Edith/Maddie here, amazed it’s the middle of the month.
For this week’s discussion on permission, let’s talk about yard games. Yes, I’m talking about Mother May I? Red Rover, Red Rover. Capture the Flag. Freeze Tag. And anything else you might have grown up playing on the lawn with siblings, friends, or young neighbors. Did you play yard games? Were there mishaps, favorites, or forbidden games? Did you go back outside after dinner in the summer and play into the dusk? Share your memories. Bonus for a picture of you as a kid!
Edith/Maddie: We had a big front yard and lots of kids on the block. I have so many memories of the long summer evenings playing games on the lawn. We played Mother May I? and Red Rover, Red Rover, but also simple tag, croquet, and cops and robbers (or maybe it was cowboys and Indians, influenced by the culture of the times).
This picture shows me at girl scout camp with my canteen at about age eight, looking tidier than usual, I must say.
Julie: Croquet was popular, though we didn’t follow the rules. Tag, of course. We also had lawn darts at my grandfather’s house. No one died, and they were fun. We had a tire swing, swing set and whirling thing. Think four tricycle seats on a slight angle that you used your feet to propel. We’d make it go so fast we’d fall off, feeling sick. We were allowed to stay out until it was dark, which meant long summer evenings. So much fun!
Barb: This is one of those sense memories that makes me so nostalgic. Or actually two of them. Me, running around in the long summer twilight, playing multiple variations on tag or red light, green light. And then listening in the evenings as our kids, summer visiting kids, and the neighbor kids ran around our cottage doing the same.
Sherry: We played many of the same games, but our favorite was Jailbreak which we played after dark. I crawled through many a bush playing that game. Everyone hid and if whoever was “it” found you, you had to go to jail which was someone’s porch. But then while whoever was “it” was out looking for more people, someone could sneak up, let everyone out of jail and we all yelled “Jailbreak.” I always loved Statues too.
Readers: What outdoor games did you play when you were young?
The Wickeds 
I loved those games!
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Same!
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I lived out in the country (still do), so I only got to play all those games when friends or cousins came to visit (or we went to visit them.) But I has plenty of fun outdoors on my own, and I remember staying out way past dark catching lightning bugs. Note: they were always released before I went back inside.
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Sounds lovely, Annette.
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Way back when we were kids and our town was quite small, we would play this game after dark that we called ghosts. Whenever a car was coming by, we would drop to the ground so they couldn’t see us, but we could see them. It was fun when I was 8 and not too cold out.
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Perfect!
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We played tag, red light-green light, hide and seek, hopscotch, skellie, stoop ball, not much else to do in the city.
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What’s skellie, Dru?
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We played a lot of sports as kids. Baseball, football, basketball, street hockey. When we were a little younger, there was hide and seek, tag and other more youthful games that didn’t involve a ball or a puck.
I don’t think there was anything out of the ordinary for growing up in the 70’s and 80’s.
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Sounds great, Jay.
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Lots of wiffleball with the neighbor, Hot Wheels, riding Big Wheels, and eat. Always running!
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Kids do run a lot – which is a good thing!
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Lots if tag, flashlight tag at night, plus badminton, volleyball, and my favorite: climbing trees! Summer seemed infinite then!
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I remember that, Kathy.
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We had a croquet set and was one of my favorite games to play. Although we had bought games like croquet, badminton and volley ball, most of the time we played games that required no equipment and lots of imagination – something I fear the younger generations never get to experience. We could turn a piece of wax paper as a way to make a slide be faster to slip down. We could take a box of leftover tiles and make walls for when we played house. We made a game of hide and seek more difficult by being able to climb a tree or pretend we were a snake in the grass in the empty lot up the hill. While it was fun to be in a group, we also knew how to have fun playing with ourselves by using chalk to make a hopscotch, figuring out new stunt with the hula-hoop or playing a game of jacks or pick up sticks on the porch. It was a quieter time and time for the imagination to bloom as we played outside with others or by ourselves. I wouldn’t take for my childhood way back then for anything in the world!
2clowns at arkansas dot net
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SO much hopscotch and jacks! Also tetherball at my house.
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Kick the Can was always my favorite.
