@Miss Take Certainly do.. We boys used it to decide who would be "it" in tag he. We also had, "Ini mini maker. racker, rare I dominacker" OUT GOES YOU! By the way this is actually on Dvd.. I have a copy. Its on the Free cinema series., available from the Bfi shop in. London... or Amazon. This is the title of thh film. One potato. Two. Potato.. Happy days. 😊.
We boys mostly played separately from girls.. but I do reme.mber seeing girls with very long ropes skipping and chanting. While we played five stones. or marbles. tag he ect.
Yes, I loved French skipping. We started with 'anklesies', then 'kneesies', and so on, the elastic getting higher and higher. I remember some of the moves, too. Great times!
Really enjoyed this! thanks for posting - happy memories. No wonder children were lean then - always active and playing physical games. It was a much better world than today
These are the days when kids knew how to cooperate. I teach elementary school and when I try to play cooperative games like this they have all types of problems from following a rythym, staying focused on rules or they just get bored and want free play. It is a totally different mind set now.
The girl leading the group I was in was Barbara Freedman (nee Chaplin) and we were friends. Much later after I was married and living in Redbridge, we met up again by chance and were friends for a while there. We lost contact until recently when she contacted me on Friends Reunited and sent me the U-Tube site for the video. Life is strange.
We stilled skipped Teddy Bear Teddy Bear in the 1980s in school. I just notice how much TIKTOK challenges are similar to our old playground games/challenges.
I went to school in England during this time and the playground games truly encouraged working together. Now? Probably will develop a hunched back from lo0king down at their smart phones! No PC BS back then, either. Bombed building sites were used for soccer and cricket. Remember it all.
This is from "One potato, two. Potato" Available on Dvd. From Bfi shop London. I've got a copy... Its part of the Bfi, Free Cinema series. Lovely way to escape from NOW at least for a while..... Might also get from Amazon.
You read more into my answer than was intended. I just said that 'I' don't remember much of the destruction. I am now 64 and my memory of my childhood is not good. The fact of me mentioning my jewishness is that I am Jewish and proud to be so. I do have friends and relatives who will not visit Germany or even travel in a German car. I do not feel this way and neither does my husband.
The girls at our primary school played a game where they sang OOps Mr Mario. The teachers didn't like it because at one line the girls show their knickers. Of course this made the more daring girls do it when the teachers were patrolling. All the girls were prepubescent and back then children were supposed to act as children and not be wanton.
just because the community you grew up in was like that doesn't mean all other communities were in the past there were other communities in england in the past were people had no concern for young girls decency
@@justinfilipovic8939 It's a pity thatbit wasn't so then maybe we would have been spared of the generations of children having children that started a decline of lack of respect.
@@justinfilipovic8939 That young girls decency meant so little to the community and young teenagers became wanton, parents were immature and were peoud that their youngsters became pregnant. That was the start of a cycle of events, youngsters not yet mature nor wise reared children and it spread like a disease through society, weakening the foundations of that society, us.
Oh no. This is a disaster. Children playing near a building that was being propped up. It could have collapsed at any time. A proper health and safety check SHOULD have been done and the whole area around this building sealed off. I just hope none of the girls were injured
What happy memories of school days. I am now very old and I just started thinking about the songs the kids sang when skipping etc. One thing not shown here is the 'clapping game'? Does anyone remember this? I remember the girls had various chants - the only one I vaguely remember was " A sailor went to Sea, sea, sea To See what he could sea, sea, sea But all that he could See, See, See, Was the bottom of the deep blue Sea, sea sea" There may have been ohter verses but time and age have stolen the memories. This must have been just after the war or early 50's?........ as at the end they run onto a 'bombsite'. I remember my late Mother telling me what great 'playgrounds' they were! I hated scholl for a while but my parents told me " one day you wil wish you could have these days again".........they were truly correct...Thank you for sharing!
