Toy fads

Serenity · Toy fads

Can anyone remember those ball things? We called them Kerknockers. Two hard balls suspended on string, connected by a plastic tag you held between finger and thumb. You would then swing the balls in such a way that they banged against each other, once you had enough speed up you would raise your hand up and down so they clacked above and below your wrist, making a hellova racket. UNTIL they hit your wrist bone, which would stop them dead and render you unable to use your hand few a few minutes pmsl.....(trying to find a pic of them grr but can't )

Thumper

Yep I can remember those, I loved them, i think you can still get them in some shops, pretty cheap too!

Selious5

We just called them clackers. Dis you ever play with a ball inside an old stocking. You stood against the wall and bounced it in different directions - to the side so many times - then the other and all sorts of ways in a seqence.

Serenity

OMG Hannah !! Yeah I did, but when I've mentioned this before no one knows what I mean ! lolol My nan would get her old tights, and put a tennis ball in the end. Like you said, the gist was to stand with your back against a wall, legs spread. Get hold of the stocking, and swing the ball to bounce on the wall, to either side of you, and up and down between your legs and over your head. We used to sing songs too, but can't remember those. Oh the fun we had, but the tennis ball would soon fly out the end after hitting the rough bricks lol....what a wonderful memory Hannah !

Serenity

I tried clackers and found them lol thankx for that Hannah !

daxxxx

we called em Clackers as well ..i don't remember what happened to mine ...guess that was another toy that mysteriously dissappeared after awhile...lol thinking back all noisy or annoying toys went that way

Selious5

The one with the tennis ball in the stocking. I was trying to remember the song but I don't know if I have confused this with another activity but I remember singing "Ladies in their tight skirts can't do this" Does that ring a bell with anyone
We also used to play with 2 tennis balls againt the wall one after the other- then under one leg then the other - then you had to twirl around catching the balls - you were out when you dropped one

Amber

oh yea but i rembember the pain of my hands , could never do them right

Memph1s

i do remember them debs, but more famously to my generation is this version:

Serenity

That 'safe version' absolutely NO comparrison Dave lol

Selious5 wrote

Amber

Ahh 2 ball, remember the spaceball /spacehopper oh and the chopper bikes.

Memph1s

i used to have this clown that i took everywhere. he had a plastic head and hands and u could put his finger and thumb in his mouth. he was the best toy i ever had. when we moved away from leicester dad told me i could only take one toy out of everything i had and the clown was the one thing i chose. i had him until i was about 13 then my dog ate him, i was so upset/angry i coulda murdered the dog. ive looked everywhere to try and find one similar but never managed to.

his clothes were red with white polkadots, he had a frilly collar and blue feet. he had white hair and a big red nose. ive looked everywhere, charity shops, ebay and even antique shops. i still well up when i think of him

redhead

OH Memphsis it's sounds like the clown holds very special memories for you
not promising anything but I manage a charity w/house were all donations come in roughly 500+ pw we get all sorts in and we have had clowns in the past , what I'll do is ask the girls if they get any clowns in to keep them and I 'll see if I can find a replacement clown for you ,It may take a while and I'll let you now if we get one but being plastic makes all the diff as you now . we've had them in with blue/red hair not sure on the white hair must be a rare one , anyhow I'll keep me eye out .JU

Serenity

Awww thats heartbreaking Dave, lets hope Ju finds one !

Space Hoppers woweeeeeee used to love bouncing on those!!! Don't think we had a pump for them tho as once they went flat that was it

and I remember my brother Jason getting a purple Chopper bike for one Christmas, he LOVED it and paraded up and down the street everywhere on it, I think he put those aerial things on the back with a plag on too, remember those?....and I used to love those tassle things you'd put on your handle bars that flew about in the wind!! Gawd I'm on a roll now lol

Does anyone remember, nicking wooden pegs off the linen line, and pegging cigarette cards onto their spokes of the bike? So when you went down the street the cards clacked and made a wonderful noise!! ???

Memph1s

aww thanks Ju, it was only his hands and head that were plastic

i know he was very old because he used to belong to my dad so his hair might have been another colour to start with. but if u take some pics i could say if theyre close lookin? i used to work in a charity shop and know they throw a lot of things in the bin so i havent been expecting to find one but i suppose if ur sorting out the stuff one might turn up.

debs we didnt do the cigarette cards thing but we did used to ride over drinks cans so they stuck to the wheel, then when they reached the top they would make a noise like a motorbike, much to my dads horror lol cos it used ti wear down the tires

Serenity

Memph1s

no mudguards were for geeks and losers! ner ner ner

Serenity

redhead

yea rem 2 balls same ryhme as you and another one that went on for ages but can't think of name , mum used to get so annoyed as we threw them on the shed door not the wall .
clackers we called them but I never got the hang of it always hit my arm, wrist .

Memph1s

did anyone have a viewmaster? i used to love mine, had slides for everything! from thomas the tank to thundercats. it was great making the sound effects for the scenes hehe

Serenity

OMG I'd forgotten about those! We had one that came from gawd knows where and only had a few discs, but used to love using it.

Way before they came out, we had projectors, little plastic ones, that had slides of disney characters and you'd project this onto the wall, it was AMAZING or so we thought at our young age lol

Memph1s

yea kids these days are like "projectors? dvd players!"

Memph1s

just a couple more i remember.

trapdoor, used to love this.

sesame street, my fave was big bird followed closely by the count!

this post was brought to you by the letter G and the number 5

Serenity

hmm Trapdoor sounds familiar but I can't remember it lol what was it?

