The Now 'Retro' Games Kids Used To Play In The 60's & 70's
By | October 11, 2017
Once upon a time kids used to play outside, they went out in the morning and came in when the street lights or porch light came on. Before computers, X-Boxes and smartphones came along, kids played games outside and interacted with one another.
Nostalgic games like kickball, tag, Red Rover, jump rope, Mother May I and the ever popular Hide-and-Seek. Neighborhood kids liked playing games such as horse basketball, hopscotch, four square ball, hot potato or red light-green light.
My cousins and I used to play statue tag, when the person who is ‘it’ swings each player one at a time and you have to freeze after you are released. Even a sprinkler could make a sunny, hot afternoon fun when all the kids would run through the water to cool down. Hula hoops and roller skates were popular with kids of all ages. We also used to play badminton when all of my cousins were together in the summer months and go fishing or swimming at the lake.
Some kids played croquet or Frisbee when it was warm out. In the winter months, sleds were always the choice of outdoor play! If the lakes or ponds were frozen, ice skating or hockey was a fun option. Or just building a snowman and making snow angels were fun winter activities. But I have to admit that building a snow fort and throwing snowballs was my favorite after school activity with my friends.
Of course, riding bikes was the number one fun thing to do with friends after school. Racing home and grabbing a snack then out the door to jump on our bikes and see who could get up the steepest hill the quickest or try to do some crazy stunts like mini Evel Knievel's.
Sometimes we hung out at the park and played on the swings or teeter-totters, slides and merry-go-round. Or doing our acrobatic best on the monkey bars, trying to imitate gymnasts like Nadia Comăneci.
If it happened to rain, playing games inside like Monopoly or Yahtzee made the time go by faster and much funner! We also used to play games like Battleship, Clue, Operation, The Game of Life or Stratego. Before all of the technology, there was simply playing and being active outside with friends. Be it climbing a tree or running around for no reason other than you were young and full of energy, those days were golden. Fresh air, exercise and interacting is now a retro pastime, what a concept! Let’s bring back those days of yore!