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I’ve never played that!
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Great memories! We played a lot of Kick the Can and whiffle ball. So much fun!
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Awesome.
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We were allowed to stay out “until the streetlights came on.” Well, that’s when we had to be in our yard, at least. We played tag of course, lots of mindless running, croquet when we went to our grandmother’s. Jarts when we went to our other grandparents’ – my mother was always so afraid we’d kill ourselves, but we survived.
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We survived so much!
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This brought back lots of fond memories! We played almost all these games and more. One variation on cowboys and indians was Sky King and Penny (had to have an active girl type there, ya know!). Picnic tables make great airplanes. Hide and seek was a favorite. Our front door was always home base until I landed in Dad’s rose bushes one night. Things had to change after the thorns were removed and scratches treated. The day we got a new refrigerator, it was like the world opened up to all the neighborhood kids. That box became the inspiration for hundreds of hours of summer entertainment until a hail storm destroyed it. Sadly, it had no insurance (LOL)!
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My mom made us a puppet theater out of a refrigerator box! She painted it and made a curtain for the “stage” and sewed a bunch of hand puppets. We four kids loved it.
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What fun! We played cowboys and Indians, recreated WWII, tag, red rover, hiked along the river, emulated Tom Sawyer and built rafts that we set sail on – they all sank, but we learned our knots. Explored caves and tunnels, held races, and twice a summer put on a carnival. Since I grew up in apartments attendance was always good. The early carnival funded our visits to the sweet shop and ice cream man. The later carnival funded school supplies.
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I love that you had so much outdoors time despite growing up in an apartment, Kait.
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Sardines and Traveling Sardines. So much fun!
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I have no idea what those are, Molly!
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Sardines is like reverse hide-and-go-seek. The “It” player hides while the rest of the players count. Then the seekers spread out to look for the hider. As seekers find the hider, they quietly join the hider – packing in like sardines. Lots of giggles which is counter-productive.
Traveling Sardines is the same thing but the sardines keep their eyes on the seekers, and when the coast is clear, they all sneak to a new hiding place, adding to the thrills and giggles (and easier played outside than in although we did both).
Both versions are lots of fun on summer evenings with lots of neighborhood kids joining in.
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There was a park not far from our house. Our favorite was the swings. You could swing as high as you could without tipping the swingset over like at home. The city had summer classes in baton twirling, swimming, softball, etc. We also made tents with old sheets over the clothesline. My best friend and I read books in there all summer. I was always reading.
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I was too, Sherry! I’d fix a milkshake in our old one-speed blender and take it outside with my book to read under a shady tree.
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I always found tag frustrating. I’ve never been a fast runner, so I was often it. Then I’d have a hard time tagging anyone else.
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I hear ya, Mark. I was often the shortest and youngest in the group – not great at competing physically!
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One game that I really liked and didn’t see here is “Simon Says”…took quick wits, good listening, and lots of body stretching … at least in my memory.
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I thought I had mentioned that one – we certainly played it!
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Most of the games mentioned were part of my childhood. We made a tent by throwing a tarp over a picnic table. Slept out there many nights. A small park on the edge of our neighborhood had a stream that froze for ice skating, except when you broke through. It was only a few inches deep. And the RR bridge that went over the stream was always fun to play under. Oh, and always lots of bike riding. Wonderful memories.
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Glad to help evoke them!
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We played Cowboys and Indians and used our pillows as saddle bags on sawhorses. along with Mother May I, Hide and Seek, Hopscotch, Croquet, climbing trees. jacks, badminton, tag, and yes, we were allowed to go play until the streetlights came on. We had swings and a slide, and we waxed it to make us go faster down it. Later I had a hula hoop also. Life was good way back when.
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A day late but I wanted you to know I loved this! Brought back many memories of summer evenings!
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My parents bought a house in a new development and there were no fences, so we had a huge back yard to play stick ball, kick ball, freeze tag, etc. As we got older fences started to go up, but we lived on a quiet street so still had a place in front for our games. No one locked doors & all of the parents knew us, so we were in & out of each other’s houses all the time to play board games or knock hockey. We also had a public pool & a playground for the hot summer days. Times were so different back then!
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