I remember the clapping game, accompanied by "A sailor went to sea, sea, sea". I recall that subsequent verses related to other parts of the body, so "A sailor went to knee, knee, knee, etc", and "A sailor went to elbow, elbow, elbow, etc", ending with a verse with all of the sailor's destinations strung together! I haven't thought about that in years, so thank you!
Steve Gannon ....Yeah Steve ...I was born 1949..our playground up in Liverpool was just like yours....bomb sites , and back entry's...and hours of footy in the empty streets (no cars).......all the best mate..👍🏻
I was born in 1947 as well, but in South London, Mitcham area. There were no bomb sites in my neighbourhood, but we played out all the time and I remember a lot of those skipping rhymes. I remember the bomb sites in Croydon.
1968 US Southwest: We played outside unless it was raining. As in this video, children's play was organic, natural, from imagination, not indoctrinated by the culture or the media. Hopscotch, jacks, jumping rope, Chinese jump-rope, Tag and Freeze-Tag, Hide and Seek, climbing trees, playing on jungle-gyms, swings and going down slides, song games like the ones above, yarn games with our hands, playground games like Duck-duck Goose, Kickball, Red Rover, Capture the Flag, Tetherball, and inside, Musical Chairs, Pin the Tail on the Donkey, table games like Checkers, Pretend, Playing House, and on paper when we had to be quiet, Tic Tac Toe, Hangman and other spelling games. Does anyone remember Paper Dolls?? We thought we were doing well to have a set of 18 crayons, and a can of Play-Dough. Remember the smell of Play-Dough? Frequently, we didn't have coloring books, just crayons or a pencil, and we were expected to entertain ourselves, which we did. We learned to crochet and knit/pearl, and arts and crafts were a part of our lives. Maybe we had Gumby and Pokey, or maybe just Gumby. Maybe a slinky, or a pogo stick. Maybe a Paddleball. But we had responsibilities, to behave ourselves, to be respectful, to do our chores and our homework, and never to sass (talk back.) Innocence could be had.
You've really spelled it out...I was born in 1951 and my siblings and I did all that you mention...My first child was born in 1989 and two more by 1993...I raised them in a rural area and tried to stay true to my own roots....No computer in the home, plenty of hobbies and day trips...I was so proud that my children were NEVER bored and could play for hours with a stick, a can, and a piece of string...They have no children yet, today, but if they did, they also would have to live a fairly isolated lifestyle to raise them as we were...
Those innocent happy days (I was 10) surrounded by parents, aunties, uncles all gone now , friends gone their separate ways , grown with families , playing and school play grounds now housing estates, streets where few cars now crowded , if only we could travel back and once more be those happy children ..........
phoebecatgirl Sorrow and demoralization has been socially engineered by the media. Horrible fake news, horrible movies, they have taught horrible behavior and bad hearts, we see it all around us.
And they spend too much time on social media - not a good replacement for real human interactions. My neighborhood is silent now - not filled with kids playing.
This is the London I remember as a child. Always out playing. I have this DVD set of films from the 50's. They are fascinating to watch. Life was so totally different then. Materially we are so much better off now but I think we were much happier then.
Ah, I vaguely recall all of this stuff going on when I was a kid. I was always impressed by the way girls seemed to pick this stuff up and wondered who taught them? Being interested in photography and film making myself, if it ever occured to me that during my lifetime, we would end-up in the current dystopian world, one where the streets are sterile and free from kids playing and singing, I would have made it my duty to record as much as possible during the 1970's. It was like birdsong. You sort of know that it's there but don't really notice it. If it vanished, then you would miss it. By the way, the song about 'the last day of September" makes me think of what was a Salford song - 'The big ship on the ally ally o' - made famous in the film - A Taste of Honey.
Such playgroung games, songs and chants are now almost extinct now due to the dumbing down effect of mass media. For future generations to still remember this stuff, we need to record this stuff on either video or in book format.
