Do kids still play elastic/jumpsies/yogo?
Mary Lacroix
it's possible that this may have already have been discussed and I
missed it. Apologies if this is the case.
When I was a kid in the late 60s in Montreal, the major game among
most girls was not jumping rope but something called "elastic" which
could be viewed as a cross between skipping and cat's cradle. A length
of sewing elastic would be tied into a loop and two girls would stand
inside the loop, then back up so that the entire loop was gently stretched
between them at ankle level. Another girl would execute varying series
of jumps and crossing patterns with the loop. If she completed the series
successfully, the elastic would be raised to knee level and she would have
to succeed again to continue the same series at "bumsies" (hip level).
When my family moved to Toronto in the mid 70's, my sister and I found
that the game was referred to as either "jumpsies" or "yogo", and the
materials could be tied together rubber bands (!) or a skipping rope.
Yet this game doesn't seem to have endured with today's kids. It
may have been very regional -- my sister-in-law, who grew up in Ottawa,
never heard of it. Nonetheless, the four grade schoolers I showed the
game to today were *extremely* enthusiastic -- so there is a chance that
I may be responsible for a small renaissance of elastic in the Toronto
suburbs (g).
So .. did you ever play a similar game? Are your kids playing this now?
I don't know if a lot of traditional games and rhymes are paramount
with today's kids (although the girls I played with today did know
some *interesting* variations on traditional clapping games -- one
girl's reasonably relaxed mother said she was rather shocked with the
sexual content of some of them).
Oh well, I may be off to the library soon to see if the Opies or other
scholars have written down any of the rhymes or other games I remember
from my childhood.
Regards,
Mary.
mlac...@credit.erin.utoronto.ca
Rosemarie Ventura
We had that game back in the Bronx in the 60's. I think
we called it "chinese jump rope". No offense meant to anyone,
but if you're looking it up in folklore digest and such you
might try that name also.
--
Rosemarie Ventura
ah...@freenet.carleton.ca
aa...@freenet.buffalo.edu
Susanne Stolcke
>Mary.
Yes, this was our favorite game at school between classes when I greww up -
in the early-mid seventies in germany.
Oh, this post brought back memories!!!!!!
But I don't know if it is still popular in germany. I will ask some friends!
Susanne (Mami to Patrick, 4 and Oliver, 2)
--
Susanne Stolcke sto...@icsi.berkeley.edu
95a Edgecroft Rd., Kensington, CA 94707 (510) 528-1224
Jo Pitesky UCLA Astronomy
Jo Pitesky
pit...@bonnie.astro.ucla.edu
Kerry Dalley
Sus
> >When I was a kid in the late 60s in Montreal, the major game among
> >most girls was not jumping rope but something called "elastic" which
> >could be viewed as a cross between skipping and cat's cradle. A length
> >of sewing elastic would be tied into a loop and two girls would stand
> >inside the loop, then back up so that the entire loop was gently stretched
> >between them at ankle level. Another girl would execute varying series
> >of jumps and crossing patterns with the loop. If she completed the series
> >successfully, the elastic would be raised to knee level and she would have
> >to succeed again to continue the same series at "bumsies" (hip level).
> >
> >When my family moved to Toronto in the mid 70's, my sister and I found
> >that the game was referred to as either "jumpsies" or "yogo", and the
> >materials could be tied together rubber bands (!) or a skipping rope.
> >
> >Yet this game doesn't seem to have endured with today's kids. It
> >may have been very regional -- my sister-in-law, who grew up in Ottawa,
> >
Well 'elastics' are still really popular here! We used to use sewing
elastic, until some enterprising capitalists brought out Fluoro
Elastics! Now we have to have them in bright colours...Rachael in fluoro
orange, and Sarah in purple :-)
I played this as a child too, although in my day we made them from rubber
bands knotted together...It was hell on my leg hairs!!
So, in New Zealand, elastics are all the rage....so are marbles! :-)
--
*****************************************************************************
Kerry Dalley
Wellington
New Zealand (Michael & Rachael too!) ker...@actrix.gen.nz
Laura Dolson
We had "bumsies", too! I hope it's being revived, but I haven't
seen it since that time.
