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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat was your favorite activity during outdoor recess? Mine was jumping rope. What was yours?
MiHale
(13,124 posts)until the school banned it from being played
but we did anyway.
debm55
(61,319 posts)debm55
(61,319 posts)justaprogressive
(7,088 posts)
debm55
(61,319 posts)playground equipment. I wish they did. Bummer.
Rebl2
(17,896 posts)how many kids fell from those jungle gyms and ended up with a broken arm.🫤
debm55
(61,319 posts)are different now.
3catwoman3
(29,708 posts)...just one of those things accepted as part of life.
debm55
(61,319 posts)EYESORE 9001
(29,864 posts)They may have called it merry-go-round, but I was determined to make it a spin-n-barf machine.
debm55
(61,319 posts)have one at our school, but the local playground had one. I didn't get sick, but went flying off in the gravel. yes, gravel.
Thunderbeast
(3,828 posts)debm55
(61,319 posts)Grim Chieftain
(1,957 posts)Jump rope, especially double Dutch, tether ball, and four square. Wow, That's a trip down memory lane for this baby boomer.
debm55
(61,319 posts)tag game.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Eko
(10,046 posts)except that it involved a good sized rock, a hill and not long after about 10 stitches. After that it was whatever did not involve said hill, rock and stitches.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Mad_Dem_X
(10,219 posts)While we sang songs from the movie Grease, LOL. Good times.
debm55
(61,319 posts)NEOH
(342 posts)A couple of classmates would sneak down to the creek which was close to the playground. Wed always get in trouble and our teacher would make us sit in the hallway for the rest of the day.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Last edited Fri Mar 6, 2026, 01:50 PM - Edit history (1)
applegrove
(132,883 posts)debm55
(61,319 posts)boonecreek
(1,553 posts)Except, we called it Johnny cross and yes the school banned it.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Alpeduez21
(2,065 posts)It was a band of concrete that stuck out from the brick wall about three or four inches. We strove to see who could go the farthest walking on it before falling. At t he playground side it was two feet off the ground. As one went around the building, because the school was on a hill, you could get as high as 15-20 feet off the ground. Me and my brother were the only two to complete a lap.
In middle school we played the game where someone had the ball and everyone else would try and tackle them. Once tackled the ball carrier would huck the ball in the air. Someone would catch it and take off only to be subsequently gang tackled unless the ball was sufficiently flung so one got out of the middle of the crowd upon catching. King of the hill on the snow plowed mounds at end of the parking was great fun as well
debm55
(61,319 posts)what we call "dog pile" around here. Mostly the boys played it. Thank you very much for sharing with us.
CrispyQ
(41,063 posts)It was a pole with six long chains & some kind of metal contraption at the end that kids hung onto. Then we'd run & circle round & round. It was way more fun than it sounds.
Ours was over blacktop, like all our equipment was. We had two playing fields; one was gravel & one was grass.
debm55
(61,319 posts)CrispyQ
(41,063 posts)That's just wrong! There should always at least be swings!
debm55
(61,319 posts)playground at the top of the Double Dip, that we used for sledding. Also, there was no Adult Supervision. I remember the boys played more rough games then the girls. But it was, what it was. Sorry to say.
tonekat
(2,559 posts)Eventually, as we advanced in the school, we'd take off and walk a few blocks to a candy store that also sold those Japanese made toy guns that shot clay pellets, erasers, etc..
During morning Mass, a kid who's dad was a M.D., would pass out syringes we used to inject our slot car tires with lighter fluid.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Perpetual Guilt.
Thinking about it . that was very dangerous.
Alansworld
(26 posts)kickball.
debm55
(61,319 posts)In elementary school I lived for kickball!
debm55
(61,319 posts)Laurelin
(948 posts)I got really in to double Dutch.
I also loved this game with a ball and a wall called 7Up. Anyone ever heard of it?
debm55
(61,319 posts)information.
viva la
(4,630 posts)I could never do that.
I did like Chinese jump rope, though.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Also do you remember singing these little songs as a rope swinger?
viva la
(4,630 posts)Which one will I marry!"
I always purposefully stumbled on Paul. It didn't work though.
debm55
(61,319 posts)viva la
(4,630 posts)I was shallow. I went for cute.
