What was something you were really , really into as a kid. Anything-toy, book. song, TV show,, pet.games

[debm55]

Mine was Barbie. and jump rope

[hlthe2b]

1. Dogs (still are)... My parents wouldn't get us a "non-working" doggy so my youngest memories were outside

talking to and admiring the hunting dogs (Yogi the Weimaraner and Trouble the German Short-Haired Pointer) through their kennels--even as a toddler.

The neighbor's cat got my attention too, but it was ALWAYS the dogs that were an obsession for me.

[debm55]

2. Thank you hlthe2b.

[anciano]

3. Parlor tricks and novelties...

I was an amateur magician in junior high and high school.

[debm55]

5. That's neat. Thank you anciano. Do you still do any?

[anciano]

7. Not anymore, but it was a fun hobby!

[debm55]

10. Thank you anciano,

[Mr.Bill]

4. For me, it was my bicycle.

I lived in a housing tract in the 60s where a bike represented freedom and mobility to me. Many of my friends lived a few blocks away and while walkable, it was a few minutes on my bike.

[debm55]

11. Thank you Mr. Bill. I loved riding all over on my bike. It got me out of the house. Racing, doing tricks. , just riding

with the wind in your face. Oh I so remember it . Thank you for bringing those memories back to me.

[Mr.Bill]

12. And let's face it.

We didn't need any helmets, either.

[debm55]

17. I agree with you, Mr. Bill. Looking back we did some wild things on our bikes.

[Eugene]

6. science fiction of all kinds

If it was on mainstream TV, late 60s onward, I probably watched it.

[debm55]

30. Thank you very much Eugene, Are you still into Science Fiction?

[ailsagirl]

8. My cats -- still am

[debm55]

31. Thank you ailsagirl. They are a passion that we just cut ourselves from

[Tarzanrock]

9. Baseball

Baseball.

[rsdsharp]

13. Me, too.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Good One

When 8 or 9 years old, practically every kid thought he'd be a major leaguer!
A cousin of mine, that did make the majors, disabused me of that notion.
I was ok, but when he was 10 (same as me), was moved up to playing with 11 & 12 year-olds, and hit .840 for the season.
I think we all realized that this was how good someone needed to be to make the majors. Our dreams of the majors became "just have fun".

[debm55]

32. Thank you Tarzanrock, Same here.

[Diamond_Dog]

14. Drawing.

My mother bought me pads of blank paper from Woolworths and I’d fill up one every couple days.

[debm55]

34. thank you Diamond _Dog, I loved all kinds of arts and Crafts. My first degree was a Teaching degree in Art Ed,

[Diamond_Dog]

38. Do you ever post pictures of things you've created, Deb?

I’d love to see what you’ve done.

[debm55]

56. We tried but my old computer couldn.t do it. I got a new computer the other day, The other was very slow and old. I 'll

see what this one does,

[oberle]

15. Music

When I was twelve I rebelled against playing the piano. My teacher urged me to try the organ instead. I could barely reach the pedals but soon became really in love with it. I have been playing for 63 years, and am still in love with it.

[debm55]

35. Thank you very much, oberle. I love organ music at Christmas and at Church. Do you play at Sunday services?

[CozyMystery]

16. School not included!

Mine was Chatty Cathy, Betsy Wetsy, Barbie, books, playing cops & robbers and cowboys & indians, jump rope, riding my bike, my Kodak instamatic camera, and my dog (who posed for the camera), and watching Popeye and Captain Kangaroo on TV.

I also loved the birthday parties, holiday celebrations, and school carnivals that were common in the 1960s (at least on Air Force bases).

[debm55]

36. Wow, CozyMystery, you had a lot you were interested in. You had a great time growing up,

[LoisB]

18. Reading and playing/watching football.

[debm55]

37. Thank you LoisB, loved reading books and living in Pittsburgh you couldn,t avoid watching the Steelers.

[Mad_Dem_X]

19. Barbies!

(Don't tell anyone, but I'm still into them.)

