# Did you do this?



## Furryanimal (Jan 4, 2019)

What's a simple game you enjoyed as a child?


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## Ruth n Jersey (Jan 4, 2019)

I don't remember playing that game but I do remember rubbing them on my clothes to create static and then having them hang from the ceiling or wall.


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## Furryanimal (Jan 4, 2019)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> I don't remember playing that game but I do remember rubbing them on my clothes to create static and then having them hang from the ceiling or wall.


I did that-they could stay for hours at times!


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## Aunt Bea (Jan 4, 2019)

Balloons, not just for kids anymore!


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## Pepper (Jan 5, 2019)

I wasn't athletic as a child.  I liked board games; I liked dolls.  Liked balloons too and played 'don't let it touch the floor' and 'stick them on walls.'  Oh, I did love my hula hoop and was quite good at it; could even walk distances & never dropping the hoop.


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## Tommy (Jan 5, 2019)

Around our house balloons had a short lifespan.  String was a better choice.


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## hollydolly (Jan 5, 2019)

Tommy said:


> Around our house balloons had a short lifespan.  String was a better choice.



Yes we played  cats cradle games a lot when we we couldn't get outside to play.....

..and the most simple game of all that would keep us entertained for ages that would have todays generation reeling in horror at the simplicity of it ... was this one we made from paper... called fortune teller..


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## Furryanimal (Jan 5, 2019)

I will have to do a fortune teller..


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## hollydolly (Jan 5, 2019)

Furryanimal said:


> I will have to do a fortune teller..



AS I had lots of siblings , if we were indoors on a rainy day , then we'd have a lot of fun with those, we'd write all sorts of truths and dares on them ...


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## jujube (Jan 5, 2019)

hollydolly said:


> Yes we played  cats cradle games a lot when we we couldn't get outside to play.....
> 
> ..and the most simple game of all that would keep us entertained for ages that would have todays generation reeling in horror at the simplicity of it ... was this one we made from paper... called fortune teller..



We called them "Cootie Catchers".  Draw a picture of a bug on one surface and then go picking through someone's hair with it.  "OOOOH, THERE'S A COOTIE!"


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## Pappy (Jan 5, 2019)

I loved to throw the ball on the roof of the henhouse which was 2 story’s high. I spent a lot of time playing this.


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## Butterfly (Jan 6, 2019)

Pappy said:


> I loved to throw the ball on the roof of the henhouse which was 2 story’s high. I spent a lot of time playing this.



Didn't that annoy the hens?  When I was little we weren't allowed to annoy the hens, lest they quit laying.  We weren't supposed to run around near them, or whoop and holler around them, and, God forbid, no shooting our Roy Rogers cap guns within their hearing!

I remember one tough ol' settin' hen who, if you aggravated her, would chase after you screeching and with wings flapping and try to jump up in your face.  I seriously avoided her because I had this (probably unreasonable) fear that she would jump up in my face and scratch my eyes out.  She had some serious claws on her feet.

Funny the things that will resurrect from your memory and pop into your mind.


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## Aunt Marg (May 1, 2020)

Absolutely remember the balloon game, and when we were done playing with our balloons, we'd rub the balloons in our hair and stick them to our bedroom walls! The memories...


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## norma1111 (May 1, 2020)

Yes, the memories come flooding back at the mention of that!


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## Ken N Tx (May 2, 2020)




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## StarSong (May 2, 2020)

Pappy said:


> I loved to throw the ball on the roof of the henhouse which was 2 story’s high. I spent a lot of time playing this.


I loved playing "ball on the roof" but we played it on the house.  Didn't always thrill my mother...
Also the balloon game that OP described, jumping rope, hopscotch, cat's cradle, cards, button on a string, and more.


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## Mister E (May 2, 2020)

I was mad on cowboys and indians ( we were still allowed to call them indians at the time )


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## Em in Ohio (May 2, 2020)

I was the "ball and jacks" champ of my neighborhood.  We played every various challenge we could - how I miss that level of dexterity and eye-hand coordination!


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## Aunt Marg (May 4, 2020)

Furryanimal said:


> I did that-they could stay for hours at times!


Yes indeed... even overnight sometimes!


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## JaniceM (May 4, 2020)

Pappy said:


> I loved to throw the ball on the roof of the henhouse which was 2 story’s high. I spent a lot of time playing this.



