Hi everyone! How are you doing? For today, I have a rather joyful post. I’m going to share stuff I enjoyed doing as a child. I mean, I didn’t have the best of childhoods, but there were definitely things I enjoyed. Here is a list of activities I liked as a child, and some I still do.
1. Listening to cassette tapes. At around age five, my parents got me a subscription to the Dutch audio magazine for blind children. It was on cassette tape at the time. It lasted only an hour and was sent out every three weeks, but I still loved listening to it. I also loved listening to old editions. Back then, you had to return the cassette tapes after listening, but you could also send a guilder with the empty case and a note saying you kept the magazine. I did this almost with every edition and listened to a lot of them repeatedly.
My parents got me a subscription for the magazine for blind preteens for my tenth birthday and I started subscribing to the one for teens at age twelve. I had that one for about ten years I believe.
I also loved listening to audiobooks. I hated reading Braille books, but really loved the cassette taped books.
2. Playing with dolls. I had a favorite doll, Roza (it was really spelled with a Z). I got her for my third birthday from my grandma, who had bought it on a trip to Berlin. Roza had blond hair and light skin color. My sister’s favorite doll was called Marijke and she was dark-skinned with black hair. We often played that the dolls came from Suriname and went back there on vacation.
3. PlayMobil®. I started playing with PlayMobil® at around age three. Back then, I had three favorite figures, whom I called Pekel, Laren and Foet, none of which are actual Dutch names. These figures did normal everyday stuff like eating, going to the toilet, etc.
When I got older, I played more complicated games. At one point, when I was around eleven, I had two Native American figures whom I called Ingassa and Maranna. My sister played with these figures, while I played with a red-haired figure called Pippi. We said that Ingassa and Maranna were originally from Costa Rica and we again played that we were going back there. Okay, I sound real racist right now with all my stereotyped games.
4. Playing outside. When I still lived in Rotterdam, we had a sandpit that my father had built. It was made of wood which hadn’t been varnished I think, as it was often moldy. I loved playing in it.
We also had a set of swings. I loved those! In Apeldoorn, we got a large set of playing equipment from our grandma. It included a rope, a horizontal bar to bend over and also swings. Until I was at least thirteen, I spent a lot of time on the swings. At the day center, we have a set of indoor swings and I love them, even though I get dizzy quickly going on them.
What activities did you enjoy as a child?
A Multitude of Musings 
Loved Barbies, Legos (and Lincoln logs!), coloring, hopscotch, bike riding, making bead jewelry, and Super Spirograph! Fun question 💖
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Those sound like cool activities, some of which I might still enjoy. I loved Barbies too.
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I played outside even at dark and there weren’t any street lights back then. We used to play hide and go seek using the whole neighborhood.
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Oh, that’s so cool! I didn’t really like playing hide-and-seek much.
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Listening to cassette tapes was a favourite of mine too, only in the first years I rather listened to some widely available cassettes with stories/fairytales/plays for children, and still have some of them that Sofi likes to listen to now, but as a preteen I joined the nearest small library of talking books that was in my area and really enjoyed to listen to books from there. I loved to read Braille much more but since it wasn’t always as easily doable when I was at home it was a nice way of compensating for it.
Your plays with your sister sound very creative, haha. 🙂
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Thanks so much for the compliment on my creative play.
I did listen to more widely-available audiobooks too and those tended to be of better quality than the ones from the library for the blind. I wish I still had some.
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These are such fun things that I also did as a child! I loved playing with dolls and listen to cassette tapes! There were the good ‘ol days!
Kileen
cute & little
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Yes, agree. I wish I still had some of the cassette tapes, particularly the ones on which my grandfather, who has since passed, read a book.
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I used to save my school money when i was a kid and buy a cassette tape. The first cassette tape i ever bought was John Mayer’s Room for squares, i was 11 years old.
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Oh wow that’s so cool! Then I guess you’re significantly older than me, as we were drowning in cassette tapes so to speak. I did save money to buy cassette tapes too though.
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I also listen to cassette tapes for our music. There was no digital songs then. And we enjoyed listening to music.
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Oh, that’s interesting. We did have CDs when I was young, but we had some music on cassette tapes too as well as vinyl.
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When you mentioned about the cassette tapes,what strikes me is “Hannah Baker”.
Gosh I love her super pretty face 😍
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Oh okay. I don’t know who that is, but I’ll look it up.
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Hannah Baker is the protagonist and narrator of 13 REASONS WHY which took up a lot of Netflix attention in 2018 and probably in 2019.
And she was a book first by Jay Asher.
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Oh yes, I should’ve known that. I didn’t see the Netflix series or read the book.
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I remember when I was a kid. I am so excited every time the first side ends. As I love turning the other side..hehe
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Yes, so true. Oh, the joys of not-so-modern technology!
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I loved playing Barbies, Ludo and video games. I still feel like going back in time and relive my childhood. This post made me nostalgic!
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Thanks so much. Yes, it’s good to savor the positive memories.
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I LOVED listening to cassette tapes as a child and playing outside. Times have changed so much.
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Yes, they certainly have. Like, I got a computer at age eleven and an Internet connection at age fifteen and that already caused me to go outside way less. I don’t have kids, but I imagine today’s kids hardly go outside much at all.
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I love playing outside and listening to cassette tapes. Brings back a lot of fond memories!
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Yes, it does for me too! Thanks so much for commenting.
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I used to love playing GiJoe and with Hotwheels cars!
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Oh, interesting. I’ve never heard of those I think.
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Haha now you have!!!!
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Being a 90s kid I can surely say that times and activities have changed. I loved playing with dolls and outdoor and now everything has changed!
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Agree. I’m a 90s kid too, so we may have had some of the same toys.
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Playing outside with my friends was my absolute favorite. I also loved my dolls and makeup set.
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Oh, that’s so cool! I didn’t have many friends, but I loved playing outside too. For example, I loved rollerskating and later rollerblading.
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You mentioned Suriname…are you from there? I loved reading comic strips such as Donald Duck. I was really addicted to comic strip. I also loved playing outside or taking a walk in the neighbours pastures
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LOL, no, I’m not from Suriname. I am from the Netherlands though and a significant proportion of Black Dutchpeople have their roots in Suriname. Since my sister’s doll was Black, that’s how I got the idea I think.
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Nice. Ik ben wel van Suriname hahaha en heb ook familie in Nederland. Dit was n leuke blogpost. Thank u
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Haha thank you. I’m glad my stereotyping didn’t offend you.
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I enjoyed playing doctors, and pretending I was playing house with my dolls, where I was the mom. I also enjoyed rollerblading, and skipping, I also enjoyed the swings, I had a swing, and a seasaw. xoxo
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Oh a seesaw is so cool. I a few years back went on a seesaw you can stand on rather than sit on.
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