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Kids Games

Lovely photo Aston. The coloured one's much clearer, can see their faces better.

;)
 
This one is I think for the girls but boy's may remember, a length of elastic tied to make a circle. A girl stood at each end with the elastic round the back of their legs so it created a sort of tram line. Then a girl stood in the middle with her legs either side of the elastic and performed various twists and turns, jumping out without snagging it. I was hopeless well it always caught on my shoe buckles!
 
I can't say I remember that game Wendy - For me besides the outdoor games I have already stated I use to play-

I do remember making my own cut out dolls - and had a shoe box full pasted on to cardboard - along with fashion clothes coloured with pencil crayons - Then there were the board games - Ludo - monopoly - draughts and chess which my granddad taught me to play-
 
Kids Street Games

Does anyone (mainly old boys) remember the 'fire-can' craze that seemed to come every year about Oct / Nov. Perhaps it only happened on the Beeches Estate where I used to live. The HSE of today would be horrified but we managed to survive.
 
Further pic of a DIABOLO in use, first invented in China 4000 years ago.
We got ours from the cannock coal mine museum.
 
What about conkers! A cheaper toy was never had, and the hours of fun! Did anybody have a "secret recipe" to make their conker into a potential "tonner"? I think most kids used vinegar if I recall.

Mark
 
I remember soaking them in vinegar, I don't know if it helped though, I still usually lost to my brother, and I always got sore knuckles.
 
Conker confession.

I was always putting conkers on a string for my lads when they were young.

I forgot some a couple of years ago (well it seem like it) their Ages now 25, 23, 19 & 15.

The conker oh I've still got them on the top self in the Pantry about 8 and they are as hard as anything, is this a record.
 
Re: Street Games

colinwilliams1 said:
At school we played "polly on the mopstick" till it got banned ,
and "British bulldog"
Click to expand...

As a kid I never did understand the rules for "polly on the mopstick" and anyway it looked dangerous so never took part. Anyone know what those rules were? Graham.
 
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Hello Di. Remember playing Cannon for ages with the boys and girls in our street [Kingstanding] Tip Cat was another one I liked. Also Played Hot Rice - anyone remember that. We also used the Lamp-post as the Cricket Wickets, and even tied rope to the 'arms' of the lamp and made a swing.

What about Privet Leaves - pick a large one, fold and make a whistle.

Miriam.
 
Remember cannon very well copeley st was a cul-de-sac so we played in the 'orse road' a lot no fear of being runover....nobody had a car.......remember 'whip & top', played for hours with that we would colour the top of the top with chalk and after sticking it into the cellar grating wrap the string around it and pull, the top would come out spinning and all the colours that had been put on the top would be real pretty.....Brenda
 
Hello Brenda. Remember top & whip very well. It was my mother favourit game, so how long had that been played?

Do you remember borrowing the washing line to have many girls skipping all together [All in-together Girls etc]. The line was right across the 'orse road!! Miriam.
 
Hi Graham: Here's a clip from a thread about 'polly on the mopstick" from our forum going back to 2005. posted by a member called Dennis.

Polly on the Mopstick
For you young folk,
Poly on the mopstick as it was known to us oldies........
two teams,#1 team all had to face the fence and bend over one behind the other,supporting each other then #2 team would all jump on trying to get as many of the team on,before #1 team gave way,hope this makes a bit of sense other wise we shall have to all meet up and play the game,under my watchful eye :D
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Thanks Jenny. I can only remember it being played up against a lamp post & not a fence. The poor soul at the front looked like they were getting their brains knocked out; I never joined in that's why I never knew the rules.

Graham.
 
Miriam l used to play whip and top around the mid forties, gosh saying that really makes me feel ancient.....also some girl at school always had her mothers line for a skip rope, could'nt use ours as it was like wire.........hope some mother did'nt go out Monday morning to hang the washing....still we had fun with it......Brenda
 
Miriam I had forgotten the privet leaves, I could never really get the hang of it. I must have spent hours trying though.
 
