Memories of Me: Top 10 Childhood Play Things

In no particular order…

1. Street Games. As a young child, going out in to the streets in our neighbourhood was a common thing. Finding playmates was easy. And, I used to play things like ‘tag’, ‘patintero’ (like tag, but with some more organised rules), ‘shato’ (using sticks and stones), ‘tumbang preso’ (using old cans), hide and seek, or ‘cops and robbers’. That time, kids ran, climbed, and played all sorts of games using twigs, old empty cans, or just our hands and feet.

2. House. Yep – pretending to ‘keep house’ and ‘cooking’ with toy kitchen sets. I even remember going under the dining table and using that as my house. I also put blankets over two chairs and use other types of materials to create hideaways.

3. Doctor. My mom always told me she wanted me to become a doctor. So, one of my first ever toys was a ‘pretend doctor’ set. I liked using it with my dolls and stuffed animals.

4. Teacher. I remember making my little brothers/sister (and/or cousins) to sit in front of me, while I ‘teach’ them things. I’m not quite sure what they learned from me at the time, though. Heh.

5. Dolls and Stuffed Toys. There were two that I remember well: my â€œwalking dollâ€? (with blonde hair and purple suit) + an old red teddy bear that came with 2 ‘baby’ bears. Sadly, I don’t remember their names.

6. Mini Games and Toys. I remember playing ‘tex’ (little cards), marbles, and Super Trump cards. Mostly with boys, as girls didn’t seem to like these games very much. I also remember enjoying playing board games with my father (who I can never beat!) like Scrabble.

7. Video Games. Yes, we owned an Atari (I think I was about 11 or 12 then). And, while I was not really addicted, I do recall playing Pac Man, Asteroids, and Space Invaders in my parents’ living room.

8. Made-up Games. I loved all sorts of games and toys that were just made up on the spot. My late dad used to make toy cars and trucks out of old empty cans, wires and bottle caps. My siblings and I used to create all sorts of games at home – from pretending to go camping inside the house to jumping from bed to bed, as if we were circus performers. And yes, jumping in puddles – and showering in the rain.

9. Car Games. Some of my best (and worst!) memories when I was growing up were spent inside the car, as our family travelled a lot within the country. And, I remember playing a lot of silly games then – making up words out of car plate numbers, hitting each other on the head every time we saw a Volkswagen beetle, and silly singing games (’round-robin songs using the alphabet’, ‘complete this song…’, etc).

10. Making Things. Yes, even as a kid, I have memories of myself creating stuff. In fact, one vivid memory I have is getting some soil from the vacant land across the road to our house, wetting it, and then making little sculptures from them. I even hand painted some of them. How I learned how to do that is beyond me. No one taught me how, I just knew. And I seem to remember writing, painting and creating all sorts of things from a very early age too.

What about you? What were the games you used to play as a kid? Did you have any favourite toys? Do you still have them with you?

Note: This is Day 2 of Project 1 (Memories of Me), from The Everyday Exploration Project. Working on collecting memories from my childhood (aged 12 and younger).

Photo Notes:
1. patintero by fadedmilkyway, 2. supper is almost ready. by cherrysoda, 3. Atari games by farnea, 4. Philippines government vehicle by sixesandsevens, 5. empty can by stillben2001, 6. Sea of Marbles (household objects: #2) by inkswamp.

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Comments

MelissaW says:

3 July 2008 at 11:50 am

I remember living in a fantasy world. I was an only child until I was 8 and we moved a lot so I never really had any friends. I still clearly remember all my imaginary friends, the places I ‘visited’ and the ‘adventures’ I went on. And funnily enough my daughter is very similar even though she has a brother to play with.

Shai Coggins reply on July 7th, 2008:

MelissaW – Wow. So you became on older sis when you turned 8? Must’ve been strange. And yes – imaginary friends. Aren’t they fun?

toni says:

3 July 2008 at 5:14 pm

I wish I still had my dollhouse with me. It was very plain — made of wood with wooden furniture. No colors really. The roof was green and the rest of the furniture a natural wooden color, beige. The ordinary colors provided a rich playground for my imagination!

Shai Coggins reply on July 7th, 2008:

Toni: I never had my own dollhouse. Always wanted one, but never got it. Do you know what happened to yours?