--
Laura Dolson
dol...@crl.ucsd.edu
Anita Graham
>When I was a kid in the late 60s in Montreal, the major game among
>most girls was not jumping rope but something called "elastic" which
>could be viewed as a cross between skipping and cat's cradle. A length
>of sewing elastic would be tied into a loop and two girls would stand
>inside the loop, then back up so that the entire loop was gently stretched
>between them at ankle level. Another girl would execute varying series
>of jumps and crossing patterns with the loop. If she completed the series
>successfully, the elastic would be raised to knee level and she would have
>to succeed again to continue the same series at "bumsies" (hip level).
Great memories....we played 'lastics here in the South West of Western
Australia in the '60s too. I don't remember the moves, but the levels were
footsies, kneesies, (don't remember)sies, and waisties (fairly impossible).
Other waves of popularity were for a ball game that involved throwing a ball
1. straight at a wall 10 times,
2. left handed 10 times,
3. with a clap etc
4. under the left leg etc etc up to about 12 variations.
We never had knucklebones though, my cousins showed me those.
We did have hula hoops and yoyos.
Laura Marple
>When I was a kid in the late 60s in Montreal, the major game among
>most girls was not jumping rope but something called "elastic" which
>could be viewed as a cross between skipping and cat's cradle.
Yes, this is what we played during recess in Hawaii in the '70s! It was called
Chinese jump rope (I think that was the name on the packages in the stores).
The best girls could make it to waist level.
>I don't know if a lot of traditional games and rhymes are paramount
>with today's kids (although the girls I played with today did know
>some *interesting* variations on traditional clapping games
We also played a lot of clapping games. My younger sister (12 years younger
than me), however, didn't play either. But that could be geography (she was at
school in Northern Virginia) as much as the changing times. I know I've seen
Chinese jump ropes for sale in toy stores recently. Can't remember what they
were called though.
Now I'm having nostalgic flashbacks... :)
Laura
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laura Simeon Marple * "When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said
Department of History * Piglet, "what's the first thing you say to
Univ of British Columbia * yourself?" "What's for breakfast?" said Pooh.
Vancouver, BC, Canada * "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting
* today?" said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
la...@marple.home.cs.ubc.ca * "It's the same thing," he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Valerie Bock
Laura Dolson
: Other waves of popularity were for a ball game that involved throwing a ball
: 1. straight at a wall 10 times,
: 2. left handed 10 times,
: 3. with a clap etc
: 4. under the left leg etc etc up to about 12 variations.
We played a variation of this we called "Sevens" where you did the
first thing 7 times, then the next thing was 6, and they got trickier
till you got to 1's, where you had to turn around before you caught it.
Then, after you went through it, you did it again only with a clap,
then a double-clap, then a stamp, a stamp-clap, a rolly-polly - well,
you get the idea!
--
Laura Dolson
dol...@crl.ucsd.edu
Melinda Meahan
Mary Lacroix <mlac...@tuzo.erin> wrote:
>When I was a kid in the late 60s in Montreal, the major game among
>most girls was not jumping rope but something called "elastic" which
>could be viewed as a cross between skipping and cat's cradle. A length
>of sewing elastic would be tied into a loop and two girls would stand
Oh, yes! We called it Chinese Jump Rope. They used to sell Chinese
Jump Ropes in the stores; thick braided elastic bands, like what
they use for hair elastics today but a lot thicker.
>Yet this game doesn't seem to have endured with today's kids. It
>may have been very regional -- my sister-in-law, who grew up in Ottawa,
>never heard of it. Nonetheless, the four grade schoolers I showed the
I was raised in eastern Pennsylvania, so maybe it was an East Coast
thing?
>game to today were *extremely* enthusiastic -- so there is a chance that
>I may be responsible for a small renaissance of elastic in the Toronto
>suburbs (g).
Most children I have seen usually are enthusiastic about something
like that, especially when demonstrated by an enthusiastic adult.
>So .. did you ever play a similar game? Are your kids playing this now?
>I don't know if a lot of traditional games and rhymes are paramount
>with today's kids (although the girls I played with today did know
My children don't play it . . . yet. But I think I am going to
teach them. I had forgotten totally about it.