Sesame Street I used to love watching when my kids were small, brill learning programme

Dreama

oh god i hated trapdoor, it was like loads of plasticine monster thingies that lived in a trapdoor, but i hated any sort of animation that looked fake, if you know what i mean/ like rhubarb and custard was wobbly, thats why i hated that, and ivor the engine was the same sort of thing, same as morph from take hart. my kids loved sesame street though.

Serenity

That does sound familiar now Shell, not sure if I watched it though. I loved morph in his little clips in Tony's prog. I too hated Ivor and Capt Pugwash and Rhub and Cust anddddddd what was that other one, Alistair and Q tips or something like that??? hmm knew I didn't like it, and the Herbs lol can you remember those, with Parsley the Lion?

Dreama

oooo vaguely, what about button moon? only got to watch that if i was off school, but i hated that aswell lol. What about sons and daughters that was on in an afternoon , always reminds me of being off school that. and cell block H that i only watched in the holidays cause of school lol

Serenity

lmao @ me writing Alistair and Q tips ffs they are what you clean your ears out with arent they?....It's come to me... Alastair and Crystal Tips pmsl DOH...... oh yeah remember those Shell! When we were smaller we all lived in our grandparents house, and if I was ill, it always seemed to be in cricket season and my gramps would have it on all day!! Would drive me barmy laying on the couch ill listening to cricket lol

Memph1s

i just realised i posted tv related posts in the toy topic! you're gonna have to move them somehow or the reality as we know it may cease to exist!

Serenity

lol..that matters why???? Least we're going with the flow!

knewlove · Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake

Mmm...What's that yummy smell? Strawberries? Blueberries? Apples? Why yes, yes it is. It's Strawberry Shortcake and all her friends in Strawberryland.

Each Strawberry Shortcake character had their own fruity dessert-themed name with clothing to match, and they each had a dessert or fruit named pet. Plus, their hair was scented to match their fruit theme.

Besides Strawberry Shortcake and her cat Custard, some of the other characters were Huckleberry Pie with Pupcake the dog, Blueberry Muffin with Cheesecake the mouse, Apple Dumplin' with Tea Time Turtle, and Raspberry Tart with Rhubarb the Monkey.

Bring back memories? It sure does for me!

knewlove

ohhh I so remember the view master too Memphis!!! LMAO... in the 80's they were "IT" lol

Does anyone remember Lite Brite?

I remember having hours of fun as a kid with this hi-tech toy of the 80's
this was about the extent of my creativity (to which of course I was utmost so proud of )

that is until a bulb didn't work anymore! Images got quite colourful and abstract

Serenity

Oh I remember the name Strawberry Shortcake but not the dolls! Did they have Strawberry shortcake stationary and stuff?? I've got a vague feeling I remember that??

I remember the litebrite but never had one:( Oh the technology back then pmsl!!! I had an etch a sketch, but apart from drawing a square thats all I could ever manage....did anyone else manage to draw something recognisable? lol

Thumper

I can remember Strawberry Shortcake but never had one, I can remember they were quite expensive over here.

As for Etch A Sketch, what a bloody waste of time

dintrox

I remember I liked the micronauts. The micronauts were a sci-fi line of action figures imported from Japan in the mid to late 70s. Marvel comics also had a comic book based on the characters with names like acroyear, baron karza, repto etc.. I do not know if they had european distribution or not..

When I was a bit younger I had my reliable Tonka truck.. Then made of metal not the plastic of today..

Thumper

My husband always talks about his Monster truck, they were supposed to be indestructible, and he is quite proud of the fact that he broke his, boy hey

Serenity

My bro had a Tonka truck, they were awesome. You could chuck them around fill them up with mud and stuff, they were the beast!

judyteen

just read all this thread ..awwwwwww i rem most of the mentioned items ,used to love playing 2 balls ..can't rem the songs tho but thinking hard here ....anyone rem 5 stones or gobs as me mum called them ....5 different coloured squares which you used to play with on your hands

Serenity

It sort of rings a bell Judy, were you from a posh family? lol only joking....did you have to balance them or something and catch them, adding more to the back of your hand? or have I just dreamt that up? pmsl

judyteen

lol you got the gist of the game so you never dream't it ..lol at the posh family bit ...i am a working class cockney girl,born and bred in the east end ....live in kent now so guess i could be posh now lollol

Serenity

lol phewwwww I often dream up things, but I can remember vaguely playing it and not being very good at it lol perhaps coz I had long skinny hands they fell off easily!

toni38

Serenity

lol I can! It was so high, I'm surprised you can remember

I can also remember me and you going down to the green criss cross bridge near Seabank Way, and two counil men were painting it, and they let me and you do some! We thought this was great, I'm sure they liked watching us work lol..can you remember that? then we scratched our names in the paint, it was dark green with silver underneath, our names looked so cool!!

toni38

Serenity

I think so lol him and Jason were like bloody monkeys up and down those Elderberry trees ! It's a wonder they didn't kill themselves lol. Can you remember when we went to stay with my aunt Dot in Cambridge? When we were about 14ish for the week. Her friend came and me and you put sparkly glitter gel on their cheeks for their night out, twas the height of fashion back then, I've still got that photo somewhere of me you and Dot in her back garden. Happy memories Tony!

toni38

Serenity

Omg lol NEVER EVER have I spelt it with a Y !!! I'll blame the kids, they were harrassing me yesterday lol!! soooo sorry !!!