowed if I can remember the name though....
I remember the building thing as well - seem to remember I was disappointed at first not to get Lego, but looking back had hours of fun with it.
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Lots of interesting stories here...I waited a long time for a hula hoop but when I did get one it had beans or something in it so it made a noise.
Swings on lampposts were popular to with your cardigan as a seat to prevent rope burns ;D ;D
Carol
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I'd forgotten about the mud 'cakes' Maggie. We used to do rather spectacular ones when I lived in Cyprus. The soil was really sandy and the sun was hot. We used to mix up the soil with water and add powder paint. Then we would carefully put our 'cakes' onto the ground and 'ice' them by pouring on runnier earth of another colour. They used to dry almost immediately. This continued for some months until the headmaster discovered that we had been abusing our roles as ice-box monitors by helping ourselves to spoonfuls of powder paint which was stored in the same cupboard.
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I also remember writing a play. I was still at junior school so probably around 9 years old but for the production we used a wooden garage belonging to the parents of one of my friends who was also a member of the cast. We rehearsed, made a grand pair of curtains and when we were prepared we sold tickets to all of the neighbourhood. I cannot remember the plot of the play except in involved a great deal of falling about and calamitous events. The proceeds of the ticket sales did not go into our own pockets - I seem to remember that we were encourage to donate it to a Worthy Cause.
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So many good memories coming back - I remember the 'Chalet School' books and Swallows and amazons - and of course, for Aussies, the Billabong Books.
There was another series set in UK about May Queens - can't remember the name of the books now - anyone remember? How I loved those.
Does anyone remember playing tag , statues ,blind mans buff ,pin the tail on the donkey, tiddlywinks or fanning balloons ? great thread carol !
And do you remember 'blow ping pong' - when you all got round a table and had to blow the ping pong ball if it came near you - had to get it off the side of the table near the opposing person/team.
Also Gran had a segmented dog which collapsed when you pushed the bottom of it - all the strings relaxed and the dog fell down! Not a good description, but . . . . can you get what I am talking aobut?
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Anything like this?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Kohner-150-Barking-Dog-Wood-Push-Puppet-/330875329483?pt=Vintage_Antique_Toys_US&hash=item4d09b4dbcb
I remember them :) :)
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Just like that!!! ;D ;D
I always wanted a hula hoop - my cousins had them - but I couldn't make them go anyhow!
My hips weren't made for swinging . . . . . . . ::) :D :D
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Ah yes, I remember those dogs now - thanks for the link Maggie.
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Oh yes the Famous Five books and the Faraway Tree books. Loved them.
My granddaughters make the fortune tellers and have fun with them.
Could never get the hula hoop right, but had great fun trying.
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My favourite toy in the fifties was a lovely red sewing machine that really worked well on small garments, and I too had a range of little pans and a small stove and a tiny washing machine.
Other favourites were tiny post office sets and sweet shops with little scales, meccano, a home made dolls house and home made rocking horse
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For a long time, when I was very young this was my favourite book:-
http://victoriastitch.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/nicholas-thomas-naughty-kitten.html
I loved his misadventures. Needless to say this hoarder still has her rather battered book and our youngest granddaughter aged 5 loves it.
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One of my favourite toys was a whip and peerie (top). We used to steal bits of chalk from the classroom to draw coloured patterns on the top.
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some of my favourite books - which my grandchildren also love - were When we were very Young, The House at Pooh Corner - Now we are Six etc - Wind in the Willows, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, Blinky Bill (a koala) and the Magic Pudding - last three are Australian books for you northerners.
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My first favourite book (before I discovered the Famous Five) was All About A Brownie which began "Her name was Ivy Joan....". I have just checked and there are still copies to be had on Amazon!
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My Nicholas Thomas book is on Amazon at £11.99 :o
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There was another series set in UK about May Queens - can't remember the name of the books now - anyone remember?
just bringing this forward - in case someone remembers what these books were titled. ;)
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I remember Nicholas Thomas, Maggie, but not the May Queens, Wiggy. Maybe someone else will remember them.
