Today I was amused and surprised. A teenager playing a very simple game on an Ipod asked me to come see the game he was playing. The game itself was not complicated, but certainly the electronics to make it happen are. He then asked me if this was the kind of game I played as a kid. I could not help but laugh out loud. Did this kid not realize he was talking to a woman who was old enough to be his grandmother?
I took this opportunity to share with him what it was that I played with when I was a child. It was a button on a string, a whirligig. I googled this and found an article that says children in the Ozarks used this "toy" to amuse themselves. Well, children in northern Manitoba also amused themselves with this simple toy and I was one of them.
Easy enough to make, all you need is a good sized button and some yarn or string. I won't bore you with the instructions. Wikipedia has good ones. The coolest part of this toy was the neat humming noise you got when you did things right.
When I was five, it was my only toy. One of my memories regarding this toy involves one of my many brothers. This particular brother, was so blond that he was referred to as "bialy glowa" which means white head. He was proud of his abundant blond hair. This particular morning he was still sleeping when he should have been getting ready for school. My mother asked me to go and wake him. I decided that it would be cool to wake him with my whirligig's humming sound. I got the toy humming and bent over close to my brother's ear with it. I overlooked the small detail that things spinning should not be brought close to hair. I was successful in waking my brother but he was not a happy guy, and I think he may have received an impromptu hair cut.
I think the next time I visit with my grandsons, maybe I will make a whirligig and show them how it works. I will be sure to warn them to keep it away from hair.
I took this opportunity to share with him what it was that I played with when I was a child. It was a button on a string, a whirligig. I googled this and found an article that says children in the Ozarks used this "toy" to amuse themselves. Well, children in northern Manitoba also amused themselves with this simple toy and I was one of them.
Easy enough to make, all you need is a good sized button and some yarn or string. I won't bore you with the instructions. Wikipedia has good ones. The coolest part of this toy was the neat humming noise you got when you did things right.
When I was five, it was my only toy. One of my memories regarding this toy involves one of my many brothers. This particular brother, was so blond that he was referred to as "bialy glowa" which means white head. He was proud of his abundant blond hair. This particular morning he was still sleeping when he should have been getting ready for school. My mother asked me to go and wake him. I decided that it would be cool to wake him with my whirligig's humming sound. I got the toy humming and bent over close to my brother's ear with it. I overlooked the small detail that things spinning should not be brought close to hair. I was successful in waking my brother but he was not a happy guy, and I think he may have received an impromptu hair cut.
I think the next time I visit with my grandsons, maybe I will make a whirligig and show them how it works. I will be sure to warn them to keep it away from hair.
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