I started doing a little reminiscing after reading myrnajean’s ”Ugliest Kid in Grade School” thread yesterday and realized I that there are probably 100’s, if not 1000’s of different and unique Schoolyard activities you played as a kid.
My ‘activities assumption’ is based on:[list=a] .[li]National / Cultural Distinctions: Even though all kids (and some of us adults) love to play, I’m all but certain the activities you’ll see being played in Asia would be completely foreign to kids here in North America. []Variable Climates: Even though kids can adapt to just about any situation, it’s usually the weatherman who has final say on what outdoor activities can be played. []Gender roles: They usually dictate what games the boys and girls play.[]Regional Settings: Being a decisive factor in what activities are played. Urban kids have an asphalt/concrete playground, suburban kids usually play in grass-covered schoolyards and rural kids probably have huge, unfenced fields surrounded by wheat or corn crops.[]Generational Differences: Every September a new group of children enter the school. As they’re promoted and the older kids graduate, new games are introduced and the standard ones are all but forgotten.[/list] [/li]
I attended a suburban Elementary School on Long Island, NY in the mid 1970’s (God, I hate reminding myself of that). Our Winter Activities were limited to the occasional snowball fight and who can make the largest snowball. But in spring & autumn the sky was the limit.
1) Rumble: Otherwise known as Kill the Man With the Ball to my co-workers here in the Bronx. The rules were simple: A rubber (or tennis) ball was thrown / bounced off the 2-story brick wall adjacent to the school yard and who ever caught it would run for their lives. Once he was caught (tackled), he went back to the wall and served. I still don’t know how my Mother got all the grass stains off my Sears Toughskins and Jox sneakers.
2) Slapball and Kickball: Slapball is a handball/baseball hybrid and kickball is pretty much self-explanatory. Both were played on the asphalt part of the Schoolyard, where the kindergarteners hung out. There was no other place you could play, unless you wanted to be trampled by the stampede of Rumblers.
3) Ring-A-Leave-E-O: No, I have no idea how it’s spelled. I’m lucky I can remember how it was played. Know to the kids on the north side of town as Fox & Hounds. Even though it was more of a summer break kind of game that you played against the kids on the next block, every once in a while 2 teams would be chosen in the schoolyard. The ‘hiding team’ would be given a 30-count to disappear. Once the ‘finding team’ found & rounded-up all their opponents (saying the mandatory, ‘Ring-A-Leave-E-O, Ring-A-Leave-E-O, 1-2-3, 1-2-3) the roles were reversed. Looking back on it now, because there weren’t all that many places to hide, it was more a game of tackle/slip away.
4) Baseball Cards: Topps was tops. Baseball cards were totally engrained in our youth culture. They were a status symbol, where every boys was to collect all 660 cards in the set. The baseball season brought all kinds of trading card rituals[list=a][li]Scaling: Where you and your opponent would fling the card toward a wall from a distance of about 20’ away. Closest to the wall won. It was a great way of getting rid of your doubles and triples. Rules had to be enunciated & negotiated before any scaling was done. You could call:[/li]‘No Larry’s or No Flurs’ Which meant if the card wasn’t flung correctly, you’d still lose.
‘No Landsies’ Which meant distance mattered, even if the 2nd card scaled landed atop yours.
if the card wasn’t flung correctly, you’d still lose.[li]Flipping:Where 2 opponents stood head to head and flipped the cards toward the ground. You either called ‘Matchies’ or ‘No Matchies’ and depending on whether the cards matched/unmatched face-up or down determined the winner.[]Coloring: I don’t remember all the rules and nuances, but basically you’d alternately flip one card at a time one card face up onto a pile. If you matched the trim color or team of your opponent’s card you won the pile. []Throw-Ups or Toss-Ups: Were just about an everyday (and usually unannounced) occurrence. A handful of cards were thrown up into the wind and mayhem, ala “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World’ would ensue. There were 2 types of throw-ups:[/li]The Announced Throw-Ups: When the rich kids, in an attempt to gain popularity, would buy a triple pack of cards @ the stationary store up the block, climb up on the roof and throw them down into the crowd below.
The Unannounced Toss-Ups: When an older bully would steal a smaller kids cards, keep the few he needed and toss away the bulk of the evidence into the wind.[/list]
With very few exceptions, all the activities I engaged in during my grade school years were boy-things. The only things I can recall the girls doing were:
- Playing hopscotch,
- Jumping rope,
- Practicing their Ubbay-Wubbay ‘Zoom Talk’ and
- Manipulating this 8-sided piece of paper with flap doors. Occasionally they’d ask me to pick a number between 1 and 6 & proceed to give me my fortune.
Well, now that I’ve wandered down memory lane, I have this strange urge to ask the guys here at work if they’re up for a game of Rumble. I had fun writing this & reliving some of my childhood experiences. Even if the server eats or loses my post – it was worth it. Come to think of it, I’m gonna teach my 2 daughters some of the things I used to do. Maybe one of them will catch on with today’s Yujio generation.
So tell us, (I for one would like to know), what were some of your schoolyard rituals?
) Lots of skinned knees due to the asphalt (and girls had to wear skirts, in a public school, slacks during winter and no jeans ever) so we didn’t really run around a lot.