Though looking back at pics of the young George, he was plenty cute too!
debm55
(61,319 posts)AllaN01Bear
(29,744 posts)debm55
(61,319 posts)Aristus
(72,438 posts)That was the most fun, and the best for imaginative kids at recess. All those logs, pipes, levers, and hubbed wheels made for a great imaginary submarine. So we played 'Submarine' at recess. Naturally, I was the Captain, because even at ten or eleven, I knew enough submariner lingo to make a go of it.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Figarosmom
(12,936 posts)And jump rope or marbles
Liked dodge ball until they banned it. Too many kids getting hurt.
Forgot one year the yoyo was popular.
debm55
(61,319 posts)We played with a large rubber ball and I remember I was one of the best at being able to kick the ball. I could get that ball sailing through the air like a batter hitting a home run.
debm55
(61,319 posts)NoMoreRepugs
(12,199 posts)debm55
(61,319 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,906 posts)We all tried to swing as high as possible. Sometimes we would stand on the swing. They were flat hard seats, not the rubber strap kind. I fell off mine once and got gravel in my knee and was sent to the nurses office. Back then girls had to wear dresses to school. Hardly any girls would play on the jungle gym because of the wearing dresses thing. The boys would stand on the ground below and look up your dress and make comments if you did. What a dumb rule! One of many dumb rules for girls only back then. Our school chose a different student every morning raise the flag. But it always had to be a boy. Girls werent allowed to raise the flag. I dont know why. Oh, dont get me started
..
debm55
(61,319 posts)church. but our neighborhood playground was fully equipped with equipment. Swings were my favorite. We would swing really high and jump off into the gravel. Yes, I remember the boys putting the flag up , never girls. But as it was after school activity , I could wear my shorts and use the jungle gym and the merry go round.
Nittersing
(8,461 posts)It was a place called Beaverbrook I think, and they had an old, abandoned school bus that we would play in.
When I say abandoned, I mean rust everywhere, the pads on the seats were all worn or torn with big ol' springs popping out everywhere. We loved playing in that thing!!
debm55
(61,319 posts)Delarage
(2,609 posts)Although the "touches" bordered on tackles periodically. I came in dripping blood from my chin once as a 5th grader.
debm55
(61,319 posts)paleotn
(22,567 posts)debm55
(61,319 posts)DemMedic
(597 posts)engaged in not getting beat up by the bigger kids. And every kid was literally bigger than me
debm55
(61,319 posts)they grew out of their mean ways or stayed the same bullies they were in their younger days.
lark
(26,105 posts)Red rover for impromtu games
debm55
(61,319 posts)parking lot to get out their energy..
surrealAmerican
(11,917 posts)I'm not sure it was a favorite, but I remember doing it most of the time at recess for a few years.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Dorothy V
(510 posts)Problem with runaway balls is they usually got pounced on by kids who didn't want to give them back.
A body had to be careful with their jacks. Teachers tended to confiscate them, as well as marbles.
I also liked swings and hopscotch. I hated the jungle gym. The rings were better.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Groundhawg
(1,229 posts)debm55
(61,319 posts)Teacher let me use the school's parachute. There are all kinds of activities to do with it.
FuzzyRabbit
(2,218 posts)We'd all take our cap pistols to school. By the time recess was over the playground smelled like a battlefield. Times were sure different then.
debm55
(61,319 posts)no_hypocrisy
(55,220 posts)In elementary school, I despised the little girls who had nothing better to do during recess than to walk around the playground, holding the hand of the Principal or the hands of those who were holding the hand of the Principal.
I eschewed the swings, the sliding pond, hop-scotch, the jungle gym, tag, etc. I looked forward to winter where we had indoor recess where I could read.
debm55
(61,319 posts)KS Toronado
(23,774 posts)catching 90% of the missed basketball shots.
debm55
(61,319 posts)KS Toronado
(23,774 posts)debm55
(61,319 posts)kairos12
(13,689 posts)debm55
(61,319 posts)La Coliniere
(1,975 posts)However, at 11:45am we walked home for lunch and returned an hour later. When I got home for lunch I was greeted with a bowl of Campbells soup, usually chicken or turkey noodle, accompanied by half a luncheon meat sandwich which I devoured in front of the tv while watching Jeopardy with Art Fleming. I felt so grown up when I was actually able to answer one of the questions and thus began my 60 year journey with that game show.
debm55
(61,319 posts)Jeopardy question.
