The 5 Best Toys of All Time

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Weedygarden said:
We jumped rope a lot as well. We also had hoola hoops that kept us busy.

Bouncy ball. I remember being in 5th and 6th grade. We had a game we played at recess with a bouncy ball and a wall. For one, we bounced the ball off the wall and caught it, once. Two, we bounced it off the wall and the ground and caught it, twice. I do not remember all the parts, but we were into it. A bouncy ball got a lot of use.
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Oh yeah, forgot all about the bouncy ball. Played a lot of dodgeball, kickball, and four-square with those!
 
When the twins came to live with us, they were 9. They didn't know how to play on their own, they had been in foster care for a year. They woke up, sat on the couch and asked us what we had scheduled for them for the day.
Told them to go outside and find something to do.
Looked out the kitchen window, and they were hitting each other with sticks. That worked.
 
Super balls were cool.
Jacks were major fun. Competitions.
Ping pong.
Hey a couple times we went to our family friends' house. There was an electric fence on both sides of the barnyard. We held hands and my brother and sister each stood at either end (there were a bunch of us) and touched the fence. Fun times.
Berry picking. Running from a bull. Cherry picking. Fishing with brother, or granddaddy. Walking down the middle of the snow covered road at 1 a.m., 12 yrs old, no worries, no traffic, roads closed, schools closed. Even sledding on the roads.
 
Spikedriver said:
Anybody else go out after rain storms and try to make dams to stop running water in the farmyard? Or, try to dig trenches to drain the big mud puddles that would form? That was good entertainment, and not bad for learning a few basic engineering principles...
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I grew up in southern Arizona. If it rained we had to perform a human sacrifice 'cuz we didn't know what it was (just kidding). No rain. No mud. Really pretty crappy dirt. You could make adobe bricks. We sure did know what a flash flood was.
 
Weedygarden said:
I had dolls and some accessories, but I also liked playing with the toys that were for boys. We spent hours playing cards, putting jigsaw puzzles together and playing board games. We used to take the old newspaper and construct things with them and cardboard boxes.
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I had 2 brothers old enough to play with us big kids and 3 cousins ,all hated dolls,so they tarred and feathered the only doll I had, tar bucker left over from flat roof job. Feathers supplied by my pet duck 'Jor'[ thy didn't hurt him just took a few feathers].

Who had animals for play ? I had lots of dogs and cats ,a duck and a donkey that was fun to ride till she took me between two trees t,she knew which trees would peel me off her . But when she drug me upside down on wrapped around her neck, made my back look like ground beef mama gave the donk's away.
I'd walk up to her and say " I'm gonna get me a ride" Her ears laid on her neck and we went at it.
I could ride anything after her.
Including the electric bulls at clubs 25 years later,only one to make it to 9 in one of those bars.
I also had fish pets in our lake. I'd swim under water,anchor my fingers into the mud and fish would lick my face and bounce off mt nose and eyes.
 
Meerkat said:
I had 2 brothers old enough to play with us big kids and 3 cousins ,all hated dolls,so they tarred and feathered the only doll I had, tar bucker left over from flat roof job. Feathers supplied by my pet duck 'Jor'[ thy didn't hurt him just took a few feathers].

Who had animals for play ? I had lots of dogs and cats ,a duck and a donkey that was fun to ride till she took me between two trees t,she knew which trees would peel me off her . But when she drug me upside down on wrapped around her neck, made my back look like ground beef mama gave the donk's away.
I'd walk up to her and say " I'm gonna get me a ride" Her ears laid on her neck and we went at it.
I could ride anything after her.
Including the electric bulls at clubs 25 years later,only one to make it to 9 in one of those bars.
I also had fish pets in our lake. I'd swim under water,anchor my fingers into the mud and fish would lick my face and bounce off mt nose and eyes.
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We had cats and a few dogs over the years, but farm people used to keep all animals outside, year round. Grandfather bought us a Pinto pony, a small horse. It was not a nice pony, so maybe had been mistreated in the past. I tried to ride it once or twice and gave it up. He also had a horse that was more like a Palomino. I could never get it to do what I wanted it to do, and I never really had good help in knowing how to ride.
 
Weedygarden said:
We had cats and a few dogs over the years, but farm people used to keep all animals outside, year round. Grandfather bought us a Pinto pony, a small horse. It was not a nice pony, so maybe had been mistreated in the past. I tried to ride it once or twice and gave it up. He also had a horse that was more like a Palomino. I could never get it to do what I wanted it to do, and I never really had good help in knowing how to ride.
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Which farm animal did you like the best? I played with ours all the time including my got 'Nita',she was a trip!
Weedy maybe equine was not your thing.
 
Meerkat said:
Which farm animal did you like the best? I played with ours all the time including my got 'Nita',she was a trip!
Weedy maybe equine was not your thing.
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Farm animals are not always that friendly. I grew up with mean brothers who spent their days trying to hurt me, so I grew up a bit afraid of the world as a child. I have learned that that is not always true as an adult and with space from my still mean spirited brothers. I can actually tell you all the ways I was scared of farm animals. Sheep will head butt you and if you are small, knock you down. Roosters will chase you and spur you! They kept me out of the yard frequently. Cows are a little more docile, but bulls can chase you as well. I stayed away from animals as a child. We did go gather eggs, but if there is a hen sitting on a nest, it will peck you when you try to reach under it to see if there are any eggs. So farm animals as something to play with? Not for me as a child.
 
