Playground Games

Recess ranks as a favorite part of school for nearly every child. We all had to wear our coats out to recess unless it was 70 degrees or higher, which the teacher on duty enforced vigilantly. Likewise, if there was snow on the ground or it was raining, you could not get off the sidewalk unless you had on boots to keep your feet dry and warm. Each grade had a certain area of the playground to burn off energy before returning to the classroom. A thick layer of gavel coated the playground which provided material to scoop and create perimiters for rooms as we played house during recess.  We also liked to play rhythmic clapping and singing with partners.  These elaborate routines included clapping, crossing hands to meet your partner's hands and slapping your legs in a variety of formations.

  Giant  swings with deep grooves worn by many small shoes dragging swung in high arcs with daredevil children pumping as high as they could to make the swing chains jerk with their weight.  Monkey bars were popular as well, but because girls were required to wear dresses to school, you needed to have slacks under your skirt if you were climbing around and hanging upside down. Girls also played a lot of jump rope, singing songs as we jumped one after another with two people swinging the rope. We tried to outdo each other by how many times we could jump without missing. Girls and boys did not play together by choice--we didn't like the same games in the primary grades.

 What I most remember doing and enjoying was playing jacks, sitting on the cold hard sidewalks bouncing the ball and picking up one more jack each turn or tossing the ball up, picking up the prescribed number of jacks without letting the ball bounce. Another level of difficulty included "Around the World" which meant you had to circle the bouncing ball with your hand before picking up the jacks.  The boys played marbles, so there was some competition for space on the sidewalks around the playground.

By the time fifth grade rolled around, the playground had parallel bars.  Our hands were not used to swinging across the bars, so we quickly got blisters.  These white liquid pockets would pop and peel back leaving stinging raw spots on our palms.  This made writing in class after recess excruciating.  Even with the pain, we kept at it day after day until we had tough callouses and strong arms.

Missing recess because of school work not done or being sick was lonely and depressing.  Having to spend recess inside because of weather meant no one burned off energy, so we were figity all day. Expending the pent up energy from sitting in class working at our desks settled us down for another session of work.  I cannot imagine school without recess!