[debm55]

39. Mad_Dem _X, you deboxed your's. I had tons of Barbies and clothing I would ask for from Santa and my Birthday. I also

made clothing, When I was in college , my mother gave all of my Barbies and clothes to my cousin , without asking me. I was very hurt. Later as an adult and had the money , HSN or QVC would sell these designer Barbies. themed around movies. time periods, etc. I even joined the Barbie club and had the Macky Barbies and Birds of Fantasy Barbies. I was obsessed with them. Went to Ebay and found the dream house and the original Barbie,But I kept them in the box, It wasn't the same. I took all the boxed ones to Children's Hospital and the Center for Abused Children, I even had all the Christmas Barbies, But it felt good as I was an abused child, Still am.

[Mad_Dem_X]

65. I have three full bags of Barbies I'm going to give away

one of these days. But I have sooooooooo many more.

I am so sorry to hear about your abuse. I hope things have gotten better for you as you've gotten older.

[Niagara]

71. I probably shouldn't be enabling my Barbie addiction

If you're willing to part with them, I'm looking for the following unboxed but in nice condition:

1980 Western Barbie #1757
1981 Pink & Pretty Barbie #3354
1982 Angel Face Barbie #5640
1983 Great Shape Barbie #7025
1983 Loving You Barbie #7072
1984 Crystal Barbie #4598

Here's a small peak of what I have.

[Basso8vb]

21. My bike.

My horn.
My friends.
Sci-fi books.
Star Blazers

[debm55]

73. Thank you very much, Basso8vb, Excellent collection,

[JoseBalow]

22. Avalon Hill Bookcase Games

I had a few dozen of them, and spent many, many hours playing with my fellow wargame-loving friends. I still have a few of my old worn favorites that I break out on very rare occasion, when I can find someone to play with.

[Cartoonist]

42. I like the game Acquire

And Feudal, but can't find anyone to play it with.

[JoseBalow]

45. I'm not familiar with either of those games

But I can definitely relate to the challenge of finding people to play with. These games all have a pretty high learning curve, and can often take a long time to play. It's certainly a big commitment to make during this era of short attention span and immediate gratification. My younger friends want no part of it!

[Cartoonist]

47. Acquire and Feudal

Acquire is sort of like Monopoly. You build hotel chains and create mergers.



In Feudal, the pieces move like Chess. The big difference is that when it is your turn, you can move all your pieces.

[JoseBalow]

49. Not a fan of Monopoly, but I'm an avid chess player

Feudal looks familiar to me, the box does, but I don't remember ever playing it. It does look like it could be interesting though. I did a quick search and found this review video...

(7:00)

I kind of like it! The guy in the video does a pretty good job making up his own solo rules. There are probably some other solo rules online somewhere that others are playing by too, but I haven't searched for that. It seems to be designed as a 4-player game, but I would guess that a 2-player variation wouldn't be that had to come up with.

I think I'll try to pick up a game somewhere, which will probably be much easier than finding three other people to play it with in person.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[debm55]

74. Wow, Thank you very much , JoseBalow. Looks very interesting.

[Solly Mack]

23. Reading Encyclopedias and phone books. At home, at various libraries, the homes of friends and relatives.

Didn't matter, read them all.

[debm55]

75. Wow, Solly Mack. You loved to read. Thank you very much.

[Aristus]

24. Summer, 1977. I became a lifelong Star Wars fan.

I don’t collect the toys, or keep a library full of Star Wars novels. I don’t do Star Wars conventions or cosplay.

I just watch the movies and TV shows and enjoy them.

That will never change.

[debm55]

76. Thank you very much Aristus. Enjoy.

[Archae]

25. Space.

I was just hooked on space travel, astronaut toys. spaceships and such.

My favorite was Major Matt Mason and their stuff.

[BOSSHOG]

27. Have you ever been to a NASA Center?

Most have visitor centers which are akin to Disney World for those who appreciate their work. Like me. NASA is my favorite government agency.

[Archae]

33. Afraid not, but I have been to the Smithsonian Air And Space museum.

I missed seeing the Enterprise though.

[debm55]

77. Thank you Archae. At one time I wanted to be an astronaut. But they didn't take girls. Did you ever want to be an

astronaut?

[Archae]

78. Yeah, but then I developed a fear of heights.

Seriously, I did want to do it, but knew I couldn't.

