I cycled, played sports like badminton, volleyball, or swimming. I loved wandering around the countryside exploring. I didn’t have many friends, but wasn’t ever lonely as a child. I loved sitting under trees (or climbing them), reading books and drawing (making maps usually) I flew kites on occasion and made little dens for the wildlife. Good times.
Tree climbing, making dens in the bushes on Hampstead Heath, playing “two balls” against the wall, running the roofs in Cholmley Garden ( leaping from one garage roof to another with the caretaker after us!) making Fairy gardens, skipping with the big rope, “round the mount” where your team had to take possession of a small hill and the other team had to stop you, Red Rover, elastics, paddling in Whitestone pond, kite flying on Parliament hill
Climbed trees, swung on the old rope hanging from the old oak tree over the pond in the farmers field. Played with my Action men … I often took them out into Mum’s rockery for survival training adventures.
I remember for ages I had a thing for standing sentry at the top of the drive with a garden cane over my shoulder so I could demand the password of the day from my dad as he came home from work and I’d point my bayonet,(garden cane) at him demanding sweets if he got it wrong.
Ah, happy days. Some memories just stay with you, don’t they.
Hop scotch on the pavements, we used to use bits of coal to do the numbers and the OXO on the pavements cos we didn’t have chalk. Also playing jacks and skipping with friends, often what we called French skipping with elastic bands knotted together.
It is picking a house to knock their front door and then Run for your Life…
Easy for me…ok hop scotch was a favorite, but we had chalk and neighbours would come outside and keep throwing buckets of water over the squares so then we could not play…
so that is how knock down ginger became very popular with the kids
As a child, I played with tadpoles a lot!
In little puddles in the fields on my way home from school …I spent hours playing with them in the palm of my hand! Loved those little babies!
At home, I was always in the garden - in the mud - making little mud cakes and mud food with shredded leaves. All cooked on my stove which was actually a pair of clicker bricks my culinary delights were served to my make believe family on a set of leaves with tiny sticks serving as cutlery.
I’d camp out in the garden - when mum was at work and quickly get rid of the ‘tent’ before she got home.
Stargazing- I spent a lot of time looking up at the stars and learnt about Astronomy. Halley’s Comet got me hooked. I always wished I’ll live long enough to see it again.
Art - I spent a lot of time sketching and studied Art up to Senior High School.
Roller skating until I fractured my wrist
Hide and go seek
Hopscotch
Jump rope
Soccer
Cricket
Badminton
Swingball
Swimming
Fishing
Guy Fawkes - all good memories!
In case you didn’t guess already, I was a Tomboy!
Most of the playground names mentioned including marbles & a running game, think it was called Tag. Cycled, I could ride the whole length of our road without touching the handle bars. Rode horses, at a local riding school, well, they were ponies in those days. Fished in the local stream for Caddisfly Lava. We would remove their boring brown homes & put pretty beads & stones in the water & they made their homes from those, then we’d put them back in the stream. There was also a rope & wood swing over the water from bank to bank, but I was never brave enough to use it. Made dens in the undergrowth in the park, it wasn’t a cultivated park, much more wild then. They did tame it eventually but after I’d grown out of all that. Raced around the park on our bikes. Walkers hated us.
We spent most of the time outdoors & only went home for meals in the holidays. Radio, I listened to lots of BBC radio progs, Dick Barton, Mrs Dales Diary, Listen with mother, tho usually on my own, to name a few. Then I discovered Radio Luxembourg & pop music. Got a Transistor radio for a present & cost my Dad a fortune in batteries. Then in 1952 we got TV, but I still listened to the radio as well.
wow what good question. I suppose the main one was getting hold of pram wheels and a couple of planks of wood and making what we called a" dandy". steering was a couple of bits of string on the front cross wood that pivoted on a bolt. went down the hill with shoes as brakes,had many hours of fun. also bicycle “HE” to see who could stay on a bike stationary before putting a foot down. Torchlight “he” friends hiding in bushes and spotting them in the torch beam. Going down to the River Wandle and catching sticklebacks by hand. We had to improvise and make do, way back it the early 50’s
That was good fun.
my culinary delights were served to my make believe family on a set of leaves 
with tiny sticks serving as cutlery.
out in the garden - when mum was at work and quickly get rid of the ‘tent’ before she got home.
