Childhood Games

What were some games you played as a child? I saw some kids playing four square the other week and it brought me back to my elementary school days, where there was always a four square competition going on at recess time. Elsewhere on the playground, kids might be playing tag, basketball, or hide-and-go-seek. There was also a game invented at our school where one child was the “alligator” who stood in a paved valley between two grassy hills and tried to catch the other kids as they ran across the valley. Of course, if you got caught, you became the new “alligator.” (No one really knows why it was an alligator. We were in Northern Maine, not Southern Louisiana!)

My sister and I also had imagination-fueled games that would keep us occupied during long summer days and on the weekends. We had a collection of Barbies, each with their own names, families, and personalities. There was Emily the Gymnast, Carissa (who could fly), and Susan (we decided she seemed more mature and was one of the Oldest Sisters). 

Our Barbies solved mysteries—or, at least would have, if we ever had the time to play through a mystery from start to finish. But the intention was there.

Our Barbies also journeyed across the globe, on their way to compete in the Olympics, no less. It was an ultimate study in the phrase, “It’s about the journey, not the destination,” because the game was really about the travel. Flying on an airplane would have been too easy, or maybe too boring. So, they had cars (usually a stuffed animal!) or horses and took off.

We also had Games with Us, where we were the ones off on a grand adventure or solving a mystery. Somehow, like in so many epic children’s novels (The Boxcar Children and Narnia come to mind), we didn’t have parents or at least didn’t have them with us. We could be just kids, free to explore the world, which I think is just about every kids’ dream. 

Where did your imagination take you? What games colored your childhood? I’m excited to see what games will fill B.G.’s days as she grows.

Thanks for reading!

💜

Laura