[debm55]

84. Same here. Took me until I was 50 to get on a plane. They gave me kid wings pin. HAHAHAHAHHHA

[BOSSHOG]

26. Dancing to Motown Music in the 60s in the basement

My older brother had a mono record player. I wore it out. I still dance like nobody’s watching.

I also cherished my bike for the freedom it provided.

[debm55]

80. Thank you very much BOSSHOG, I had two cousins and the three of us would sing and dance to the Motown girl groups.

Also loved my bike--needed to get away from the house and it gave me that freedom.

[deRien]

28. Pop beads

and I did get them🙂

[debm55]

87. Thank you deRien. Great

[Dulcinea]

29. I loved Barbies too.

And the Little House on the Prairie books. I still like historical fiction.

[debm55]

89. Thank you Dulcinea. I read those also, They are different then the series.

[Kali]

40. horses

and reading

[debm55]

91. Thank you Kali. I was interested in horses too. Collected horse figures and read books on horses. Never had one or rode

one until SO and I went to ND.

[applegrove]

41. Given a chance I would draw a princess or at least

a girl with long hair. My mom wouldn't allow me long hair (she did only once til i was 12 or 13 and could make up my own mind, and it lasted for less than a year). My sister had long hair. My mom's hair was long and curly as a child and she cut it off when the went to university at 16 and loved it so I got the same cut as her without any say because mine was curly too. My sister had bone straight hair. I sometimes would put a towel on my head to feign long hair. I wore it to dinner one night. I wore it to watch TV with the family another. I would flip the towel back over my shoulders as if it was hair. I remember in grade one our teacher got us to squggle all over the paper and then colour in the different squigglies like it was stained glass. I of course took the opportunity to put a princess in there with long hair and I think flowers in her hair like Heidi. My teacher saw through my ruse. I got scolded for not following the rules. My mother took my and my twin brother's pastel/crayon work and put them up at the cottage where I could look at me going wild and my brother following the rules for the next 45 years. His was a nice picture. Mine not so much.

[debm55]

92. So very sorry applegrove. Every child's art is a piece of art, PS your hair soulds like it was Beautiful.

[Cartoonist]

43. Cartoons

Saturday morning was Heaven.

[debm55]

93. Thank you very much Cartoonist. Do you draw cartoons?

[hunter]

44. Fire and rockets.

I couldn't afford the relatively safe Estes rocket kits and engines so I learned to make my own.

It could have ended badly.

[debm55]

88. Yes, it could have. Glad you made it.We would miss you.

[Ziggysmom]

46. Fast Pitch Softball. I pitched till I blew a disc in my back at age 36.

I didn’t get hurt playing ball. Now at 65 I’m just a huge baseball fan, and love attending games. I take my hubby in his wheelchair and we always have a great time. MLB accommodates disabled fans pretty well these days. How long till opening day???

[debm55]

85. Thank you Ziggysmom. What team to you folks cheer for?

[KitFox]

48. Playing the piano

My grandma taught me and sometimes we would sit together on the piano bench and play duets. It set me up for a life long love of playing music. I still play piano, but also acoustic guitar, fiddle, and acoustic bass. I loved riding my bike alone or with friends and playing card games with my family. I liked reading the Ginny Gordon mystery books. You post such good questions, Deb. Fun thinking back and remembering. 😊

[debm55]

70. thank you very much, KitFox, You do play a variety of instruments. That is wonderful and thank you for your kind words.

[wnylib]

50. Bicycle, cats, languages, rocks and shells, and reading

Rode the bike everywhere.

Had a grey tabby cat, Smokey. Poor kitty. I dressed him up in doll clothes and put him in a doll buggy to go for a walk. He leaped out and ran off in a doll dress. Fortunately, he did not hold a grudge against me for that. He used to follow me around outdoors, even down to the corner mom and pop store and back.

Books - read everything, from adventure stories to kids' detective books, kids' joke books, nature stories. Got a book for Christmas one year that was called 365 Bedtime Stories for Children. One short story per page. Our encyclopedia set had 10 separate books that came with it, on topics like poetry, history, myths and legends, etc.