And as far as the games and rhymes go, PriceSternSloan puts out a
series of cassettes called the Wee Sing series, with all the
counting rhymes, jump rope rhymes, and songs that you remember
from grade school. We just love it at our house, and have worn
out at least one set of tapes.
Yuval Kfir
<an...@meander.osi.curtin.edu.au.> wrote:
>mlac...@tuzo.erin (Mary Lacroix) writes:
>
>
>>When I was a kid in the late 60s in Montreal, the major game among
>>most girls was not jumping rope but something called "elastic" which
>>could be viewed as a cross between skipping and cat's cradle.
Well, I remember this from when I was a child, and it's still popular here
in Israel, though I wouldn't say it was the "major game". I think it's
also called "elastic" ("gummy" in Hebrew), but I'm not sure -- never played
it myself, though I think I tried once or twice :-)
>Other waves of popularity were for a ball game that involved throwing a ball
>1. straight at a wall 10 times,
>2. left handed 10 times,
>3. with a clap etc
>4. under the left leg etc etc up to about 12 variations.
That one's also still popular, and boys are also allowed to participate ;-)
--
Yuval Kfir, Maayan's dad (9-Jan-1994)
kf...@Indigo.co.il
"My opinions may change but not the fact that I am right."
I do not represent Indigo Ltd., Israel.
PLEASE mail me if you know the source of my .sig quote... I don't!
Debby Pilkerton
Debby
PA 130
Mom to Ricky 11/28/74 and Dusti 8/1/82
I. Midey Chang
favorite game. We didn't buy it in the store - we made it out of rubber
bands.
You start by taking two brubber bands, put a third one through the original
two (the third one works as a U hook). This provides the two newloops for
the next rubber band to go on, and you repeat this until the rope is of
desired length. The last link, use two rubber bands and slip one end of the
U into the other end to tie off.
I intend to teach Sandra this fun game. How this brings back memories -
I used to be able to do waist height regularly - wonder if I can do knee
height now!
---------------------------------------
Midey Chang-Mateu (rbn...@rohmhaas.com), pg. 21, mom to Sandra and Chase
The opinions expressed are not of Rohm and Haas Company.
Dena Rollo
>most girls was not jumping rope but something called "elastic" which
>could be viewed as a cross between skipping and cat's cradle. A length
>
>
>So .. did you ever play a similar game? Are your kids playing this now?
Yes, we did. NYC, late 50's, early 60's.
-Dena
Susan Hough
>In article <1994062709...@nmrdc1.nmrdc.nnmc.navy.mil>,
>rdc...@nmrdc1.nmrdc.nnmc.navy.mil (Debby Pilkerton) says:
>>
>>In Article <2uj5vd$q...@news.mic.ucla.edu> "pitesky@mira (Jo Pitesky UCLA
>>Astronomy)" says:
>>> It was chinese jump rope in California in the 60's and 70's, too.
>>>
>It was called Jumping Rope in Taiwan in the same time period. It was my
>favorite game. We didn't buy it in the store - we made it out of rubber
>bands.
>You start by taking two brubber bands, put a third one through the original
>two (the third one works as a U hook). This provides the two newloops for
>the next rubber band to go on, and you repeat this until the rope is of
>desired length. The last link, use two rubber bands and slip one end of the
Deja vu! This is exactly what we did in Toronto around 1970. Rubber
bands were prized commodities--there was a 2nd method in which each
one was hitched to the next; it wasn't as strong as making each one
into a U hook, but you needed fewer rubber bands.
The game does still exist--my daughter was into 'Chinese jumproap'
for a while, maybe 2-4 years back (in both NY and CA, as I recall).
They now sell elasticized jump ropes for about $2; I never could
get Sarah excited about making her own.
Anyone remember 'Indian rubber' handballs? Boy, were those things
deadly...
Sue
MICHELLE MADER
We did, too. Here it's called Chinese Jumprope. You can buy them
in toy stores. (We made ours by connecting rubber bands.)
After I bought one for my daughter I went crazy trying to remember
all the "moves". A girl in her school wrote down one set for
her. The game is not as popular now as it was when I was a girl.
Michelle
Debbie Acton
Lacroix) writes:
>
> Msg-ID: <CrzJp...@credit.erin.utoronto.ca>
> Posted: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 03:43:58 GMT
>
> Org. : Erindale College, University of Toronto, Canada
>
> I've subscribed to misc.kids on and off for a couple of months, so
> it's possible that this may have already have been discussed and I
> missed it. Apologies if this is the case.
