Do You Remember

[Viktoria]

I suppose if there were tiny magnets inserted when opposite poles were near each other they would repel and the peas/ beans would flip away.
You would have to have two though, whilst real jumping beans would move when just one was held.
Now is it opposite poles or like poles ?
So long since we did that in science .
Viktoria.

[Rena]

Village shop (early 60's) sold 'Jumping Beans' - they were in small packages and showed a middle aged gentleman jumping over a style on the cover - what exactly were they and what happened once you took them - never asked and never saw anyone buying a pack.

Taking 'old' woollen jumpers to school and being 'rewarded' with a goldfish.

Being told by my parents that if a stranger offered me a lift in his car I should always say thank-you when I got out !!!!      (I lived in a rural area.)

Not all good memories tho' - a couple of ex-army teachers - bullies!

Are you sure you were supposed to swallow the Jumoing beans .
There are tropical beans with a small  insect grub inside,,if disturbed by the bean being shaken for example ,the grubs can make the beans move ,actually
jump a little .Honestly !
Victoria.

The jumping beans we bought looked like those sweets you can buy from a sweet shop, and more or less the same size:- licorice comfits/licorice torpedoes.    Except the jumping beans were little toys to amuse little minds.  The toys could lay flat or stand on end, even though the end was curved like torpedoes.  Put them on a slope and they tipple tailed down the slope.  You could race your bean against your pals' beans

[Treetotal]

The modern version:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/jumping-beans/bn_7024848102

Carol

[Viktoria]

How long do they stay alive though?
If they get out do they cause a problem ,do they gobble stuff up, if so they might have been the cause of the turnip shortage this Christmas!
V.
,

[Rena]

How long do they stay alive though?
If they get out do they cause a problem ,do they gobble stuff up, if so they might have been the cause of the turnip shortage this Christmas!
V.
,

The toys we are talking about have a tiny metal ball inside them (think of a small ball bearing) and it's the little ball rolling about inside the capsule that causes the capsule to move.

[Viktoria]

Oh sorry I was referring to the later ad for the Mexican beans that do really
have a grub inside them ,the last part of your post .
Viktoria.
PS ,I bet Compo Simonite would have liked one of those to scare Norah Batty!
Viktoria.

[Rena]

Oh sorry I was referring to the later ad for the Mexican beans that do really
have a grub inside them ,the last part of your post .
Viktoria.
PS ,I bet Compo Simonite would have liked one of those to scare Norah Batty!
Viktoria.

I'm in my 80s too  and I can't imagine England having any good reason, or any spare money, during or just after WWII, to import a grub from Mexico.  However, any entrepreneur who had seen the grub could have had a money spinning idea to make a cheap toy that impersonated the actions of the grub.


The Mexican jumping bean comes from the mountains in the states of Sonora, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua. Álamos, Sonora, calls itself the "Jumping Bean Capital of the World". They can be found in an area approximately 30 by 100 miles where the Sebastiania pavoniana host tree grows.