Rocks and shells -- I grew up on Lake Erie and collected mussel shells (look like clam shells), colorful beach glass, and tiny spiral shells. The spiral shells were not native to the area. They were in sand that was hauled in as fill for beach erosion at the Lake's state park. Collected fossils in the creek bed at my grandfather's farm, along with the shale and slate rocks that they were embedded in.

Languages -- my grandmother's sister lived with our family. She came to the US as a child when her family immigrated from Germany. She was fluent in English, but spoke German with old friends when they visited. We had neighbors who were immigrants from Italy, so I heard them speaking Italian in their yard or on their porch in summer. Picked up some cuss words in German and Italian and thought it was fun to get away with using them around people who did not know what I was saying.

Picked up a few Yiddish words from my widower grandfather's significant other. Learned a few Polish words from an older cousin's wife, whose parents were from Poland.

Read the front section of our big dictionary where it told about languages and language families. I think I was the only kid in grade school who knew the branches of the Indo-European language family, and the language family groupings of Native American cultures. So of course as an adult I majored in a foreign language and minored in anthropology.

[debm55]

69. Wow, wnylib, What a wonder and varied childhood you had. I two learned some words in Italian and Slovak, from friends.

would use them on bullies in the area. I read every night before I went to sleep. Nancy Drew was my thing. Thank you for sharing with us.

[wnylib]

82. Nancy Drew was too tame for me. I got a Trixie Belden

book for my birthday one year and got hooked on the Belden series. A girl across the street had some Trixie Belden books, too, so my sister and I traded them back and forth with her. We kept looking around the neighborhood for mysteries to solve. LOL.

In the books, Trixie's best friend was Honey Wheeler. They lived in eastern NY state. Years later, doing genealogy, I discovered Wheelers and Beldens from New England and eastern NY in my family tree. The friend from across the street discovered that her family traced back to one of the women who was executed at Salem for witchcraft. Her ancestors and mine probably knew each other.

[debm55]

86. That's neat about your family history. I don't recall the Belden series, if I did I would have liked it like you.

[wnylib]

99. Here's a description of the series and characters.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trixie_Belden#:~:text=Main%20characters%20%C2%B7%20Beatrix%20%22Trixie%22%20Belden:%20Thirteen%2Dyear%2Dold,Bob%2DWhites%20of%20the%20Glen.%20%C2%B7%20Madeleine%20G.

[debm55]

100. Thank you whylib

[Ocelot II]

51. Dinosaurs! I had a collection of little plastic ones.

Also maps, which I found fascinating. Any kind of animal. Wasn’t the least bit interested in dolls, which I thought were stupid and boring.

[debm55]

68. Thank you Ocelot II I had a collection of horses. by my bed. Horse books from the Library. But my first love was Barbie

as I could design and make clothing for her.

[Paper Roses]

52. Nancy Drew books. The town library saved each new one for me.

I had to bike to get there, in fact, we biked everywhere. Reading was my best pastime, no computers back then.
Those were the days of 'test pasterns' on TV. Friday was a special day for us, "I Remember Mama" was on at 8PM.

[debm55]

66. Thank you Paper Roses. Walking and biking were the way to get around. We would go to the Carnegie Library in my steel

town and I too would read the Nancy Drew Books. Loved them.

[k55f5r]

106. My sister still has her full collection of Nancy Drew mysteries.

Sixty yrs on.

[debm55]

108. Wow that is amazing. Thank you,

[The Madcap]

53. Baseball and Table Hockey

Watched tons of baseball, played it, and played the Avalon Hill (?) game Statis-pro baseball (keeping stats on notebook paper). Played lots of table hockey with my brothers.

[debm55]

64. Thank you The Madcap. Loved my Pirates here in Pittsburgh. Watched them in person going back to Forbes Field. I kept my

book of stats on the players. We also had an air hockey table. Loved it. Got one for my son when he was younger. Found a puck last
year have no idea where the table is,

[The Madcap]

72. Ours was the rod-type game.. Bobby Orr Hockey. Bruins vs Black Hawks.

It unfortunately had a tendency to sag at the center due to its fairly large "ice" surface. I spent many hours playing that game.