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My granddaughter and I, spent part of this morning making Daisy Chains. From memory this is what we used to do at school when sitting on the grass in our breaks and talking to our friends.
Cheers
KHP
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We used to do that too, KHP, when we were in junior school, and make necklaces and crowns out of them. By the time I was at secondary school, we had graduated to sitting in a circle on the playing field listening avidly as one of us read out excerpts from Lady Chatterley's Lover, which had been covered with brown paper and labelled 'Pilgrim's Progress' ;D
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Also folded paper again to cut out a row of attached people ?
Paper Chain Dolls :D
Cheers
KHP
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There was another series set in UK about May Queens - can't remember the name of the books now - anyone remember?
just bringing this forward - in case someone remembers what these books were titled. ;)
This is a long shot Wiggy because I've not read them, but there is a May Queen theme in these girl's books apparently. Read right down to where there is a heading of May Queens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Series
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Think you've got it Maggie - Abbey series - yep that rings a bell! Thank you! :D
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Glad you've identified Wiggy's books, Maggie. What a clever lot we are! When I posted earlier about my wonderful pop-up book I never thought anyone else would have seen a similar one but Richile actually had one, which proves it was as good as I remember it since she too played with it until it fell apart.
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In addition to the Famous Five etc already mentioned I loved reading What Katy Did and What Katy Did Next. I really identified with the heroine. Also enjoyed Black Beauty and anything to do with animals. And the Noel Streatfield books.
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Did anyone else have a Stylophone?....I drove everyone crazy with it ;D
Nancy Drew too....and Little Women!!
Carol
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In addition to the Famous Five etc already mentioned I loved reading What Katy Did and What Katy Did Next. I really identified with the heroine. Also enjoyed Black Beauty and anything to do with animals. And the Noel Streatfield books.
Yes yes yes - and don't forget Anne of Green Gables etc!! :D
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I had a stylophone as well, I was never that good at playing it though. When we were clearing my mother's house out after her death we found it, and it still worked.
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Just loving this thread. So many toys I had forgotten about now remembering and bringing back happy memories.
Wanted to share this as not always toys that amuse us. Does anyone remember 'round and round the garden like a teddy bear', where you walk your fingers around a childs hand and then tickle them under the arm? Was taught to me by my mother, I did it to my daughter and grandchildren and today whilst visiting my great grandson aged 13 months, my grandaughter was playing it with him. He loved it and was laughing and trying to do it back! Priceless to watch.
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One of my friends went to a different school to me, one that taught their pupils how to be useful and make interesting things, so she would infuse us all with ideas of Things To Do. We soaked willow canes in water and built baskets, we made plates and bowls out of paper mâché, we mixed up plaster of Paris and made casts of things - I remember once pouring plaster of Paris into an impression made in the damp soil of my new kitten's paw and getting a really good replica - I was really pleased with myself.
Round and round the garden ......... etc has always been a great standby for our children and grandchildren in our house also Ann. It has never failed to invite a response even in quite young babies.
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I loved the Anne of Green Gables books - my mother bought them all for me as she had enjoyed them so much when she was a child. I think that being Canadian also helped to make them more thrilling and different.
I too loved the 'Katie' books, particularly 'What Katie Did at School'. In fact I bought the set of them a few years ago, and was rather shocked to find that the writing style seemed rather stilted. And when poor Katie had her horrible accident, there was an awful lot of moralising going on. Never noticed that when I read them all those years ago.
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Lots of memories here...Round and Round the garden is timeless...along with In and out the woods of bluebells...What time is it Mr. Wolfe...I would always rather play outside than in :D
Also remember "What Katy Did"...and "What Katy did next"..."The Wishing Chair" was my Daughter's favourite along with "Mrs. Pepperpot"
Carol
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Goodness Carol, that's reminded me of one of the playground games where we used to chat: In and out the dusky bluebells, In and out the dusky bluebells. In and out the dusky bluebells - I am your master. I think it involved some kind of catching people rather like Oranges and Lemons. No doubt someone on here will remember the whole thing.