We liked to do that, too-  only it was the garage, and for extra bounce we used a tennis ball


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## oldman (May 4, 2020)

Em in Ohio said:


> I was the "ball and jacks" champ of my neighborhood.  We played every various challenge we could - how I miss that level of dexterity and eye-hand coordination!


I liked playing jacks as a young boy. I also enjoyed beating my sister and her girlfriends. I also liked hopscotch. I wasn’t too good at that because I was too tall and lanky as a little boy.


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## Em in Ohio (May 4, 2020)

oldman said:


> I liked playing jacks as a young boy. I also enjoyed beating my sister and her girlfriends. I also liked hopscotch. I wasn’t too good at that because I was too tall and lanky as a little boy.


...And I blamed my lack of prowess at hopscotch on being too small!


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## CinnamonSugar (May 4, 2020)

When my kids were stuck inside during rainy days, appliance boxes were great for keeping everyone entertained for hours.  Imaginations got a work out!


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## Em in Ohio (May 4, 2020)

CinnamonSugar said:


> When my kids were stuck inside during rainy days, appliance boxes were great for keeping everyone entertained for hours.  Imaginations got a work out!


Oh yes!  I even remember my kids spending more time playing with the larger gift boxes more than the contents inside.  Appliance boxes, however, were the very best!  We made puppet theaters, tents, play houses and pet houses...  Definitely a largely unappreciated learning tool!


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## hollydolly (May 4, 2020)

Mister E said:


> I was mad on cowboys and indians ( we were still allowed to call them indians at the time )


 what do they call them  now ?


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## hollydolly (May 4, 2020)

Em in Ohio said:


> ...And I blamed my lack of prowess at hopscotch on being too small!


oooh we played hopscoth ( peevers as it was called in Scotland (...all the time... we loved it... we'd use an old flat round  boot polish tin if we were lucky to get one,  as the peever..but for lack of anything else we used a stone... ..and believe me I was little , and had no probs playing ..


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## JaniceM (May 4, 2020)

hollydolly said:


> what do they call them  now ?


"Native Americans."  although locally I've heard the term "American Indian" used, which is somewhat inaccurate.


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## Fyrefox (May 6, 2020)

Outdoors, I can remember games of kickball and hide and go seek.  We also rode bikes a lot, sometimes several miles away.  We played cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, and army guys.  As boys, we often had spirited peer discussions on our favorite movie monsters, and whether ghosts were real...


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## mike4lorie (May 6, 2020)

We played the balloon game,  but we would also make hockey nets downstairs, and have teams and try to score with the balloon, we also played Jacks, marbles, flip the hockey or baseball cards to the wall, whatever season we were in... Outside we played baseball, street hockey, and lacrosse... Cowboys and Indians... Hide and seek... Kick the can... Never boring as a kid... Today kids have XBOX... We just had the box to make forts out of...


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## StarSong (May 6, 2020)

Oh my gosh, @Fyrefox and @mike4lorie, I just had a couple of moments of sheer joy remembering all the hours I played hide & seek, flipped baseball cards, played pickup baseball or over-the-line, and rode bikes around the neighborhood with the boys.  

One more thing. Adults taught us the basics of games, but for everyday play they encouraged us to customize the rules to suit the number of players, ages, skill levels, equipment available, etc. If the teams were lopsided, you swapped players to even them out. The idea was to play, not to cream the other side.

It didn't matter if you had poor skills when playing something, you were welcome to join the game. That is, unless you were a crybaby, bully, bad sport or a tattletale. Those kids were sent home packing. You'd get a few chances to redeem yourself, but if you hadn't figured out your social skills by about 10 years old, you were doomed.

I'm so very grateful that we didn't have "helicopter parents" in those days.  Woe to the few kids who did - they hated it.  I never, ever would have gone home and complained about some other kid being unfair.... my mother would have handed me a dust cloth and told me to make myself useful.  So not only no sympathy, but a day of chores.  

Didn't need to learn that lesson too many times.


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## terry123 (May 6, 2020)

Played all of those. Loved hop scotch as I was really good at all.


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## Sassycakes (May 6, 2020)

*This brought back soo many memories to me. Hopeskotch,Jumping rope,Spin the Bottle,Hide and seek. My favorite thing though was riding with a boy on his bike going to a place called Suicide hill,where the boys would ride down the hill and the girls would wait at the bottom. If the boy you rode there with came down first you had to kiss him. I really liked that game. *


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## Gaer (May 6, 2020)

I remember being alone a lot as a child.  No sidewalk for hopscotch.  but Ihad a wild river to hunt agates and hike through the hills.


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