Murfomurf says:

3 July 2008 at 7:24 pm

Again, you have inspired me to investigate my own experiences- so I’ll write in my blog about what I liked doing as a kid. I even have my first walkie-talkie doll (without arms and legs attached!) to take a photo of. My favourite activities were outdoors- swings, walking along the top of the fence, doing high jumps and long jumps, plus various acrobatic things! Indoors I learnt to knit, sew and crochet at an early age, always making things for my dolls. I even remember my imaginary friend “Mrs Bell”.

Shai Coggins reply on July 7th, 2008:

Murformurf: That’s an honour, knowing I’ve inspired you in that way. Looking forward to reading all about it. And wow – those were seriously great skills to have from an early age! Great memory too.

Lynn Stevens says:

4 July 2008 at 12:06 am

My brother and I used to make up car games we generally played while on longish return trips from my aunt & uncle’s, usually at night. We had a ghosts and witches game that had to do with headlights and taillights and another game we called “Chair.” Before the time of required seat belt wearing, it involved bending our bodies to form a chair and the other would sit on it. Don’t remember what we did with it after that! LOL

Shai Coggins reply on July 7th, 2008:

Lynn – Interesting car games you had! Never heard of them before.

Marjorie says:

4 July 2008 at 12:43 am

Hi, Shai! Wow, your memories dovetail mine so perfectly. I loved patintero. Even some of the adults in our neighborhood would play with us kids.

My cousins and I used to love playing Monopoly (we made up our own rules because we were either too lazy to learn the “real” rules, or we lost the rulebook…I forget) and “jacks.” We did the latter using both the stars and rubber ball and the version using little bean bags. Remember those?

We also played “Darling, You can love stop,” or something like that. Did you ever play that? It was sort of this complicated group dance that you’d do to music, and then someone would stop the music and everyone would freeze.

Loved playing MasterMind, although I don’t think they made that game anymore.

We used to do those hand games (don’t know how else to refer to them), and the lyrics now escape me. Something like, “Nasaksak si Tirso, umiyak si Nora, tumawa si Vilma, a-ha-ha!”

Ahhh…good times.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

Cheers,
Marjorie

Shai Coggins reply on July 7th, 2008:

Marjorie – Glad to have been able to be with you on a memory lane walk. And wow – you reminded me of so many other games and toys I used to play. The bean bags version, I remember calling ‘Chinese jackstones’. Then, I remember jump rope & Chinese garter… and the hand games you mentioned. We definitely grew up in the same era! Where did you go to school and what year did you graduate?

Marjorie reply on July 8th, 2008:
Good afternoon, Shai!

Yes, thank you! It was indeed Chinese jackstones. My cousin was sooo good at that. Practically a bloody expert.

I actually have a complicated educational history. I moved to the US when I was 7 (1979) but went back and forth to the Philippines every other year or so. A quick summary:

1st grade: St. Joseph’s, Quezon City
2nd and 3rd grade: US
4th grade: St. Paul’s College, Pasig
5th grade: Our Lady of Sacred Heart, QC (3 months only, then US)
6th grade: US
1st & 2nd year HS: NAMEI Polytechnic Institute, Mandaluyong
3rd & 4th year HS: US
College: US (except for 1 semester at Olivarez in Sucat during my sophomore year. A failed experiment and very long story!)

Still, I have fond memories of hanging out with my cousins in Mandaluyong, Alabang and Mindoro (our probinsya), spending summer afternoons listening to Top 40 pop songs (luv luv luv RX 93 back in the day!). I think that my childhood was more fun in the Philippines than in the US, although I never got used to being the “odd girl” because of my “weird accent.” A lot of schoolmates (esp. in snobby St. Paul’s) would assume that I couldn’t speak Tagalog, so they’d talk about me right in front of my face! It’s funny in hindsight, though.

What about you? Where did you go to school? (And, uhm, if you say St. Paul’s, please know that I had quite a few awesome friends when I was there. Not everyone was a snob.

Cheers,
Marjorie

notsquare says:

6 July 2008 at 4:29 pm

grabe! nostalgia to the max in #1

Shai Coggins reply on July 7th, 2008:

notsquare – hehe. It’s an interesting thing, nostalgia, huh? Nice to see you here again. Take care!