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;D ;D ;D ;D ;D...GS...I've been singing the words wrong all theses years ::) ;D ;D ;D
http://uk.ask.com/question/how-do-you-play-in-and-out-the-dusty-bluebells
Carol
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The whole thing http://www.roding.bardaglea.org.uk/wp-content/blogs.dir/12/files//2012/10/In-and-out-the-dusty-bluebells.pdf
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Did anyone else have a Stylophone?....I drove everyone crazy with it ;D
Nancy Drew too....and Little Women!!
Carol
Little Women was one of the Easy Readers of Oxford Bookworms - Level 5, I think.
I had a class of over 60's and on responding to the question "why do you want to learn English, two sisters replied " for learning's sake".
They, and a few of their contempories, had difficulty in chatting in English but, excelled in reading. One of the two sisters mentioned, translated into perfect German and really stunned me.
I quandered about trying to make them chat but decided that being able to read such books was more useful to them.
I will never forget the two sisters. When I started teaching the class, they were just under and over 80 years of age.
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Does anyone remember making hand puppets from old socks ? I had lots of animal ones . I used to like the four Marys books, they were at a school called Mallory Towers I think.
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I remember Mallory Towers by Enid Blyton. Not sure about the four Marys though - Mallory Towers was Darrell Rivers, Mary Lou and Gwendoline Mary Lacey.
Is this what you were thinking of? http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2013/03/the-four-marys/
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Remembering all the toys and games we had, it occurs to me that we had to use our imaginations when we were playing - the toy shops, the toy post office, miniature garden, dolls houses, farms, games of cowboys and Indians etc. Nowadays a lot of even very young children spend time in front of the Wii or the computer and are entertained rather than entertaining themselves. My niece, who works in an Infants' school, said that a lot of the children come to school not knowing how to play and have to be taught.
Oh gosh isn't that just so sad? And play is such an important part of growing up as children unconsciously get life skills. I know there will be people that say you can't allow children the same freedoms today as most of us enjoyed in the past but in the 1960's when I was growing up there were plenty of wierdos around - just think of the likes of the Moors murders and, as has come out in many of the posts, we did things and had toys that would be branded too dangerous these days. All you have to do is to give a child a giant cardboard box and let their imagination take over!
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I remember Mallory Towers by Enid Blyton. Not sure about the four Marys though - Mallory Towers was Darrell Rivers, Mary Lou and Gwendoline Mary Lacey.
Is this what you were thinking of? http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2013/03/the-four-marys/
I read somewhere that someone had written some new Mallory Towers that follow on. I'm not quite sure how that works as the last original book was if memory serves me 'last term at Mallory Towers'. Im not sure how you would follow that!
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Has anyone mentioned 'The Secret Garden' - oh how i loved that book - I always wanted to create a secret garden where things would 'come to life' after the long Winter - doesn't quite work like that in our climate - but I still enjoy gardening!
loved finger games - did you ever play Johnny, johnny, johnny, johnny, whoops johnny, whooops johnny . . . . . . . on your fingers?
Then there was Girl Guides and all the singing and part singing we used to do with them, round the camp fire - or at meetings. I love(d) camping!
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loved finger games - did you ever play Johnny, johnny, johnny, johnny, whoops johnny, whooops johnny . . . . . . . on your fingers?
Never heard of that one Wiggy.
What about all the ball games we played against the wall?
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Oooh yes ;D - spinning between bounces - did you play that one?
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Yes, and where you had to bounce it under your leg - we used to tuck our skirts into out knicker legs when playing that. ;D ;D
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Thankyou for that link Groom , yes that's what it was , I obviously confused the two.
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I used to do handstands against the side of the house and once my feet were on the wall , walk downwards into a 'crab' .
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Just loving this thread. So many toys I had forgotten about now remembering and bringing back happy memories.
Wanted to share this as not always toys that amuse us. Does anyone remember 'round and round the garden like a teddy bear', where you walk your fingers around a childs hand and then tickle them under the arm? Was taught to me by my mother, I did it to my daughter and grandchildren and today whilst visiting my great grandson aged 13 months, my grandaughter was playing it with him. He loved it and was laughing and trying to do it back! Priceless to watch.