[debm55]

83. I remember that game. The had soccer based on the rods.

[lark]

54. We loved Creepy Critters and the little bake ovens.

We loved making things, from realistic looking roaches to mini cakes - all were so much fun. My sister took the Creepy Critters thing too far when she put 2 roaches in mom's purse and it got taken away for awhile.

We also took mom's pattern books and cut out the women to make paper dolls and played with them a lot!

Climbing trees was also a joy, we had 2 pecan trees which were great for climbing and I could use the excuse that needed to get some out of the top of the tree that didn't come down when we shook it.

[debm55]

62. Thank you very much ,lark. Sounds like you had a very fun childhood

[Midnight Writer]

55. Reading. I was a total bookworm.

I could read before I started school (thanks, older siblings who were patient enough to sit with me, read aloud, and show me the words so I could follow along) and I would read anything.

I read the classics, the Bible, the complete plays of Shakespeare, loads of science fiction and fantasy, comic books, magazines, newspapers, manuals, catalogs. I would go to the public library and spend the whole day there, often picking books at random and reading them. I would read through a set of encyclopedias from A to Z.

Now I am an old codger, retired and single, with plenty of time, and I still can't read enough. I spend probably 66% of my waking hours reading. I think of it as "input" and it is pretty much a compulsive behavior. I can't get enough, and there is so much more out there.

[debm55]

59. How wonderful, Thank you Midnight Writer

[SKKY]

57. Baseball. It's pretty much all I did.

I also really liked Leave it to Beaver. It was my favorite show until I was, like, 15.

[debm55]

58. Thank you very much, SKKY

[justaprogressive]

60. Commercial Slot-car racing

[debm55]

61. Thank you justaprogressive. We had one near our home. I either went to fast around the curves or to slow. I enjoyed it.

Haven't seen those in a long time.

[Phoenix61]

63. Playing kickball. I wish soccer had been a thing back then. nt

[debm55]

67. Thank you Phoenix61, I agree with kickball. Loved playing it. Hated dodgeball.

[Jrose]

79. Comic books of all kinds, but especially Archie, Wonder Woman,

Little Lulu, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Superman, Katy Keene, Mad magazine, Children's Digest.
I'd roller skate over to the corner candy store, buy some Musketeer bars or Pez (wish I'd kept those dispensers!) and browse across wall-to-wall comics, magazines and pocket novels.

[debm55]

81. Thank you very much. Love your choice of comic books, Remember they were 12 cents each. Really liked Mad Magazine.You

know if we kept all the comic books, etc. We would be rich. Who knew.

[XanaDUer2]

90. The jungle book

[debm55]

95. Thank you very much XanaDUer2

[Alliepoo]

94. Loved my Barbies but

I couldn’t get enough books to read! Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Donna Parker, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames and more. We had the Arrow Book Club at school and I’d always have a bag full of books to read on delivery day. There were two books that I remembered from Arrow, The Janitors Girl and Seaview Secret - so I searched for them online a few years ago and bought a copy of each so I could read them again. I also enjoyed Encyclopedia Brown! I started buying Nancy Drew books several years ago to re-read. A nice little walk down memory lane!

[debm55]

97. My school used to order from Troll and Arrow. and Scholastic. A Lot of choices. I'll have to look for the old copies at

recycle book store whe have around here.

[FuzzyRabbit]

96. Unlimited hydroplanes: real ones and kids homemade ones.

In Seattle in the 1950s, the only major league sport we had was the yearly hydroplane race on Lake Washington.


So we kids would make little hydros out of scrap lumber and race them, year round, rain or shine, behind our bicycles.

[debm55]

98. That's cool , Thank you FuzzyRabbit.

[OldBaldy1701E]

101. Sci-Fi. Specifically Star Trek.

And, horror, specifically Stephen King.

Also Matchbox, Hot Wheels, and Johnny Lightning cars. I still have most of them.

[debm55]

103. Thank you OldBaldy1701E. I had some Matchbox cars. I enjoyed the ramps you could buy for them. It was fun

[Lunabell]

102. The Little House on the Prairie series of books.

I read them over and over.

