~"My Connections to Play"~

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Gumpy and Pokey

~Two Quotes~

“Children should be seen and not heard”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full”

If you said: "Let's play": "Little Sally Walker" or "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe" everyone knew it was playtime!

My favorite Past-time!

Shoes of the Day

~Little Sally Walker~

Little Sally Walker sitting in a saucer,
Ride, Sally, ride!
Wipe your weeping eyes!

And put your hands on your hip

And let your backbone slip!

Aw, shake it the east.
 Aw, shake it to the west.
Aw, shake to the one that you love the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktfm3WjpqhQfeature=player_embedded
The link is a modern version of this popular children's game.This game has changed a lot since my childhood. It has a "ghetto" version now. But it is a favorite in any childhood setting and age, even adults love it. The first version is from my childhood. We would get in a circle and watch the girl dance and then the next girl would come and dance. It was mainly a girl's game.
 

~Eeny, meeny, miny, moe~

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…catch a tiger by his toe.

If he hollers let him go.

Eeny, meeny, miny,moe.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe", which can be spelled a number of ways, is a children's counting rhyme, used to select a person to be "it" for games (such as tag) and similar purposes such as counting out a child that has to be stood down from a group of children as part of a playground game. Over the years since my childhood, this game hasn't changed much.

~Play Items of my Youth~ 1950's-1960"s "telling my age"

 Everyone had an Etch-A-Sketch in their home! It is still in the stores today, but it is small for travel.

Everybody brought a "Mr. Potato Head" and I had a "Susie Locket", a doll in a case. Later, I had a "Barbie" doll and a "Ken" doll with a large dollhouse. 

Every girl had a doll cut out set. Some were washable and plastic, it was tons of fun for hours!

~~Supported Play in the Past and Today~

The sixties were the age of youth, as 70 million children from the post-war baby boom became teenagers and young adults.  The movement away from the conservative fifties continued and eventually resulted in revolutionary ways of thinking and real change in the cultural fabric of American life.  No longer content to be images of the generation ahead of them, young people wanted change. The changes affected education, values, lifestyles, laws, and entertainment.  
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We were taught to be proper and respect everyone. I had a childhood that consisted of a mother, father, aunts, uncles and grandparents. I rode my bike; hula hooped, played “jacks” and played with my sisters, brothers and many cousins who lived nearby. 
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We had chores. If we looked at television (Black and White) it was monitored daily and I didn’t drink soda pop.  We came to the table everyday at dinnertime and my mother made our lunches and gave us .5cents for milk. We had hot breakfast every morning. We had a country candy store were we brought "Susie Ques" snack cakes for .25 cents.
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Raising children was a very serious matter in the 1960’s. Around 1960, I was about three-years old. I believe children today should go back to the 1960’s way of playing. We didn’t look at television, we didn’t join teams; we just played. The community came apart of our play; when my mother couldn’t take us to the park (which was segregated) we went with a neighbor. We went swimming at the YMCA on Friday nights. Today, I play a lot. I have recreation and hobbies. Today, I go swimming, I ride my bike and  quilt.

Romper Room was a preschooler that ran in almost every major market in the United States and was broadcast from 1954 until well into the eighties. All of the hosts, many former kindergarten teachers, spent the half-hour reading from books to the seven or eight kids on the set, teaching the alphabet, manners and values in a gentle way. This was the early version on Sesame Street that we watched in kindergarten. 

Captain Kangaroo was the longest running network children's show of all time - from 1955 until 1984; the good Captain could be seen mornings on CBS. This was my favorite show that I watched in the family room with my brothers and sisters on a black and white television.

References

http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=2409&c=23. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeny,_meeny,_miny,_moe. Retrieved March 21, 2012.

http://pinterest.com/marybethburrell/my-60-s-childhood/ Retrieved March 21, 2012.

http://www.tvparty.com/lostromper.html Retrieved March 21, 2012.

http://www.tvparty.com/lostterrytoons.html Retrieved March 21, 2012.

 http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu Retrieved March 21, 2012.

I had a carousel, just like this one in my kindergarten class!

Images: Goggle Images.com Retrieved March 21, 2012.