I also played that with son and grandchildren. There was: Can you keep a secret, I don't suppose you can. You mustn't laugh you mustn't cry, but do the best you can. Using same actions. This Little Piggy was a great favourite too.
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Don't forget "Simon Says" and "Statues" where we had to be still as on a command. There was also the trampoline which was hours of fun. Three year old grand daughter asked me yesterday "Will you come on the trampoline with me" ... and we have fun on it ;D
Cheers
KHP
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and did you?? :D
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Got to watch those trampolines - dangerous things. My great nephew fell when getting off one and broke his arm. At the hospital they said he was the sixth child that week to have done the same. ;D ;D
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Arms are the least of it too - I can't bear to watch my grandchildren on the trampoline! :-\ :-X :o
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and did you?? :D
Oh yes :D Ring a Ring Rosie is one we play on it. We have a safety net installed and one of us is always by the trampoline.
Cheers
KHP
In my youth, there was a camping ground that had their trampolines at ground level. They scooped all the dirt out and lodged the trampoline in the hollow.
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Kids don't need trampolines to break arms and legs - we used to fall out of trees and off rope swings. My husband remembers a friend breaking a leg when the rope broke and I landed face down in a ditch and knocked myself out!
Don't think it improves with age either - a friend's grandmother broke her arm at 76. She fell off a sledge ;D Said she just had to have a go when she saw the kids ::)
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You're right there, Meezer - we had so many different ways of injuring ourselves horribly. We all got terribly excited when one of the boys fell off a haystack and broke his leg. In the playground - with tarmac surface, of course - we used to try to do 'loop-the-loop' with the swings. One boy achieved it an was carted off to hospital as we excitedly spead the news that he had 'cut his head open'. Broken arms were common on the ice slides which Maggie described so vividly earlier in the thread; and when we progressed to bicycles, we used to make string reins for the handlebars and ride them like horses, which inevitably opened up even more opportunities for Horrible Accidents.
Barbed wire fences were always good for slicing flesh, particularly if they were rusty which then added an additional hazard of 'blood poisoning'. And those rope swings - particularly the ones over water courses - were just brilliant in ensuring you went limping home with a twisted ankle or worse.
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Probably sounds a bit cruel but that's made me chuckle Greensleeves as it's so true - as kids we had a ghoulish fascination for injuries! I've been riding horses since I was a child and it's a fact that if you ride them then you fall off them yet the general reaction amongst us as kids was laughter. I remember a horse falling down on top of a girl in the mud once, pinning her underneath - we were hysterical when she emerged as she was like a bog monster and we cheerfully hoisted her back on again. It was only when she started swaying and talking rubbish that we realised that something wasn't quite right - she ended up in hospital for 3 days with concussion. Mind you as adults we're not much better, a few years ago I was catapaulted off my horse, turned in mid air and came down perfectly positioned to be wedged upside down in a ditch with my legs in the air in a V-sign. The 2 friends I was with couldn't do a thing as they were crying hysterically with laughter. Even the horse stared at me as if to say "oh you've got off then!" I got back on with as much dignity as I could muster ::)
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I think perhaps we were hardier then, you had to be at death's door to be kept off school. I suppose it helped as we met all the germs and childhood illnesses early on and built up immunity. If we fell over we were picked up, dusted down, kissed better and sent out to play again - none of this rushing off to the doctor's or hospital, "just in case". Perhaps our parents, having gone through the war, weren't so worried about the odd bump or scrape.
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Don't think it improves with age either - a friend's grandmother broke her arm at 76. She fell off a sledge ;D Said she just had to have a go when she saw the kids ::)
Good for her ;D.
The grandmother writing this went sledging last year and it was grrrrrreat :D
Said grandmother isn't 76 yet but she is fast approaching the same decade. She managed to escape with no breakages. ;D ;D
As a youngster, rope swings - yes did it. Dangling upside down on that conical witches hat shaped roundabout thing over concrete - did it. Leaping off playground swings when then were at their highest - did that too, also standing up on the seat and swinging yourself upside down suspended by your arms with legs wrapped round the chains (skirt tucked up knickers if course). And sliding down a slide which had been customised by the boys with wax to make it lethally slippery, head first, upside down thus staring at sky - did that also, though you did need to have faith in the concentration of the friend catching you at the bottom to prevent shooting head first off the end onto the concrete.
