Comments on: 10 Ways Kids Entertained Themselves 30 Years Ago

By: De

De — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 05:52:45 +0000

@ YOUNG: Though kids still play some of these games now, it is usually limited to school recesses. Though the whole “back in day” comments are arbitrary to you, they really are not. When we were younger, we got kicked out of the house as much as possible. We were not allowed to hang out and watch TV (or like now, play video games/be on the computer) for hours at a time. We were allowed maybe an after school special show or Saturday morning cartoons. Most of our day light hours were spent outside. During the summer we played till way past dark (kick the can rocks at night). We didn’t have expensive toys or nerf guns etc, whatever manufactured toy are available now. What we had was whatever we could find. We spent hours with our friends, walking, playing, riding our bikes, climbing trees, making forts, getting home dirty and absolutely happy. You have to agree most kids when given the chance would rather sit in the house fixed onto whatever electronic device they have. It is understood times are a bit different. Both parents (if there are two) are at work, its not as safe etc. We from an older generation note this with sadness because most kids will not be able to have what we did. It was priceless.

By: Shay

Shay — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 06:49:26 +0000

I remember playing a lot of these, and I’m only 21. Red Rover and Red Light, Green Light were my favorites as a kid. (:

By: dlsjfl;akj;sdlfkjas;dlkf

dlsjfl;akj;sdlfkjas;dlkf — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:26:29 +0000

I’m 14 and I played most of these games when I was younger, since there wasn’t much of a choice. It’s such a shame children in developed countries are opting for less and less traditional ways of entertainment. Going outside and running around sure as hell beats any online experience. Not to mention it’s much healthier than the way kids entertain themselves now.

By: Sara @ The Football Wife

Sara @ The Football Wife — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:46:23 +0000

We played Four Square everyday at recess! I liked being in C square the best.

By: Raj

Raj — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 04:59:40 +0000

Oh man does this list bring back great memories! Growing up in queens in the 80s/90s we played almost all these games, and we lived on a dead end block so no cars hardly passed through so it was perfect!!
Kick the can was amongst the MOST popular, butts up (or as we called it ‘suicide’), stickball, handball, catch-one-catch-all, manhunt, skully once in a while, etc were just what the kids did for fun almost EVERY day. We took milk crates and cut out the bottom and nailed them up on a fence and played basketball with that.

And ALL the kids on the block played and it united us into this big happy family. We had alot of the older guys (5-10 years older than me) always looking out for us and they taught us and passed on all the games. And as a matter of fact even tho we’re all moved out we still keep in touch, have BBQs at each others houses in the summers, plan trips with each other, etc.
I look on my old block now and nobody plays outside as much, NONE of the old games we used to play, none of that sense of fun simple community worth. No-one born after 1990 would even know what kick the can is. I blame video games and computers for ruining this, we had to be creative yet simple to come up with these games we played in our days. Nowadays they buy a $300 video game system and wiggle their fingers on a controller.

All i gotta say is I’m so glad to have grown up in an era when all these street games were around.

By: young

young — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:03:39 +0000

i’m tired of this old generation looking down on the new generation…when you guys were kids i’m sure you were still lucky enough to be able to do some of these things YOUR parents couldn’t do, and so on and so forth. it’s pointless and so played out at this point to bring up the whole “back in my day…” retort. not to mention, im 19 and played the majority of these games when i was younger. hell we played hot hands in the football locker room after practice, and kids my age still put together games of capture the flag.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:42:26 +0000

you forgot Buck-Buck. It was amazingly fun and violently fun.

wikipedia rules…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_buck

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sat, 22 May 2010 21:25:32 +0000

Kids played (most of) these games a lot less than thirty years ago. I’m 23 and played most of them, and I still see kids now playing a lot of them.

By: Robbie C

Robbie C — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:39:55 +0000

Growing up as a kid in El Paso during the late 60s and througout the 70s, we played a lot of the above mentioned games.

Foursquare and Wallball were two of my favorites.

It’s unforunate that today’s kids spend more time indoors playing video games or watching TV than they do playing outside, using their imagination, and playing with other kids. So many valuable life lessons (on how to behave as an adult) were learned on the playground. Kids today are truly missing out.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:57:30 +0000

Weird, I’m only 15, and I spent my childhood playing those games (Except for Skully). So much more fun that video games or T.V.! Makes me think of when I was small. It’s a shame they don’t play anymore. :/