>
> most girls was not jumping rope but something called "elastic" which
> could be viewed as a cross between skipping and cat's cradle. A length
> stretched
> between them at ankle level. Another girl would execute varying series
> of jumps and crossing patterns with the loop. If she completed the series
> successfully, the elastic would be raised to knee level and she would
> have
> to succeed again to continue the same series at "bumsies" (hip level).
>
> When my family moved to Toronto in the mid 70's, my sister and I found
> that the game was referred to as either "jumpsies" or "yogo", and the
> materials could be tied together rubber bands (!) or a skipping rope.
>
> may have been very regional -- my sister-in-law, who grew up in Ottawa,
> never heard of it. Nonetheless, the four grade schoolers I showed the
> I may be responsible for a small renaissance of elastic in the Toronto
> suburbs (g).
>
> with today's kids (although the girls I played with today did know
> girl's reasonably relaxed mother said she was rather shocked with the
> sexual content of some of them).
>
> scholars have written down any of the rhymes or other games I remember
> from my childhood.
>
> Regards,
> Mary.
> mlac...@credit.erin.utoronto.ca
We played the elastic game as children in Vancouver, B.C. too. I loved
them. I don't remember any of the rhymes but vaguely recall some of the
moves. I would be very interested in the titles of any books you might
find or in anybody's memories of the rhymes.
Debbie
cfel...@skatter.usask.ca
It must be enduring enough in *some* circles up here in Canada because
I just saw a fancy 90's version of the looped elastics in a package
in the Bay entitled "Chinese Jump Rope". It was made out of an ultra-thin
bungee-like cord in day-glo and black colors.
Caren Feldman
Fearnley Anne
any good at it. You will be glad to hear that girls still play elastic in the
'ruelles' of Montreal, at least in my neighbourhood.
--
Anne Fearnley Dept de math. et de stat.
fear...@ere.umontreal.ca Universite de Montreal
Montreal, QC, Canada
Romaine Kroon
>When I was a kid in the late 60s in Montreal, the major game among
>most girls was not jumping rope but something called "elastic" which
>could be viewed as a cross between skipping and cat's cradle. A length
>of sewing elastic would be tied into a loop and two girls would stand
>inside the loop, then back up so that the entire loop was gently stretched
>between them at ankle level. Another girl would execute varying series
>of jumps and crossing patterns with the loop. If she completed the series
>successfully, the elastic would be raised to knee level and she would have
>to succeed again to continue the same series at "bumsies" (hip level).
>
>
>Mary.
>mlac...@credit.erin.utoronto.ca
Yes, I had forgotten how many hours I played that game with my two
girlfriends. I grew up in the french part of Switzerland, (born early
sixties) everybody in our grade school played it. I think it was just
called elastique. My sister is 11 years younger than me and I don't know
if she played it (I left home when she was 9) but I'll ask her when I see
her in August. My daughter is only 7 months old, she is so active
already that I'll have to show it to her when she is coordinated enough.
I remember using a chair if nobody was around, except it did not work as
well as the elastic would slip to the bottom.
Thanks to remind me what fun it was, we came up with some pretty fancy
twist and turn in the air that I wish I could still do.
P.S. I'm out of breath from demonstrating the game to my co-worker, she
grew up in Seattle, Washington (USA) and has never heard of it. I'm
amazed I can still remember most of the foot work. Thanks for making my
day, now I'm off to water-aerobics.
Bye for now
Romaine, maman to Caroline Antoinette (11/17/94)
Robyn Kozierok
}that the game was referred to as either "jumpsies" or "yogo", and the
}materials could be tied together rubber bands (!) or a skipping rope.