I rode horses too - was catapulted off one of them when aged around 40 and into the side of the indoor riding area and broke my nose.
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I loved reading What Katy Did and What Katy Did Next. I really identified with the heroine.
Me too, Maggie. I read What Katy Did at the age of 8 when I was off school for about 2 months with jaundice, and bed-bound for about the first 3 weeks, then in quarantine at home with my family (who I passed it on to!).
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Kids don't need trampolines to break arms and legs - we used to fall out of trees and off rope swings.
None of the above broke my finger when I was about 8, skateboarding, roller skates, Judo and other activities are also ruled out .... it was from someone landing on my hand when they slipped.
Cheers
KHP
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And then there were the childhood illnesses which parents deliberately exposed us to. If a child in the area had measles, we would all be carted off to the sickroom so that we could go and catch it so we 'got it over with'. Without innoculations, we worked our way through measles, german measles, mumps, chicken-pox, whooping cough, scarlet fever. I remember that I caught mumps at the beginning of school summer holidays and spent the next couple of weeks in bed, curtains closed, listening to my friends playing on the grass outside. Without television or radio, the only amusement available to me was either reading, or cutting out pictures from magazines to make a scrap-book.
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measles, german measles, mumps, chicken-pox, whooping cough, scarlet fever.
Apart from whooping cough I had all of those - mumps twice. I caught chicken pox when I was eleven and had to go for my interview for Grammar School with a spotty, scabby face and a note to say I wasn't infectious.
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No deliberate exposure to illness for me because I had a brother who was just starting infant school when I was born so he brought all the bugs home and gave them to me before I was walking. There was concern over the whooping cough he dosed me with before I was 12 months old and I was apparently still coughing and whooping at 18 months old. The good thing about this was I survived with a fully primed immune system. The bad thing from my perspective was that I was never ill so obliged to be at school all the time whilst my school friends were languishing in their beds battling with these childhood plagues.
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Yes I had measles, mumps and scarlet fever as a kid, waited until it was in my twenties with a toddler to get chicken pox. Not fun. Measles left me with bronchiectasis (sp?). Every time I got a cold it would turn to bronchitis, missed a lot of school until it was controlled when I was about 10. Now it has come back. Not happy. So I am all for the immunisations that they have now days.
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I have been chuckling over all the things that people have remembered - other favourites were a little red one octave piano, a home made dolls cot, a red tricycle and a noddy car game. My brother had a fabulous tin car complete with driver and I loved the rag dolls my Mum made for me. We were always playing games outside - throwing balls against a wall or playing tennis against the wall and ring games such as "The farmer wants a wife", ring a ring a roses, the hokey cokey and those others like "what's the time Mr.Wolf" and giant steps etc.
Being mad about ponies, I collected pony books - the best being "wish for a pony" and "the sagebrush sorrel". I also had a cap gun and was in disgrace after "riding" the back of the settee, brandishing my gun as I was "The lone ranger" and smashing one of those old glass lampshades with the gun. I stopped my cowboy games for a while after this.
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That reminds me, Gilly, of me and my brothers playing Cowboys in the lounge when the weather was bad. My elder brother would ride on the back of the settee, whilst my younger brother and I had an arm each. We somehow attached rope so we had reins and cushions for saddles. Great fun.
Another occupation which we enjoyed was when my mother wanted the lino polished. She would apply the polish and then tie dusters to our feet and let us go and 'skate' about the room with the furniture pulled back and the rugs removed. When we had finished she would just finish it off with a light mopping! The hall was particularly good as we could take a run at it and get up quite a speed.