I was born in 1999 but still, miss those old days where you just have fun like in this video. No problems (almost), no smartphones, no internet or all that. Just your friends and the world
@@melcomepay6668 Read the novel, Jordy, Bounce (their cat), and Lilli (Amazon Books)- it’ll take you back to the freedoms little kids had back in the fifties.
You cant imagine kids playing like this - primarily because of snowflake parents "Dont hold hand you may get covid", "Dont do that you may hurt yourself", "Put on your cycle helmet when you play on your scooter" .... Makes you wonder how any of us survived
Oh wow, what a blast from the past! I'd completely forgotten about all those skipping songs! Remember the ball games, throwing them against the wall, clapping, turning, etc. Technology has definitely changed childhood culture beyond recognition. I never realised how much until now. Change is inevitable and necessary of course, but there is also a loss that comes with it. In fact, at the time I think it was being recognised that these games were being slowly lost and had historical significance. Some of them are even derived from the Medieval period. Iona and Peter Opie sought to preserve some of them in their book, 'The Lore and Language of School Children'. Nice to hear those little songs again.
Yes I've got a copy of this book.. It was first published by OU press, 1959.Must read it again. Some nice info on old style bonfire nights.. and much else.
Self 9 that year. Today, being 5th November, my mind goes back to happy traditional Bonfire nights....(Penny for the guy please) Oh for a time machine to get away from this horrible century.
back in the late to mid 60's we would played a game called Tops, jar lids with clay in them. and chalk making the game board. sure was fun, and stick ball and tag football I haven't seen that in years. We had the best childhood I think! Ps why does growing up sucks so much ? AAhh the wonderment of being a child.
That was atrociously irresponsible parenting, those children could have been seriously hurt, a rope is a very dangerous thing to be playing with they may have strangled themselves or even worse tripped over in that rubbish strewn playground. Not to mention the horrible and offensive words used in those terrible rhymes. Thankfully it would not be permitted in this enlightened age.
Chloe wilson ; I fear you totally missed the sarcasm. Or, perhaps you are very young. To be clear I was pointing out how badly parenting has deteriorated by smothering children and wrapping them in cotton wool, etc and as you say folk sadly claim they are enlightened.
@@buildmotosykletist1987 Now, writing a year later, amid the upheaval of riots, the manipulation of division of every kind,from race, colour, gender,religion.to purposely create bloodshed and chaos,and childrens minds manipulated to think that all yesterdays values are evil and that church,family,community, law, borders and love of country are to be crushed and replaced by strictly controlled freedom to destroy the past,and the annihilation of purity and innocence.
@Optimistic Whovian True about the poverty. However, how much better off would children be today playing outside in the fresh air mixing with others instead of sitting indoors glued to screens ending up depressed.
What sweet little girls. Now little girls are doing drugs and getting pregnant. :/ It's pretty sad, These girls looked so healthy and happy. I wish today was like back then.
Brilliant film. I started school in 1962 and remember most of these games. We used to play French cricket which involved using our legs as the wicket. We played in the road as there was so little traffic that we were rarely interrupted. I remember the bomb sites too.
it was lovely to see our chilhood , songs and skipping poems , i wip and top was another favotite ,these games passed on hours of fun and cost nothing ........ i would like to say hello to my twin sister sallie who lives in north carolina , love and miss you xxx
I just loved this film. I was a little kid in the late fifties and remember a lot of these games and songs. We used to spend hours skipping and playing ball games. Sometimes we would have a large rope with someone at each end and each one of us would skip into the rope, skip for a few seconds and then skip out again without touching the rope whilst the other girls would sing. All this has unfortunately died out due to so-called "progress". One rarely saw an obese child then. I wonder whether today's kids would be able to do all the things we did without supervision? I hope so.