}
}Yet this game doesn't seem to have endured with today's kids. It
}may have been very regional -- my sister-in-law, who grew up in Ottawa,
}never heard of it. Nonetheless, the four grade schoolers I showed the
}game to today were *extremely* enthusiastic -- so there is a chance that
}I may be responsible for a small renaissance of elastic in the Toronto
When I lived in a Boston suburb (Framingham) in the early '70s, I never
heard of this game. Then we moved to Ottawa in 1977 and it was quite
popular at my school. We used a loop of tied together rubber bands, and
the owner of said loop was a very popular girl. ;-) It was called "Jumpsies"
--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/7/93)
Robyn Kozierok
Robyn Kozierok <ro...@cocoa-chex.ai.mit.edu> wrote:
>When I lived in a Boston suburb (Framingham) in the early '70s, I never
>heard of this game. Then we moved to Ottawa in 1977 and it was quite
>popular at my school. We used a loop of tied together rubber bands, and
>the owner of said loop was a very popular girl. ;-) It was called "Jumpsies"
Sorry to follow-up on my own posting, but I am realizing reading some of
the other posts that I think I played a different version than most people
on this thread. I think that our version involved more than 2 people holding
the elastic out in a circle. It was definitely different than Chinese
Jumprope, which I also played, with a prefab elastic rope, but I don't remember
if that was in Ottawa or Framingham
Mary Lacroix
some new posts to this thread when I logged in today, so maybe it's a
*good* thing that I wore myself out cycling this weekend (praise the padded
cycling shorts and pass the Savlon!).
I was amazed to get such a large number of responses. I knew this
was a high-volume group, but the number of people who responded via posts
here and via e-mail was gratifying -- I can now tell my sister-in-law that
this wasn't just some arcane Montreal-Toronto ritual!
I'm listing countries, provinces/states and cities below. With few exceptions,
the 60's seemed to be the heyday for this game. The most common name
in the U.S. was Chinese Jump Rope, while elastic or 'lastic was more
common in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A correspondent in Taiwan said
that they simply called it Jumping Rope. This suggests to me that perhaps
the game *did* start in Asia; I had thought that the American name
reflected a common Western tendency to identify unusual variations on
a game as Chinese (such as "Chinese Counting" described in the Opie books),
but maybe the name was more accurate this time. (If anyone out there is
looking for dissertation material, here's your chance!)
Please feel free to post any corrections or additions; I know that I've
misplaced at least one printout from this thread.
Place Time period
Canada: Montreal 60s-present
Toronto 60s-70s
Winnipeg 60s (called Chinese Rope?)
Saskatchewan present (Chinese Jump Rope sold in The Bay)
Vancouver ?
U.S.A.: Vermont 60s
Pennsylvania ?
New York City 50s-present
Maryland 60s-70s
Detroit 60s-70s
California 60s-present
Hawaii 70s
?Texas?? ? (forgot to check re location of NASA Lewis R.C.)
New Zealand ? -present
Australia 60s-present
Taiwan 60s-70s (used rubber bands)
Israel ? (printout misplaced)
Lebanon 70s
Switzerland 60s-70s
Germany 70s
It was odd to find much of the Commonwealth represented as well as
parts of Europe, but no responses from the U.K.; none of the books
I looked at (mostly British) mentioned the game at all. It looks to
be mostly a coastal and Canadian border phenomenon in the U.S.
Rules: I remember the rules for a few games, and some of those responding
to this thread indicated that they remembered their rules, too. If anyone
really wants to learn/relearn this game, just ask us to post them.
If you're nostalgic re kid's games and rhymes in general, here's a
brief bibliography of some useful sources:
Bett, Henry. The Games of Children: their origin and history. Detroit:
Singing Tree Press, 1968. (Originally published by Methuen, London
in 1929).
Opie, Iona Archibald and Peter Opie. Children's Games in Street and
Playground: chasing, catching, ... . Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1984.
Opie, Iona Archibald and Peter Opie. The Lore and Language of School-
children. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961.
(Both books by the Opies are an absolute delight; I'd recommend any of
their other books as well.)
Sutton-Smith, Brian. The Folkgames of Children. Austin: University of
Texas Press, 1972.
(This one is a scholarly collection of essays, but it includes a few
that many general readers would appreciate, including an examination
of games in New Zealand up until the 1950s and a study of changes in
game preference, by sex, in the U.S. from the 19th century to 1959).
Yeatman, E.F.E. and Maud R. Hall. On the Green. Darby, PA: Norwood
Editions, 1973. (Originally published 1894).
Thanks again to all who responded!
Regards,
Mary.
mlac...@credit.erin.utoronto.ca