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We had a summer galloping round on home made hobby horses - a broom handle topped with a stuffed sock with button eyes and two fingers from an old glove stuffed and sewn on as ears! I don't think any of the bits were necessarily colour co-ordinated ;)
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I also remember playing tiddly-winks which often came in a compendium of games which we all played with on Christmas day...I also loved playing my scooter...I have found the game I was looking for which I think was based on a TV game:
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/christianmontone/4282866438/
Carol
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I'd completely forgotten the riding the back of the settee playing cowboys and indians - I don't think many of today's pieces of furniture would stand up to such rough treatment. We made hobby horses as well and kites out of bits of cane and newspaper.
My friend's mother had an old bike that we all learnt to ride - we spent hours taking it in turns to ride round the block, there never seemed to be many cars about.
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Did anyone else have a Stylophone?....I drove everyone crazy with it ;D
Carol
Did you know that they have started selling the stylophone again. What memories.
http://stylophonica.com/news.html
Can anyone remember the guns which fired dried peas. Ouch, they hurt.
Steve
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I remember when "pre-war" was the be and end all. A teacher gave me a box of crayons and unfortunately I left them at the bus stop.
The year was probably 1949 and my Mum was horrified that I had lost them. It seemed that "pre-war" products were far more treasured than "after war products".
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On television - Watch with Mother - Woodentops - Bill & Ben
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Can anyone remember the guns which fired dried peas. Ouch, they hurt.
Peashooters - you loaded the pea and blew it out? My brother and his friends all had those and yes they did hurt.
Did anyone have comb orchestras where you put a piece of that old fashioned hard toilet paper over a comb and hummed a tune though it? The noise must have driven our mothers insane.
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Did anyone else have a Stylophone?....I drove everyone crazy with it ;D
Carol
Did you know that they have started selling the stylophone again. What memories.
http://stylophonica.com/news.html
Can anyone remember the guns which fired dried peas. Ouch, they hurt.
Steve
Thanks for the link Steve...amazing...Don't remember them just cap and spud guns....and the cannons that fired match sticks.
Carol
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On television - Watch with Mother - Woodentops - Bill & Ben
O yes and andy pandy , tales from the riverbank, camber wick green.
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Rag, Tag and Bobtail. ;D ;D
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I don't remember them other than as a name? Don't know why.
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I don't remember them other than as a name? Don't know why.
There is still an episode of Rag Tag and Bobtail on YouTube. It brings back some memories.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW0yPnGXFD
Sorry - Link dosn't appear to work, but if you go to YouTube and type in Rag Tag and Bobtail.
Steve
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Can anyone remember the guns which fired dried peas. Ouch, they hurt.
Peashooters - you loaded the pea and blew it out? My brother and his friends all had those and yes they did hurt.
Did anyone have comb orchestras where you put a piece of that old fashioned hard toilet paper over a comb and hummed a tune though it? The noise must have driven our mothers insane.
Just realised what Steve meant now...yes Pea Shooter ;D ;D ;D
Yes we made a racket with paper and comb ;D ;D ;D
Rag, Tag and Bobtail brings back fond memories too.
Carol
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First episode of Andy Pandy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLLI7V-xcQA
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Can anyone remember the guns which fired dried peas. Ouch, they hurt.
Just realised what Steve meant now...yes Pea Shooter ;D ;D ;D
Carol
Not the Peashooter(although they were fun). I remember that we all used to have like a plastic handgun. It had a slider on the top, where you poured in the dried peas. It was sprung loaded, and when you squeezed the trigger, the peas came out with such a force. Goodness only knows what the Elf and Safety person would say today.
Thought for a moment that I had imagined it. But managed to find one.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0x2f/
Andy Pandy video - What lovely memories :)
Steve
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And now I know what a stylophone is! ;D ;D
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Once heard Wiggy never forgotten....I blame Rolf Harris :D
Carol
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I remember Rolf with his wobble board - don't remember the stylophone - what piece did he play that in - i must go and listen to it! :D
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He advertised it on TV Wiggy ;D
Carol
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Must have been a British thing! ;) :D
Did it sound like a wobble board, maybe?
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I remember the comb-and-paper and also kazoos, which must have been equally irritating. And mouth-organs which were great for making a horrible noise and filing with spit but I never found anyone who could get a tune out of one.