That's when we did those rhymes - and we were all out there playing, not like now when you NEVER see kids outside. The boys usually didn't play these games, but everyone played red-light/green-light, and hide & seek until bed-time.. Kick-ball was also fun for everyone. The alley was our playground! Each year one kid (& his family) did what we called "Johnny's Fair", and their garage was set up as a sort of spook-house, and blindfolded we'd touch EYEBALLS and GUTS (oiled olives and cold spaghetti noodles) and other stuff - and have rides: Johnny and others would pull us in wagons (Radio Flyers) up and down the alley at as fast as they could run. Fare was about 1 cent, and everyone had a few cents left over from the 10-cent Cokes we'd buy from vending machines on the sidewalk at drug stores - Coke in glass bottles, and just plain sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup!
Good to see kids enjoying themselves. Keeping fit and making their own fun and entertainment. The youngsters of today should view this and learn a lesson.
I can remember the girls at school in the early 1980s still singing loads of play songs. I guess it still goes on but it's somewhat of a child folklore closed to adult ears..
I'm Australian. In 1957 I was 5 years old. Australia is a long way from the UK but we Aussie girls played the same games, and chanted the same rhymes. What I love about British Children's Culture as it then was, is that children did not learn it from adults. Adults were not involved in teaching it. The culture was unique to children. Older children passed it on to younger children, generation after generation. The Opies, who did groundbreaking research on these games, traced some of the chants in an unbroken line back to the Middle Ages. It's so shocking to know that this culture, nearly 1000 years old, has gone - vanished - within my lifetime.
Marbles too. And at this time of year. boys( and girls) we were all ready to light our 5th November bonfires, having got our pocket money, plus from. doing "Penny for the guy" Just waiting for our dad's to come home before we got going! Posted 5th November 2020..in a nightmare century.
No obeses children then, we were all too busy playing active games outside, even if it was on a bomb site. we had a bomb site at the top of the road I lived on in Birmingham and every bonfire night we had a big bonfire for all the kids, can't remember many fireworks other than sparklers, people didn't have that much money in the 1950's but we had a tremendous amount of freedom as children, and if you hurt yourself you were told to be "more bloody careful in future" (I was born in 1945)
Spent an idyllic childhood, outside playing with other kids all the time in the 50's Weather permitting of course. Not the same for children in recent decades.
There was this riddle my mother told me when I was a child that had some of this school yard rhythm rhyme. I think it's based on a song about Nebuchadnezzar. Christmas isthmus, king of the Jews. Spell it with 2 letters, and I'll buy you a brand new pair of shoes.
Interesting that you mention this song. I remember watching (and admiring) the girls at school bouncing a ball against the wall and singing: Nebuchadnezzar king of the jews Bought his wife a pair of shoes When the shoes began to wear Nebuchadnezzar began to swear When the swearing began to stop Nebuchadnezzar began to hop... I forget the rest but the girls did the hopping along with catching the ball and it got more complicated as the song went on.... great memory!
We were always playing 'two balls' up against the wall, and our favourite game was ... Snow White. You play two balls against the wall and say "Snow White" ... in time with the balls hitting the wall, then it's 'dumbsy' where you say nothing at all, then after that it's ... stillsy, stiffsy, one hand, the other hand, near man (you go as close to the wall as you can), far man ..... dropppppsy !!! where you let the ball do one bounce. The next round you do the same thing but keep silent the whole way through, next round is 'stillsy' ... you have to stay in the same spot even for near man (you lean forward) and far man. Next round is stiffsy ... your legs have to be stiff, next round the whole thing but only using one hand ... etc., That game was extremely popular .. at home or at playtime at school. ( I loved reliving that ... hope I didn't bore you !!!!)
I was born in 58 & one of the best games we played was imagining we were driving lorries & being chased by robbers & police - we knew how to make all the noises inc engines, sirens etc but the best bit of all was when we used our airbrakes to reverse - around trees!
This the type of thing that drove poor Dawn Davenport crazy in “Female Trouble” - her daughter Taffy chanting endlessly, even after she grew up and became a Hare Krishna! It did not end well.