[debm55]

104. Thank you Lunabell. I liked them too, I watched the TV series. But it was different then the books.

[k55f5r]

105. Zorro. He makes the sign of the Z.

I was 4 or 5 and had a Zorro hat, mask, plastic rapier, and cape.

[debm55]

107. Thank you very much k55f5r. You sound like you were very dashing in it.

[Different Drummer]

109. Like Solly Mack....

I read encyclopedias (World Book was what we had at home) and phone directories. I also read The American Heritage Dictionary, which was a gift from my paternal grandmother.

Another thing I did was collect baseball cards. I started collecting in 1969 and remember the first two I got out of my first pack--Tommy Reynolds (Oakland Athletics outfielder) and Lowell Palmer (Philadelphia Phillies pitcher). I spent many hours studying the information on them. My maternal grandfather used to play a game with me regarding my baseball cards. He would take them from me and then call out a name from a card. I was to tell him the team(s) associated with the name he called out. Not to brag, but I did quite well with that game.

[debm55]

110. Thank you Different Drummer. I collected baseball cards too. they had this sheet of hard as rock bubble come. I played a

came at school during recess. You would flip your cards against the building. If it landed on a card/cards you picked them up as they were yours. My game wasn't as hard as your game.

[sakabatou]

111. Transformers

[debm55]

112. Thank you sakabatou. I remember when the boys brought them into school to play with during indoor recess. I was the

teacher.

[sakabatou]

114. I think the only toy I brought from home was a Hot Wheels car

[debm55]

117. Thank you, sakabatou. Hot wheels I remember.

[Rigpa108]

113. "Was"? Am.

Snorkeling. 50 years later still go out and do it.

[debm55]

118. Wow, Thank you Rigpa 108

[LudwigPastorius]

115. My parents' record player and records.

Star Trek (the original series...that's all that was on back then)

Magic tricks and magicians (I could tell you the difference between Robert-Houdin and Harry Houdini, and what year William Ellsworth Robinson was killed attempting the bullet catch trick)

The Mad Scientists' Club books, then later classic Sci Fi

Yes, I was/am a hopeless nerd.

[debm55]

119. No you are not. You are a person who likes different things. That doesn't make you a nerd. I find your list interesting.

[electric_blue68]

116. Almost everything I loved as a kid I still love, and pursue. But I'd I guess I'd say...

wooden train sets.
This was very early 1960s. I loved changing up the layouts, though I didn't have a ton of the various tracks.

When I visited by invitation my aunt & uncle who moved to Switzerland (and the house some of my cousins grew up in) my uncle w one of his grandkids had the same/similar train set, and a much bigger layout! I almost squeeed! 😄 🥰

One thing I've been thinking off & on for decades 😄 is buying a set of Tinker toys. I had the big set as a kid.
I did rebuy Legos as an adult! 🥰

One thing I never had but want is (have looked on line occasionally) a rebuildable marble run! 🥰 What fun!!!

[debm55]

120. electric_blue68 I got a magazine last week with all kinds of Marble Runs. The first one I bought for my class was at

WalMart. After a couple of years I had the class use walls in the cafeteria and use TP tubes and Paper towel tubes. and tape. They broke into groups of 4 and made their runs. It was great. Kids were very creative. If I get the magazine again , I will post it.

[yellowdogintexas]

121. Another encyclopedia reader! I even read my mom's 1937 World Books

Reading was really it for me!!! Began when I was 5 and has never stopped. The Christmas I was in first grade, the first 3 Bobbsey Twins books were under the tree for me. This was in 1954 and were the original versions, not the watered down and simplified ones that came along later. I dived into the first one and barely came up for air the rest of Christmas vacation. I think I got my last doll at age 8, which was the Revlon Doll and my mom made her some gorgeous dresses. She was the first fashion model doll and much larger than Barbie, also more realistic looking. I read somewhere that Lauren Hutton was the model for her.
Anyway I really never wanted anything other than books until I got old enough to be interested in clothes.

There were lots of things I enjoyed and would do whenever I had an opportunity (like cartoons on TV or wading in the creek with friends) but nothing ever topped a good book.

[debm55]

122. Thank you for your wonderful post, yellowdogintexas.