Childhood Pastimes

[emrelda]

My family didn't have a lot of money when I was little, so I didn't have video games of any kind, except for Jumpstart, Reader Rabbit and Math Blaster games for the computer. My mom would set aside some money for educational computer games, so we always had some fun educational stuff to do. I have tons of fond memories playing Clue Finders, too! My sister and I would play Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body and have dozens of facts to share with our parents at the dinner table. The internet didn't seem all that appealing since it took so long to connect and we couldn't be on if our mom had to make a call, and because it had only been out for a very few number of years I imagine at that time there wasn't a lot to do online anyway. We had no cable so we only got the local PBS channels. I was too old for it when it debuted, but I watched a lot of Dragon Tales anyway- probably one of the first things that sparked my love for dragons, lol.

 

Aside from that, we had a huge backyard (I miss it nearly every day) with an old metal swingset and slide. There was also a plastic sandbox and two plastic play houses, one for me and one for my sister. We were the only kids on the entire block, so I never played with any neighbors, but I like to think we didn't have any less fun. The house had no air conditioning, except for a decrepit swamp cooler, so we played out back in a wading pool almost daily. In the winter time we would try to build snowmen but the snow was usually too powdery.

 

We went to the library year-round and that was when I played Kid Pix for the first time on one of the library computers and instantly fell in love. I have a copy of one of the newer versions on my work computer for when I get bored.

 

When we moved, we finally got cable and I was instantly hooked. My favorite tv shows were Cyberchase, TaleSpin, Kim Possible, Danny Phantom and Toad Patrol. It was a bigger house, but the backyard was significantly smaller and all the neighbor kids were mean and/or weird, so I stayed inside and started writing and drawing instead. I also listened to a TON of Radio Disney and could probably still remember all the songs that were on during 2007.

[Moonwick]

My favorite thing when I was a kid was making scenes for my toys. I'd go to thrift shops and stuff to buy things that were meant to go inside fishing bowls and then I'd make an area to put all my toys in.

 

My toys were mostly animals (90% being cats heh) and I'd just go all out and play with them in the scenery, making detailed storylines for them.

 

I absolutely loved collecting little figures. My favorites being figures of characters from Lilo and Stitch. I had a billion of those. ^^

 

In fact, I still do collect little toys like that when I see them. I especially love going to thrift stores for them though because you get the most unique and miscellaneous toys there. X3

 

As I got older, I grew attached to an old MMO called Toontown Online, I'd always do that after school. I'm aware there are servers still open for it, private ones, but they lost the magic in my opinion.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Silverwinter

[Natevaelle]

I have tons of fond memories playing Clue Finders, too!

I enjoyed playing ClueFinders Math Adventures! If my memory serves me right, I won the game in an activity we had in Computer Club. I remember that I was so bent on trying to get all the treasures. I got stuck somewhere and I never got to collect all the treasures. I don't know what has become of the game's CD but I will always have fond memories of the game. ^^

 

Besides ClueFinders Math Adventures, my siblings and I played Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and 4. It was perfect, being a turn-based fantasy adventure game where we would take turns being on the hot seat. ^^ (My black dragon avatar is from Heroes of Might and Magic 3. This game is what got me into fantasy and into black dragons.)

[Polar]

When I was a kid, I lived two things: books, and playing best friend. I think my favorite book series back then was probably Warriors or Harry Potter - the latter of which I still love.

 

One of my favorite games that I used to play with my best friend was a game involving mountain goats. Basically, we'd run around the playground making goat noises. Which probably explains why I'm so good at goat noises now...

[Wildmoon]

I remember my mother taught me how to knit and sew when I was younger. It was one of her past-times, since she couldn't really walk around a lot (she was born with a club foot, and used to have to rely on a cane) so it was easier for her to stay inside.

 

I, being the annoying kid I was, used to pester her and ask "what are you doing, what are you doing, what are you doing?" quite often.

I was an only child, from a young age, (my twin sister unfortunately didn't make it past being a baby) so I didn't have siblings to play with.

 

So One day, my mother sat me down and taught me how to knit and sew. I was never very good at it as a child. To the point it caused arguments between us

 

But Now.. I'm quite often modifying clothes.

 

In fact, I'm making a wedding dress based on Kerli's "Valge Hirv" dress from her Feral Hearts video. aka, this. for me and my Fiance's wedding. <3

 

Other than that, I did occasionally play with other children, but not often, I was always extremely shy. So most time I just liked to do artsy things :3

[MusicalMaladies]

Lots of building things and playing in the sandbox ^^

[Lusy611]

What a great discussion. Let's see... As a kid I often played outdoors with my cousins and siblings; b our parents did not like having us indoors when there was so much we could do outside.

 

When we were all playing together as a big group, everything was more fun. We once dug a giant hole in my cousins' backyard because they had a pile of dirt that was just sitting there with nothing else better to do. The hole probably wasn't that big, but being not that big ourselves, we got it a pretty decent size. It was deep enough to go over our heads.

