Yes Mupsy, I remember cats cradle where you took the string from anothers hand. I don’t remember how we did it though.
What great game memories on this thread. It’s a real shame the games aren’t still played, I’m sure the kids would love them all.
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Skipping ropes are probably seen as a health and safety hazard these days. It was great exercise.
As a young boy, my best friend and I used to play on the local bomb sites. In 1944 we were both 6 years old. Lived in North east London. We also would collect scrapnell in the mornings. (That is bits of shells that were fired at the enemy invaders)
We also went fishing for sticklebacks at a local pond where you could also sail boats.
With 2 large bolts and a nut, we would put caps in the nut screw the bolts in, Chuck in the air and would make a bang when it hit the ground.
I am still in contact with this friend via email, as he lives in Norfolk and I still in NE London.
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Thanks for the explanation Lion Queen.
There was always pocket billiards 
Most of my school holidays I played Rounders.
Loved Skipping & Scooby Do.
Marbles with the boys.
Hop Scotch.
Played Cards a lot with my Parents.
Go Carting.
Darts.
Dressing my Nan’s Cat up in my Dolly Clothes, and taking her around the garden in the Dolls Pram.
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I’m sure if the humble conker can be given the status of a Health & Safety hazard, a length of rope with pieces of wood either end doesn’t stand a chance. Just think of what could happen!
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We had a little garden and had to play there but, I always envied my friends who lived in flats and could play out with all the other children.
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Two Baller was my favourite outdoor game, using two tennis balls, played against the wash house wall.
I can still remember some of the rhymes we used to sing as we played
Nebuchadnezzar, King of the Jews
Bought his wife a pair of shoes;
When the shoes began to wear
Nebuchadnezzar began to swear
When the swearing had to stop
Nebuchadnezzar bought a shop
When the shop began to sell
Nebuchadnezzar bought a bell
When the bell began to ring
Nebuchadnezzar began to sing:
Under, Over, Under, Over, one, two three …
Each, peach, pear, plum
I spy Tom Thumb;
Tom Thumb in the wood
I spy Robin Hood;
Robin Hood in the cell
I spy William Tell;
William Tell at the table
I spy Betty Grable;
Betty Grable is a star
S — T — A — R.
One, two, buckle my shoe
Three, four, knock on the door
Five, six, chop some sticks
Seven, eight, swing on a gate
Nine, ten, chase a fat hen …
@boot, we used to sing ‘Archibald bald bald, king of the Jews Jews Jews
Bought his wife wife wife a pair of shoes shoes shoes
Etc.
I grew up in a seaside village which was idyllic. Most of our play revolved around sand and water. Swimming, jumping creeks, canoeing, mud fights, mud slides, crabbing etc. In the winter we used to skate on the frozen pools and go sledging.
I can’t ever remember being bored because there was always someone to play with. From about 5 years of age we played out with older siblings or neighbours kids and there would be huge gangs where the older ones watched out for the little ones. There was a big playing field nearby and we would play rounders, have horse-pepper fights (that’s a wild plant that grows near the coast) or play on the slide and swings.
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I toured the local bomb sites around Croydon looking for damaged and abandoned bikes to take home, dismantle and rebuild. Usually it took two or three wrecked ones to make one good one. The ones I made I would sell cheaply to top up my non existent pocket money. It never ever turned me into Richard Branson but it helped with my craving for Liquorice Wood from the corner shop in Thornton Heath.
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Except for art school,exactly the same as Minx.
I did climb the local church shed roof and fell in,managed to climb out and ended up having stitches on my head at the hospital.
It never stopped me though,much to the dismay of my parents.
Great days.
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I love these kind of threads, glad it’s re risen
Hide & Seek
Skipping
Elastics
Catching sticklebacks and newts down the stream in the woods, took them back in a jam jar to show mummy.
Rounders
HopScotch
Whip and Top
Did cartwheels and handsprings on the grass verge at the bottom of our street
Bike riding
Making mud pies
Marbles, the bigger the bolly the better
Conkers,
Ball in a stocking game
Clackers…OUCH BUT OH SUCH FUN
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I used to have a hoop and a stick. One day I was miles from home and I lost the stick so I couldn’t find my way home.
I liked cycling, very much. I could get to an interesting place by myself, and I really liked it! I also managed to play ping-pong sometimes, even now sometimes I can play ping-pong on the backyard with it 
Actually, then I never got bored and could always find a task for myself. My sister and I imagined that our yard was a magical place, and each building was some kind of magical castle with different creatures. Also, sometimes I helped my mother with sewing - I even tried to sew some kind of skirt for myself, but it didn’t work
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Anything that got us chased by authority. 
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Same here, but they knew who we were and where we lived. DRAT! Nothing criminal just mischievous.
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Pogo stick, was enormous fun. Days spent on the beach, while our parents worked, great days, kids at school thought we had been abroad we were so suntanned. There were four trampolines on the beach, and I was quite good.
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I used to like roller skating and riding my Coventry Eagle bicycle (not at the same time!).
Those were the days when there was hardly any traffic on the roads! 
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