3. Our grandparents remind their childhood as a time relatively
difficult for the reason that it was the time following the Second
World War. They had to produce their own toys and they often
needed adults’ help. They sewed dolls and balls and curved pipes by
themselves. They had to produce their own dolls’ prams and
wooden cars. Girls made wreaths of plants. While our grandparents
were taking care of cows and geese, they used to play games
connected with singing like: „We’re building
bridges”, „Sycamore”, „An old bear is sleeping fast”, which were
popular then. The following games were also popular: pick-a-
stick, draughts, countries and cities. People used to play with coins
and stones. They also played: dodgeball, hop-scotch, catch, a type
of baseball named in Poland „Palant”, seek-and-hide and blind man’s
buff. There were also ohter plays: drawing in the sand with a
stick, creating patterns by means of pouring colourful sand, a game
named „kolarzówka” (rolling stove-lids with a stick. In the evenigns
they used to tell stories together with their parents (eg. about ghosts)
and to sing songs.
4. Playing with coins
A player puts a coin at the edge
of a table. He leans
down, blows on the coin and
tries to make it move. The nest
step belongs to the opposite
player, who makes use of a
different coin. The opposite
player tries to blow on his coin
in such a way, that his coin
covers the first player’s coin. If
such a situation happens, he
takes both coins, gets a point
and a new game is started. The
player who who takes more
coins or gets more points wins.
5. Composition
Our grandparents used
to make compositions
of stones, glasses, sticks
and flowers etc. and of
other things of this
kind. They created in
this way mosaics and
pictures of various
kinds. They picked up
long blades of grass
and made dolls.
6. We’re building bridges
Children are standing next to
each other and are holding their
hands in the air. They create a
bridge in this way. Each child
does its best to go under this
„bridge”. They have no much
time. They have to manage to go
under the bride while the other
children are saying the following
poem: „We’re building bridges
for a village headman, We let a
thousand horses go and one of
them we’re going to catch. A
Polish version is much shorter, of
course. The child who doesn’t
manage to go within a given
period of time, has to give a
forfeit and after the game he has
to buy it out.
7. Making toys
Our grandparents made
toys with their own hands.
Boys created
vehicles, fireworks or
soldiers. Girls sewed dolls of
various pieces of clothing on
their own. They learned to
knit and to embroider. In
winter they produced their
own skates and skis.
9. People who are nowadays about 40 used to play with their parents:
they used to play boardgames and various games in the air. They
told stories, sang songs and read fairy tales before sleeping. TV
series of those times (e.g. „Four Armoured and a Dog”) were an
inspiration to many backyard games. We should emphasise a fact
that children of those times had a lot of freedom. Parents willingly
agreed their children to spend a lot of their free time outside.
Children of those times used to play the following: plays –
domino, tiddlywinks, draughts, chess, ludo, cards, countries and
cities, Chinese whispers, thematic games –army, home, American
Indians, four armoured, a shop, a cinema (displaying slides), at
tailor’s (sewing clothes for toys), other activities – throwing a
knife, playing caps (a race in a room), a catapult, beater
volleyball, contortions on a beater, playing jump rope games, Polish
baseball ( called in Poland Palant), hockey, skates, sled, bicycle, seek-
and-hide.
10. Pick-a-
stick
Players spill sticks on a table
and later on they have to
take one spill in such a way
that other sticks do not
move. If a player manages to
take one and other sticks
don’t move, the same player
goes on trying. If a player
makes another stick move, he
loses a turn.
11. Line
Children drew a
chalk line on the
ground. They went
back and threw a
coin towards the line.
The one who
managed to throw
the closest to the line
won.