Hello Brenda and Di. Didn't take a great deal to make us happy and have fun. Remember also ruining the privet hedge by breaking off long branches to make 'bows and arrars".

Also remember my Dad having a sale in the front garden with the utmost rubbish you have ever seen. He also put all the plastic daffodils and tulip Flowers around the garden to 'give it colour'. The flowers came with the soap powders. Bless Him! Miriam.
 
I remember a game we played, sort of like 'cat's in the cradle' but with elastic around the feet. Also "The farmers in his den".
We weren't allowed to play hop-scotch, as the miserable old bag neighbour moaned if we drew with chalk on the flag-stones.
Does anyone remember when 'clackers', or 'Knockers' became the craze? 2 hard balls connected with string, and you worked up a rythm
with the wrist till they clacked together. The idea was to see how long you could keep them 'clacking'.
Happy times. With our 'lucky bags' and our ice jubilee's, love hearts, palma violets, black jack's and fruit salad's, we didn't need much else.
 
Oh dear--I'm a bit late to join in the game -game. But---firstly, I'm glad to see someone mention 'Firecans'. When I tell the little 'uns in our family about the games we played --and especially the formentioned, they look shocked, then begin to wonder if I dreamt it up ?? My favouriter was Tate & Lyles syrup tins, they lasted longer, and were a common site in our dustbin. The wire had to be long enough to keep your hands from the heat, but not so that you could'nt keep it off the ground. Bit of paper---straw---wood--tarpaulin (Lino) was good, then coal/ coke bits---Fantastic! And at night---well, it was next best to bonfire night. We always seemed to be able to get hold of matches and candles in those days---it's a wonder we did'nt burn SOMETHING down.
 
Hello all---was it just us nutters--or did anyone else ride down-hill inside a lorry tyre, with no look-outs for traffic ??
 
golightly
As you say Tate & Lyle syrup tins were the best for fire cans.The rim where the lid fitted gave them that extra strength.Also fitted string or wire to two tins (to keep tins pulled up against feet) and used them to walk about on.Then there was "kick the can and run" making hand guards for swords out of them,and also for putting "bangers"under in the firework season. Kids could find a lot of uses for a tin in those days.
 
Hello Pembroke, thanks for your response. I have often wondered how far afield the 'firecan caper' was spread. I was born in 1941, and lived in various addresses in north Brum until the family moved to Bristol, end of 1954. Nobody down this way had heard of the 'firecan' or other games from the Birmingham area, but they did have their own localised games traditions and activities too. I guess you will find that is the case everywhere you go in Britain, at least in that golden period from wars end to early 60's. Sure enough we had many restrictions and shortages, and most people you knew--would be on a level footing., so we did'nt know we were deprived of luxuries. This was the period when children walked everywhere, often without company and never thought of being in danger. And of course --the games in the street or park, often made up by the children themselves, or altered to suit there own situation. My mom was from Liverpool and so she would tell us about the games she played in that city too. Last year a young family moved in , 2 doors away, they have 3 children between age 3 and 9. what a racket they made in their garden. We have'nt had children in our road for 10 years so it came as a shock. Then i realised that when i was young--ALL the neighbour's had several children each, and the noise they made during the summer months, was something that just washed over you. I could recall it vividly. So now, I think these youngsters are great ---I love to hear then now---it's life! Ps --One very bad incident ended our Firecan activity. the boy next door's can, struck another boy accross the eye brow and it need several stitches at the hospital---end of my favourite game---except for go-cart making, obviously.
 
The most abiding memory of children playing (if forced to pick just one) is girls skipping. Especially with a long rope accross the road, and all those songs and rhymes that they would all sing together. How they could remember all the words I don't know. I suspect, many of these chants stretched back many generations. Sadly, this is just a memory now. How modern shallow values, have destroyed traditions of centuries--in just a few decades.
 
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