And when that hole was done, we made another hole just as deep a little ways apart. At some point we decided to turn it into an underground fort, so naturally we dug a tunnel between the two holes. But the dirt was rather compact that far down, and in the end we could only get it about a foot in diameter (definitely not big enough for any of us to go through). Fortunately, my cousins had chickens, who just so happened to be the right size for going through the tunnel. We spent the rest of the afternoon "living" in these two separate holes and sending a chicken back and forth through the tunnel as "communication" (but really, we could just yell at each other through the tunnel too).

 

... Those were good times. Of course I also had books that I liked to read, and video games for Saturday mornings. But being outside with family/friends with a little imagination was definitely the best way to have fun as a kid.

[andromedae]

What didn't I do? I loved to draw, paint, run about, play with my cousins, play with my toys, play my own made-up games, playing pretend, using the computer as soon as I could, playing Pokemon, playing with my pets, playing in the dirt, going to the beach, reading, writing, ballet, swimming, riding horses and probably more things I've now forgotten. My childhood was fun, there wasn't much that I didn't do.

Edited August 2, 2016 by andromedae

[Syiren]

Disney movies and Legos.

 

ETA: And Hot Wheels. I had a ton of Hot Wheels.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Syiren

[wondergirl888]

I loved playing video games, reading, and puzzles.

[gigglymonkey12]

Word Puzzles (Is that what they're called) I loved finding words.

Reading..that hasn't changed

Computer games. I've tried to find some of the old games I used to play, but I haven't been able to find them

[Artius]

My favorite toys were cars.. and I loved to play arcade games.

[SlyFox]

All the way back to the childhood, is it? I had the most fun as a teen, but I'll get into child-mind for this answer.

 

I used to play with toys like the Strawberry Shortcake dolls and the My Little Ponies. This was back in the 80's. I usually played by myself when I played with those particular toys, but then I'd always join my older brother in playing with army men, lol! We used to have big war strategy games with them and I just remember the hours we'd spend doing that. In the winters, we'd go outside with our older sister and have snowball wars. We'd use metal trashcan lids as shields and spend hours making our snow shelters and snowball weapons before we'd start the actual war.

 

My brother's the one who got me into Dungeons and Dragons, so I played that with him starting at about age 7 and he taught me a lot about different battle strategies through that. When I wasn't playing with my brother and sister, or my own toys, I loved riding my bike and roller skating. There was no internet, no computer, but there was the old Intellivision game system back then and the family used to gather around that and make a family night of it. We played the old Space Armada type games that you'd find in the old arcades. Super fun times I wish never had to end.

[celesteon]

I played outside wih my little brother. Before he was born, I would collect bugs and show our Mother. When he was old enough, we'd use the hose to make rivers and play with our toy dinosaurs. When we got older we'd build cubbies in the bush and in the trees.

[AquaBlueRain]

I read a lot and wrote short stories. I wish I still had some of those stories today! I also played with my brothers and sister. I was more into cars than dolls, so my brothers were more fun

[Ripan]

Read a lot. Blowing soap bubbles. Drawing things, and trying to build those things so I could play with them. I remember making a lot of houses, rockets, planets and cut-out paper characters. Play hide and seek.

[greenglassesgal]

Since I'm not that old myself, I'll stick to my elementary school years and younger. I'm an only child, so when at home, I loved to read, watch cartoons, and play computer, GBA, and eventually DS games (still do!). I also had interactive toys like Tamagochis, Pixel Chix, and one of those Littlest Pet Shop digital pets to play with. At night, I'd occasionally build a pillow fort/bed/chair and sleep on that instead of my bed.

 

I was really into playing make-believe, both with my friends and on my own with my Polly Pockets or stuffed animals. Off the top of my head, I remember we played as fairies/magical girls, flight attendants, doctors/patients, bakers, and a pop band (we called ourselves the Freedom Angels, and even came up with a short song), among other things. They were surprisingly detailed scenarios, and I can still elaborate on some of them. That's probably where I get my RP-ing habit from

 

There was also this one game we'd play where I'd draw up a bunch of facial features and hairstyles (so like different styles of eyes, noses, and mouths). Going row by row, I would run my finger over each item, asking a friend to stop me randomly. Whatever it landed on, I would draw a face with that, regardless of how silly it looked. Good times.

[Andigirl92]

Jigsaw puzzles, wooden models, and

. I also did origami and still do. I did martial arts for several years but had to stop due to financial issues. The worst part about that is I was supposed to test for my black belt in a few months.

[Emmerz24]

I was an only child, so I mostly daydreamed and came up with imaginary friends to play with. A lot of these came from the different cartoons I was watching (e.g. I once pretended that I was a hamster in Hamtaro).