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And mouth-organs which were great for making a horrible noise and filing with spit but I never found anyone who could get a tune out of one.
My grandfather could, he could play lots of tunes on it and I so wanted to be able to do the same. He bought me a mouth organ and tried to teach me, but gave up in despair. :'(
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Just thought of something else that made a noise. Two circles of cardboard, cut with zig-zag edges, and placed back to back, you then threaded string through the two holes made in the middle of the discs and tied it to make a loop. You put both hands through the loop and moved them in and out so that the string twisted, as it got tighter and you moved your hands faster it made a humming noise. If you coloured the discs as well it made strange coloured effects as they spun.
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I remember those too! And also putting bits of cardboard in your bike spokes so that they made a noise as the wheels turned.
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making pompoms from 2 cardboard tops off school milk bottles with the holes in the middle punched out so that you could wrap wool all round the tops and then cut the wool all round the edge, part the 2 bottle tops then tie it round the middle and you had brightly coloured pompoms
Mo
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Have we mentioned the French knitting where you put nails in the top of a wooden cotton reel and wove the wool round? http://www.allaboutyou.com/knitting-patterns/knitting-techniques/knitting-techniques-French-knitting
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My father could play a tune with comb and paper, he used a cigarette paper. Bullroarers were our favourite noise makers. We made them with our rulers. Great noise. Stand clear when they are swung though.
http://timeout.watchprosite.com/show-forumpost/fi-686/pi-5769613/ti-850038/
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Must have been a British thing! ;) :D
Did it sound like a wobble board, maybe?
Here you go...put your ear plugs in Wiggy ;D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhaAScStg6k
Carol
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Riiiiiiiiii---ght - umm - - - thanks Carol! ;D ;D
Doesn't sound as if I was missing much by not knowing about it! ::) ::) ;D ;D
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It is interesting what diverse activities we indulged in when you read this thread. We girls were out all the time when we had a chance, making dens, climbing trees, falling off play equipment, being shoo-ed out of orchards where we went scrumping (I don't think anyone has mentioned scrumping yet). But when we went home we would be busy with french-knitting, making pompoms, making cross-stitch table mats or felt egg-cosies before a roaring fire. Then off to a cold bedroom with our favourite book, which we invariably read under the covers when our parents thought we were fast asleep.
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I did a fair bit of farming stuff as a child too - helping in the milking shed, separating the milk/cream feeding pigs etc etc.
There was a creek which ran intermittently through our property - it was great fun playing in it after heavy rain - and we didn't even get swept away or drowned or anything - worst thing that happened was stepping in a deep hole and getting water up to our waists - thus filling gumboots - We also made cubbies out on the back verandah when it was wet - so we could be cosy 'outside'. Cubbies in the bush on our property too - and a tree with a low hanging branch which was really good for 'riding'!
As people have said we were so much less worried about weren't we - much more freedom - very lucky kids.
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Talking of roaring fires brought back a memory of this. The parents of one of my friends had a redundant vinyl record collection so we used to make containers out of them. If you held them before the fire they softened and you could mould them into bowls and things. They made very handy plant pots complete with ready made drainage holes in the bottom.
Bet no-one else did that. ;D ;D
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Talking of roaring fires brought back a memory of this. The parents of one of my friends had a redundant vinyl record collection so we used to make containers out of them. If you held them before the fire they softened and you could mould them into bowls and things. They made very handy plant pots complete with ready made drainage holes in the bottom.
Bet no-one else did that. ;D ;D
Oh yes we did :)
We used to call them fruit bowls though I never remember seeing any of them actually get used as such.
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Ahh - a fellow Vinyl Melterer, Mike. Perhaps it was a Northen thing, to while away the long cold Winter evenings. :)
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Going back to annoying noises the most annoying of them all had to the the Clackers or Kerknockers. Two balls hanging on the end of two bits of string joined at the top and them whizz them around. An awful noise and I seem to remember them being banned at our school.
Also helped to break a few fingers I would imagine.
Rishile
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Going back to annoying noises the most annoying of them all had to the the Clackers or Kerknockers. Two balls hanging on the end of two bits of string joined at the top and them whizz them around. An awful noise and I seem to remember them being banned at our school.