Weedygarden said:
Farm animals are not always that friendly. I grew up with mean brothers who spent their days trying to hurt me, so I grew up a bit afraid of the world as a child. I have learned that that is not always true as an adult and with space from my still mean spirited brothers. I can actually tell you all the ways I was scared of farm animals. Sheep will head butt you and if you are small, knock you down. Roosters will chase you and spur you! They kept me out of the yard frequently. Cows are a little more docile, but bulls can chase you as well. I stayed away from animals as a child. We did go gather eggs, but if there is a hen sitting on a nest, it will peck you when you try to reach under it to see if there are any eggs. So farm animals as something to play with? Not for me as a child.
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This is true too. Sorry you had mean brothers Weedy.Thats not a fair fight.:huggs:
 
Meerkat said:
This is true too. Sorry you had mean brothers Weedy. Thats not a fair fight.:huggs:
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Sick and dysfunctional family. They are still unkind and mean spirited. Sister is manipulative and a lying story teller, trying to discredit anyone and everyone. I just stay away from all of my siblings. Who needs that? Not me!
 
Ah Weedy, I’m sorry to hear that. I think critters were my best friends growing up. I had Tony Pony and when I had to start school, every day when I returned home, I caught him, curried him, cleaned his feet, put the saddle blanket on then wet and got my mom to lift the saddle. Cats, sheep, calves, chickens, rabbits. They were all my friends. (Yea, I've been called Ellie May Clampet more than once.).
 
You needed a garbage can to throw over that mean rooster, Weedy. Teenage twitchy roosters are the worst. If I go into a run where I know a rooster will be trouble, I bring a very heavy pot with me. Hold the roosters head down to the ground with that pot and berate him loudly. Now all I have to do is carry the pot, or just talk loud and he walks away. I've had a billy head butt me pretty good from behind. Haven't actually rode a horse since I was a kid, but have ridden in a buggy recently.
 
We had all the regular farm critters. I was never taught to fear any of them, instead I was taught how to deal with, control them. One game was riding critters bareback without a bridle or rope. Little kids rode large hogs. When we got 9 or 10, bulls, horses and mules were the target. I was always challenged. If I asked could I do X or Y the usual response was “I don’t know, Can you?”

For boys locally we built “truck wagons”. Basically any 4 wheeled cart with a steering front axel, front wheels didn’t have to match rear wheels. We’d drag it to the top of the biggest wooded hill around. The contest was to see who could stay on it all the way to the bottom of the hill without hitting a tree.

Speaking of trees… another favorite game. Find a sweetgum tree at the edge of a field 30 to 40ft tall, climb to the very top, then get the tree swaying, the top bending… then jump to another tree top not quite as tall and so on. The idea was to see who could jump from tree top to tree top and let yourself down to the ground. If at any point you fell you lost the game (and probably got a broken bone).

We didn’t have a lot of toys, I got a red wagon when I was little and later a bike when I was 6. Oh, another favorite game was to find a muscadine vine next to the biggest possible gully. We’d cut the vine and see who was brave enough to swing across to the other side. Come to think of it… it’s how I broke my shoulder, a vine broke.

Again, not a lot of toys but lots of dangerous games. Looking back I’m amazed I made it through childhood.
 
@Peanut the bit about riding critters reminds me of when I was about 3 or 4, I saw my brother riding our pony and I thought that looked pretty cool, so I thought I'd try to ride our border collie. I have a scar under my chin to this day where he bit me. Mom and Dad figured I deserved it, and I learned not to mess with dogs...
 
The last hour or so thinking about it… I have to say the only reason most of us didn’t spend our childhood in traction was the limited time we were unleashed to be boys. During the week is was farm work before and after school. Saturdays were spent doing more farm work, hunting or fishing. The only time boys could be boys was before and after church on Sundays. That was only twice a month.

Even with that limited time being boys I’ve several scars and when it rains a few bones and joints remind me I was an idiot as a kid. :oops: There were 5 or 6 of us, all cousins... it seems that at least one of us was always on crutches, had an arm in a sling or had stitches.
 
Talking about scars and injuries...

I had more than one pair of these to play with , all was homemade, one set was 3-4 ft off the ground.
You had to climb on them from then porch.
They were fun.
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Jim
 
Jim, we didn't have anything that fancy, but made coffee can stilts. We thought those were pretty cool as kids. Also, someone mentioned sledding above - we didn't have real sleds, but we could usually find something that would slide on the snow. Where our hill was, there was a "jump" in the middle and at the bottom was where the hay wagon was parked so we had to maneuver the jump without going face first into the wagon. We were successful sometimes:)
 
Peanut, your games sound like the ones my cousin's kids play. They also have church every other Sunday, and food after the service, so lots of opportunity to run around. One broke his arm after playing barn rafter tag. I was surprised he broke his arm. I've seen him get to the second floor of our barn without a ladder. He'll shimmy up anything.
 
My grandpa made me my first set of stilts. They were cut from the tops of a large saplings. The foot rests was just a limb forking out. I kept rags wrapped around the forks to pad the bottom of my feet. I enjoyed those things.
 
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Something I haven't seen mentioned yet, is blocks. I had a set of wood building blocks as a kid. I made who knows what out of those. They were passed down from my brothers to me, and all my nieces and nephews played with them too. My daughter loved them, and now my parent's great grands are discovering them. I love seeing the kids make stuff with them. Sometimes it's kind of fun to join in and help them...:D
 
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