Childhood Toys - Fond Memories

I bought some pinwheels yesterday for my gardens. Their function will be to rid my hosta beds of moles. In setting the pinwheels in place, I began to think of my childhood toys. There were no electronic games and since I was raised in the country with no close neighbors, most of play was without human companionship. There were always lots of birds and animals. I never cared for normal girls' toys like dolls or paper dolls. I preferred to be outside.

Stilts as toys:

Our father made stilts for toys my brother and me by nailing wood blocks to boards. We sanded the top ends to remove any splinters and then played for hours at a time on the stilts, for many days.

Marbles as toys:

Marbles were always great toys! We played a lot of marbles in grade school. I loved to beat the boys out of their marbles. It was against the rules to use "steelies" (ball bearings) and kids using them were banned from play. It was also against the rules to play "keepsie's". I was sent to the principal's office once for this act. The snitch turned me in for keeping his favorite red cat eye marble.

Running Water as toys:

Mud puddles were for stomping in - but, running water was the best! There were natural springs close to our home...clear, sweet spring water. I would take a package of crackers and spend the day with the birds. Boats made from leaves would travel down the stream, over and over and over again. Sometimes it carried passengers. Bugs, worms or anything else I could find would go for a river ride.

Jacks as toys:

I loved jacks and with a lot of practice I became one of the best. I know because I won contests in school. I practiced for hours, before school and after school. Jacks were fun.

Tops as toys:

Over a period of time we had many toy tops. My favorites were the ones that "sing" while spinning. I recently ordered one of these toys for our grandson on his birthday. He and his parents were fascinated by the beautiful sound it made while spinning. When it came to tops, the gyroscope was a fun toy. Winding the string, launching it and watching it spin crazily was great entertainment.

Wheels as toys:

My absolute favorite toy was an old bicycle wheel. Remove the tire completely. Take an aluminum lid from a vegetable can and bend it around the rim. Nail the lid to a stick or a 1 inch board. Stand the rim up, place the bent lid on the wheel and push the bicycle rim anywhere you wanted to go. You can propel the rim as slow as you want to walk or as fast as you wanted to run with complete steering control. I probably walked or ran hundreds of miles with my wheel toy.

Conclusion:

The toy games my children grew up with either had batteries, had a motor, or were attached to electricity. My grandchildren have only known video or electronic game toys. I was not deprived growing up. I would not change a memory. I wish you fond memories too!