Hi from Canada – (just north of Toronto, Ontario) Just found this website and love it. We played outside ALL THE TIME in the summer, from dawn til dusk, and even later. We used to play Kick the Can a lot, as we had acres of lawn and fields to hide around. Another good one was 500 UP, on a large, flat front lawn next door. Lots of skipping, and rubber ball games, etc. I’ve had a lot of fun reading all of the rhymes and remembering – Thanks! Susan C
Does anyone remember the game with the blue & red & white striped rubber ball in the toe of a stocking, and you stood with your back against the wall, and swung the ball from side to side, bouncing it against the wall – then under a leg, beside your head, etc. Did it have a name? We used to play it in the 60’s. From Toronto, Canada. – Susan
I grew up in Hell’s Kitchen. There would be a bunch of us (boys and girls)We were about 14 and 15 yrs old and I can remember that our parents would give us maybe $2.00 to go to the movies on the weekend (and not every weekend) We would go to the movies on 42nd St. Back then it was about .75 and back then 42nd St. had lots of arcades and I remember a freak show with a bearded lady and a two headed sheep. We were a roudy bunch, laughing and having a god time but all in good fun…Although times were often tuff, I remember those days with a smile!!!!
I remember a bouncing ball game that went like this: Aimsies (throw ball in the air and catch) Clapsies (throw ball up and clap once, then catch) Twirl-a-bouts (throw ball up and twirl around or roll hands, then catch it) To-backsies (throw ball up and touch both hands on backs of shoulders) Right Hand (throw ball up and catch with right hand only) Left Hand (throw ball up and catch with left hand only) Highsies (throw ball up really high and catch it) Lowsies (throw ball up just a little and catch it) Touch-your-toesies (throw ball up and touch one of your toes and catch it) Of course, if you messed up, you had to start all over again.
Was reading all the Double Dutch messages…very interesting. I’m a 40 year old mother of two girls…I have been running a skipping club for two years now…I have about 130 kids in the club. I have been teaching double dutch, I’m having a hard time remembering the song Dish….We played D-I-S-H..dish..F-I-S-H…fish….and so on. Also D = double dutch. I = Irish ( backward dutch) S = swedish (holding one rope while jumping back and forth over the other, the rope you are holding gets switched from hand to hand going over the head. H = harmony ( two ropes low to ground going back and forth crossing each other.) does anybody know more than that?