When I was a kid, I played outdoors a lot. I climbed trees, rode my bike, dug holes in the dirt. A couple of my friends had a wooded area near their house and we had great fun running and hiding in there. Other friends had trampolines and swing sets. It's not that I didn't play inside. I did. I loved my Barbies and I watched tv. How else would I have known how to play Charlie's Angels outside? (I was always Sabrina).
It makes me sad that a lot of kids live such indoor lives now. Granted, the children I work with mostly live in urban areas, which aren't necessarily safe and don't usually have yards. Los Angeles does have a lot of wonderful parks, but you need to have someone take you there, which a lot of the youngsters don't have.
What did you like to do as a kid?
**Update @ 10:00pm: I talked to my sister earlier, who claims to have no memories of childhood whatsoever. I can assure you she played outside too. I neglected to mention that we did also go swimming a lot, either in the Chesapeake Bay or the pool where some friends were members. And yes, Legos, board and card games, and tape recorders used for commercials and news broadcasts were favorite indoor activities too.
3/15/2007
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We had a great big tree in my front yard when I was little. I was forever climbing it. We also had a swingset in the back yard which we forever played on. My dad had built a greenhouse that we would play in as well as his storage unit which was forever a cabin or a hiding place (despite the black widows). Also since my parents are pack rats, there was always all sorts of crap to get into outside. Two tent poles stuck together were a perfect javalan/spear for either Sheena (remember that movie?) or something similar. Plus there were tons of kids on my street so front yard hide & go seek happened frequently too. Ahh the halcyon days. :)
i loved playing outside too. i also loved reading, and writing stories, and drawing, and making stuff out of paper. i used to shut myself in my room with the tape recorder (remember those? the big ones?) and make up stories or news reports.
basically, i liked doing a lot of things that didn't involve video games or tv. being an only child, i learned to entertain myself. and oh yeah, legos rock!
How funny, Joanne and I were just discussing this last week after I read a blog post about online game sites for young children. My cousins and I played on the swingset and the big climbing tree in my grandma's backyard (where we went after school). We make up all sorts of random games, but we also usually played Star Wars or GI Joe or played with Matchbox cars. (Clearly, I was the only girl. I rarely got my way there.) If we were bored playing around my Grandma's yard, we'd cruise the neighborhood on our bikes and see who else was out. This was in Southern California so we were blessed with good weather most of the time, but we were outside even in the rain if we could manage it. I was a very dark brown kid.
We were inside occasionally, and we would sometimes watch TV, but my great-grandma usually booted us out to watch whatever she wanted. We played cards, board games and Legos.
I spent a lot of time outdoors as well. Went swimming, played in the sandbox, found bugs and toads and made them little habitats, went bike riding, skateboarding, all sorts of stuff. Kids spend a lot more time indoors than we did as kids, that's for sure!
I used to act out fully choreographed scenes from Jesus Christ Superstar with friends from down the street! :-)
I seem to remember running away a lot so as not be get beaten up by my "friends" :)
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