Toys and Games we enjoyed in the 40's and 50's

The Tinkertoy Construction Set

Tinkertoywas designed in 1914 and was originally manufactured in Evanston, Illinois, U.S.  The construction set was designed in 1914—six years after the Frank Hornby's Meccano sets—by Charles H. Pajeau, who formed the Toy Tinker Company in Evanston, Illinois, to manufacture them. Pajeau, a stonemason, designed the set after seeing children play with sticks and empty spools of thread. Pajeau partnered with Robert Pettit and Gordon Tinker to market a toy that would allow and inspire children to use their imaginations. After an initially-slow start, over a million were sold

Pickup Sticks

Pick-up sticks, pick-a-stick, jackstraws, jack straws, spillikins, spellicans, or fiddlesticks is a game of physical and mental skill in which a bundle of sticks, between 8 and 20 centimeters long, is dropped as a loose bunch onto a table top into a random pile. Each player, in turn, tries to remove a stick from the pile without disturbing any of the others. The object of the game is to pick up the most sticks or to score the most points based on the color of the sticks 

Lincoln Logs

Lincoln Logs were invented sometime around 1916–1917 when John Lloyd Wright was working in Japan with his father.  The mold for the toy was based on the architecture of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, designed by the inventor's father. The foundation of the hotel was designed with interlocking log beams, which made the structure "earthquake-proof" 

The original Lincoln Log set came with instructions on how to build Uncle Tom's Cabin as well as Abraham Lincoln's cabin. Subsequent sets were larger and more elaborate The toy was a hit. In 1999, Lincoln Logs and John Lloyd Wright were entered into the National Toy Hall of Fame .

Crokinole

The earliest known crokinole board was made by craftsman Eckhardt Wettlaufer in 1876 in Perth County, Ontario, Canada. It is said Wettlaufer crafted the board as a fifth birthday present for his son Adam, which is now part of the collection at the Joseph Schneider Haus, a national historic site in Kitchener, Ontario, with a focus on Germanic folk art.[10] Several other home-made boards dating from southwestern Ontario in the 1870s have been discovered since the 1990s. 

The World Crokinole Championship is held every year in June in Tavistock.

Tin Soldiers

Along with Meccano I would get tin soldiers each Christmas. I managed to build up quite an army over time. I had about 50 union soldiers, half of which I painted grey and yellow to look like confederate soldiers. There were a lot of movies about the Civil War so I use my soldiers to reenact the stories. I also had another set of Cowboys and Indians. Again there were a lot of John Wayne type movies to copy.  Paul Wilker

Monopoly: 

My friends and I devoted many long hours playing Monopoly on rainy and wintery afternoons. It was invented by Charles Darrow and patented in 1935. About 750 million people have played the game; making it the most played commercial board game in the world. Many versions have been made for different countries and it has been frquently updated.

Scrabble:

Scrabble was introduced by Macy’s in 1952 and became an instant success. One hundred and fifty million sets have been sold worldwide, and sets are found in one out of every three North American homes. Highest score during a official Scrabble tournament was 830 in 2006. "Scrabble," is a real word which means "to scratch frantically”.

Roller Skating

Many of the kids who grew up in the 40s and 50s will remember having these strap-on skates that would fit on their shoes.  It was a cheep way to roller skate costing only $9.00  but they had a tendancy to come off while skating when you hit a rut. "Of coarse there where no helmets or knee pads then".

Seen here are a pair of roller skates within the permanent collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Skates like these were adjustable with a roller skate key. 

Marbles

"Every spring there is that special day (something in the air) when all I can think of is walking to Avon School with my dad's Crown Royal bag, filled with marbles - smokies and,steelies "   Spannerin D. Werx (Facebook)

Other marbles were cat's eyes and fish eyes and there were wooden ones too.

I remember playing marbles at Romeo School. We would dig a small hole near the school  wall and toss the marble against the wall hoping it would drop back in the hole. Those who achieved this were given a marbles from the competitors . Paul Wilker

Conkers

A basic idea of the game was to swing the conker and strike the opponent’s conker and try to break it – your conker is then the victor.

To win the game it is important to have the hardest conker. Cheating can be rife – with conkers baked, steeped in vinegar or painted with nail varnish to harden the fruit – but this is frowned upon.

In Stratford chestnut trees were plentiful in the 50s and searched out the city for the best conker. However today chestnut trees are mostly gone. Paul Wilker

Double Dutch

In the 1930s, during the Depression era, children often jumped rope because the game required only a used clothesline to be played. By the late 1950s, however, a number of municipal and societal factors—such as the desire to keep children from playing in city streets and the availability of other games for children in upwardly mobile families—had decreased its popularity. However, jumping rope and double Dutch experienced a renaissance in the late 20th century, to the point that rope jumping became a competitive sport, with various double Dutch rope skipping leagues coming into existence around the world and tournaments being held throughout the year.

Hop Scotch

In the 40s and 50s  when one did not have much  money all you needed was some coloured chalk  and a stone to play this game.  You can still see evidence of the game today on sidewalks in the neighbourhood.

Hopscotch is a popular game in which players toss a small object, called a lagger, into numbered triangles or a pattern of rectangles outlined on the ground and then hop or jump through the spaces and retrieve the object. It is a children's game that can be played with several players or alone.  

Red Light , Green Light

This is a game requiring no equipment.

Start with everyone along the starting line. When you say 'Green Light' everyone will move towards the finish line, When you say 'Red Light' everyone must immediately stop. If players are still moving when you call 'Red Light', they must go back to the starting line.  The first one who reaches the finish line is the winner.

Seesaw or Teeter Totter

In the 50s, it was fun to teeter on seesaws in the playground,  This pastime  was include here because they have been largely  removed from playgrounds, citing safety concerns. However, one could question  whether or not the seesaws should have been removed, perhaps the fun provided by seesaws might outweigh the safety risk posed in using them