Also helped to break a few fingers I would imagine.
Rishile
Ouch! Those things hurt - we all went around with huge bruises on our wrists for a summer some time in the '70s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLHftISLNHE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLHftISLNHE)
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Talking of roaring fires brought back a memory of this. The parents of one of my friends had a redundant vinyl record collection so we used to make containers out of them. If you held them before the fire they softened and you could mould them into bowls and things. They made very handy plant pots complete with ready made drainage holes in the bottom.
Bet no-one else did that. ;D ;D
We did that too..we also cut openings in upside down shoe boxes...numbered them 1-10 and and rolled marbles into the openings ;D ;D
Carol
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We did that too..
Definitely a Northern thing then. ;D ;D
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I don't think so - the habit also seemed to be prevalent in Suffolk at one time, judging by the number of such plantpots appearing in car boot sales in the 1980s!
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It was also popular down south - but we softened the vinyl by soaking the records in bowls of hot water. ;D ;D
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First episode of Andy Pandy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLLI7V-xcQA
I have just sat and watched the whole episode and been transported back to 1952 (I would have been 5). Thank you for the link, have so enjoyed a nostalgic trip back in time. I found myself with a tear in my eye, and also thinking how well it was done, really beautiful.
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It was also popular down south - but we softened the vinyl by soaking the records in bowls of hot water. ;D ;D
What can I say? You're reinforcing all my suppressed and shameful stereotypes about soft southerners. Wasn't a roaring fire good enough for you? ;D Did you put marigolds on to dunk your records in the warm water?
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Didn't even need to use hot water or a fire in sunny Suffolk - just forget to put your 45s away, leave them on the windowsill on a fine day, and there you go - pretty crinkly discs and very irate parents. ;D
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First episode of Andy Pandy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLLI7V-xcQA
I have just sat and watched the whole episode and been transported back to 1952 (I would have been 5). Thank you for the link, have so enjoyed a nostalgic trip back in time. I found myself with a tear in my eye, and also thinking how well it was done, really beautiful.
I hadn't realised how long the episodes were - 14 minutes. we had good concentration spans in those days!!
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and....not forgetting the Woodentops...are you sitting comfortably?....then I'll begin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv_WJCv_Xyg
Carol
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My favorite - Woodentops with Spot the dog
Also - Tales of the Riverbank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z3SBnt5Ssc
Steve
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What about the I-Spy books:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-NEWS-CHRONICLE-I-SPY-WILD-FLOWERS-BOOK-BOOKLET-/121221112381
They were great fun.
Maggie
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I mentioned the I Spy books either earlier on this thread or on the clothing thread - indeed, Maggie, what fun they were. My brothers and I were each given the seaside one before each holiday and we would have great fun trying to spot all the creatures and features. There seemed to be a suitable book for nearly every occasion, whether it was nature or trains.
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My favorite - Woodentops with Spot the dog
Also - Tales of the Riverbank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z3SBnt5Ssc
Steve
Another gem there Steve....the days when TV was limited to a couple of hours a day and just a couple of channels....not like today with wall to TV and channels especially for children.
Carol
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Did anyone have comb orchestras where you put a piece of that old fashioned hard toilet paper over a comb and hummed a tune though it? The noise must have driven our mothers insane.
Not as much as the misery I inflicted on my poor mother when I spent some months learning to play 'Greensleeves' on the recorder. Over and over, and over again...... :-X
My grandfather, who had been a carpenter, made the most beautiful bagatelle board, which my and my siblings spent many happy hours playing with. I never found out what happened to it; it must have been thrown away at some point when we all grew up :( It looked pretty much like this one:
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P.S. Page 22 already - and it looks like this thread could run and run (methinks Treetotal should start a new one ;)). Lovely memories...........
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Thanks for the heads up Mrs. T....I have created a new thread...but...for some strange reason it is awaiting approval ???
Carol
Moderator Comment: Topic continued on new thread here:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=669231.0
PS (Sorry Carol, your post got caught by our over-enthusiatic automatic post butler thingie) ;D