serenissima (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
serenissima) wrote2006-11-15 01:23 pm
serenissima) wrote2006-11-15 01:23 pm
Entry tags:
Conkers and other homemade toys
Saw this today in my Yahoo! headlines:
CSM: Backstory: Everyone's Going Conkers
Any of you folk across the pond ever played that game?
Apparently it's falling into disfavor with the teachers due to the possibility of lawsuits over injuries sustained in obtaining the conkers, preparing them, or playing with them.
The description of the history of the game reminded me of a different toy my mother told me about. When I was little, she taught me to put a string through two holes of a large button -- the kind with holes directly through it, not the kind with a shank -- and tie the string, then pull the button partway down, so the button turns what would otherwise be a circle into a shape more like a figure-8. Then you hold the string in both hands so the button is between your hands and twirl it, either towards yourself or away from yourself. This twists and winds up the string such that, if you forcefully pull your hands apart so the string goes tight, the button spins quickly enough to wind the string back up in the other direction.
Mom said that when she was a small child, they used to make this toy using flattened metal bottle caps instead of buttons, and the game was to cut each others' string with the sharp edges of the spinning bottle caps. Thinking about it, it sounds like kids could get some nasty cuts playing that game. I bet it would be banned by schools right away.
Another homemade toy they used was a bunch of feathers stuck into a bottle cap, to make a shuttlecock. They played hackey sack with this.
I don't remember playing with toys I had made myself from raw materials. All my toys were ready-made.
CSM: Backstory: Everyone's Going Conkers
Any of you folk across the pond ever played that game?
Apparently it's falling into disfavor with the teachers due to the possibility of lawsuits over injuries sustained in obtaining the conkers, preparing them, or playing with them.
The description of the history of the game reminded me of a different toy my mother told me about. When I was little, she taught me to put a string through two holes of a large button -- the kind with holes directly through it, not the kind with a shank -- and tie the string, then pull the button partway down, so the button turns what would otherwise be a circle into a shape more like a figure-8. Then you hold the string in both hands so the button is between your hands and twirl it, either towards yourself or away from yourself. This twists and winds up the string such that, if you forcefully pull your hands apart so the string goes tight, the button spins quickly enough to wind the string back up in the other direction.
Mom said that when she was a small child, they used to make this toy using flattened metal bottle caps instead of buttons, and the game was to cut each others' string with the sharp edges of the spinning bottle caps. Thinking about it, it sounds like kids could get some nasty cuts playing that game. I bet it would be banned by schools right away.
Another homemade toy they used was a bunch of feathers stuck into a bottle cap, to make a shuttlecock. They played hackey sack with this.
I don't remember playing with toys I had made myself from raw materials. All my toys were ready-made.