Toys
Jacks
Remember playing jacks? Shelley Fraser Mickle does, and it's led her to bounce these ideas around.
Play Ball
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Play-Ball.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 8/13/2007 Play Ball Transcript You’ve no doubt kicked or caught or inflated or pitched or served or spiked or teed off on one of these in the last few weeks, and you may well have watched countless hours of games played with them. But […]
It’s Never Too Late for an Ant Farm
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Ant-Farms.mp3 Author Angela Schlein Air Date 8/31/2006 Ant Farm Transcript I was eleven years old the day I jumped for joy to find the ant family I had ordered in our mailbox. I and thousands of other inquisitive children were introduced to the tiny wonders of the ant world through […]
Hobby Horses: A Brief, Brief History
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Hobby-Horses-a-brief-brief-history.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 12/12/2005 Hobby Horses Transcript One of the most ancient of all children’s toys — and a familiar resident under the Christmas tree for centuries — is the hobby horse. It’s a simple stick with a horse’s head and reigns attached, and, with it, you […]
Puzzles
It's National Game and Puzzle Week, and that has Shelley Fraser Mickle remembering a family enigma.
Revisiting an Old Time Toy – The Honey Tree
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Revisiting-an-Old-Time-Toy-The-Honey-Tree.mp3 Author Jennifer Coenen Air Date 8/30/2005 Revisiting an Old Time Toy – The Honey Tree Transcript Recently, I took my six-year-old daughter on an outing to a living history cabin from the late 1800s. She enjoyed the animals, but what really intrigued her was seeing how people lived back […]
National Bike Month
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Bicycle-Works.mp3 Author Ramona Caponegro Air Date 5/27/2005 National Bike Month Transcript As you think back on your own childhood, what stands out as the symbol of freedom and independence? For many kids both past and present, it is the bicycle, with its ability to carry you away from home at […]
Toy Theaters
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Toy-Theaters.mp3 Author Laurie Taylor Air Date 12/30/2004 Toy Theaters Transcript More than a century before there were video games, there were toy theaters — small stages made from paper where children and adults could act out plays of their own invention, or dramas based on existing plays that were published […]
Johnny Gruelle
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Johnny-Gruelle-Raggedy-Ann-and-Andy.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 12/16/2004 Johnny Gruelle Transcript You have probably met Raggedy Ann and Andy, but what do you know of Johnny Gruelle, their creator? As a boy, Gruelle had an aversion to formal education and dropped out of high school before he graduated, but that didn’t […]
Mystery Games
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/National-Game-and-Puzzle-Week.mp3 Author Cathlena Martin and Laurie Taylor Air Date 11/23/2004 Mystery Games Transcript If you and your family are into mysteries, especially on chilly late fall or winter evenings, you might want to look at some old and new games to add some quality family time to those evenings. While […]