Every so often, a new craze sweeps the playgrounds of the UK, causing delight to Children, stress to parents and, on occasion, injury to others! The current fad, Loom Bands, is being sold in every shop from the 99p Store to Harrods and being made into everything from bracelets through to cushion covers. This blog will look at some other crazes and what makes something become the must have accessory of the Playground.

Marbles

Marbles have been found in archaeological digs and dated as far back as 2600BC, however during the 50’s and 60’s, the spherical, collectable toy took the nation’s playgrounds by storm. Made from a wide range of materials from attractively decorated glass through to match winning metal bearings, marbles can be used to play a wide range of games with a world championships being held every year since 1932. Often the rules of the playground allow playing for ‘keeps’ in which the winner would be able to keep the marbles of the defeated opponent, this is a trend which is often seen in Playground Fads and often leads to the eventual banning of them in schools, with parents upset by the loss of paid property sometimes not fairly gained.

Yo-yos

Yo-Yos are one of those crazes which rear its head on a regular basis. Whilst Yo-Yos were first recorded in ancient Greece, they first hit the playgrounds in the 1960s. Originally designed to simply be yo-yoed up and down, their growth of popularity led to technological advances through the 1980s which saw the first Yo-Yo with a ball bearing axle. This allowed the Yo-Yo to stay spinning at the bottom of the string, known as sleeping, and meant tricks could now be performed with a personal favourite being “walking the dog” which the Yo-Yo moved along the floor in front of you as though it were on a lead.

Clackers

This is one of those Fads that makes very little sense and probably had parents wondering what was happening. Popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s, they consisted of 2 balls made of plastic which were attached together by a length of string. The aim was to move your hand in a motion which would cause the balls to hit together and if possible to hit together above and below the hand repeatedly. Unfortunately not only did the plastic spheres cause bruising when the motion was not performed correctly but often if they collided together with too much force they could shatter causing further injury. These were banned in most schools and although did make a brief reappearance in a safer form in the early 1990’s their popularity has since waned.

Football stickers

Collecting cards and Stickers is a playground craze which is always taking place in some form but none more memorably than Football Stickers. Originally produced by Panini, stickers could be bought or swapped to complete the sticker album for that year or special edition versions for world cups. With various different types of sticker to collect from rare holographic “shinies” through to the standard players stickers, trades were often on a bartering system depending on how rare the sticker was and how desperate you were to complete the album.

Pogs

Pogs were a blend between collectable cards and skilful game involving circular card discs featuring graphics of almost anything imaginable. These could be collected or used to play against friends and classmates by stacking a pile of the opponent’s discs, face down. A plastic or metal “slammer” disc was then thrown onto the top of the pile and those landing face up were kept. This was another game that often led to cries of bullying or underhand behaviour by the older or bigger pupils when they played for keeps against younger children.

Tamagotchi

The computerised virtual pet which had children (and many parents) obsessing with their pixelated dog, cat or dinosaur’s wellbeing. The process of feeding, exercising and cleaning up after the digital friend, which if not completed often led to an early demise, meant that students had to tend to their needs in school or ask a parent to do so for them. The cries of ‘you killed my cat’ were often heard when an uncaring parent hadn’t provided enough digital hamburgers to allow ‘fluffy’ to survive the school day. Unsurprisingly due to the disruption caused in lessons Tamagotchis were banned in most schools after a month or so of their release.

Alien birth pods

Another fad which fits in the ‘why?’ category. These egg shaped pods came filled with slime and a rubbery textured alien which was rumoured to be able to reproduce when in contact with other aliens. How the rumour started is unknown, with, to date, no known alien offspring (my money is on a clever marketing executive!) however it is unlikely to make a return to playgrounds any time soon.

School playground fads have little rhyme or reason to why they take off and can often disappear as quickly as they started. Generally they are cheap to buy (at least on a small scale), small in size fitting into school bags, pockets and desk drawers and allow for interaction with friends to some extent even if that is the process of swapping and collecting. Although they could be described as gimmicks and often have a bad reputation, there are many skills that children learn from these, whether it is improving hand-eye coordination from games such as Pogs, Marbles and Yo-Yos through to team-work and negotiation skills from swapping football stickers or working together to keep a Tamagotchi alive. They tend to be the simple games and hobbies away from computer games and other digital sources which so frequently engage with children now and as such are something that should be encouraged. Playground fads are a different way of making the most of play times in school and it is unlikely that they will ever go away.