Kids have always had a thing. This is not new. When I was in school 40 fucking years ago, Christ I’m old, there was a yo yo phase, a rubber band / paperclip phase, a bloody knuckles phase. I’m sure more that I’ve forgotten.
“Pencil Break” was the hot shit for about a year in middle school. This was right on the edge of when mechanical pencils started to replace wooden ones in school (not completely, I’m sure kids still use wooden #2s.)
It was stupid, but so many people would take turns slapping pencils together to see which ones would break. Obviously brand new pencils out of the box snap the easiest, while worn down nubs are impossible to break. The school eventually banned it and briefly flirted with banning wooden pencils after parents and teachers complained that all the really dedicated students had no writing instruments left.
At my school there was a group of students who would steal unattended pencils and hoard them in a huge pile in a hole in the woods behind the school. Eventually they got caught but for a while it was easy to make the excuse that you couldn’t do schoolwork because the pencils were gone.
I forgot about the bloody knuckles. You either got good at spinning a quarter, or you got good at taking pain.
There’s a YT channel MrRebootFTW that Google fed to me where a guy goes through all of the old school tricks and how to do them. It’s silly. Things like spitball guns, shooting paperclips or folded paper with rubber bands, rubber band guns with old mechanical pencils, and a bunch of other things. It’s a fun nostalgia watch if you’re into it.
Kids have always had a thing. This is not new. When I was in school 40 fucking years ago, Christ I’m old, there was a yo yo phase, a rubber band / paperclip phase, a bloody knuckles phase. I’m sure more that I’ve forgotten.
Those little rubber domes that you can flip inside out and they pop up into the air
Ah yes. The horrible bruise generators
I miss those
“Pencil Break” was the hot shit for about a year in middle school. This was right on the edge of when mechanical pencils started to replace wooden ones in school (not completely, I’m sure kids still use wooden #2s.)
It was stupid, but so many people would take turns slapping pencils together to see which ones would break. Obviously brand new pencils out of the box snap the easiest, while worn down nubs are impossible to break. The school eventually banned it and briefly flirted with banning wooden pencils after parents and teachers complained that all the really dedicated students had no writing instruments left.
Nation of geniuses over here.
At my school there was a group of students who would steal unattended pencils and hoard them in a huge pile in a hole in the woods behind the school. Eventually they got caught but for a while it was easy to make the excuse that you couldn’t do schoolwork because the pencils were gone.
Basically conkers. Sounds like fun.
Yep. I forgot about that one. We did that, too. Boredom breeds creativity!
Yoyos got supplanted by hacky sacks during my school days.
slap bracelets
Koosh balls
I forgot about the bloody knuckles. You either got good at spinning a quarter, or you got good at taking pain.
There’s a YT channel MrRebootFTW that Google fed to me where a guy goes through all of the old school tricks and how to do them. It’s silly. Things like spitball guns, shooting paperclips or folded paper with rubber bands, rubber band guns with old mechanical pencils, and a bunch of other things. It’s a fun nostalgia watch if you’re into it.
Bloody knuckles was the shit. I was the asshole that brought a huge Eisenhower Dollar to the game.
Grade 1 in 2001 was Pokémon cards, next was Beyblades, then Yu Gi Oh. Grade four was Tamogachi, and I forget if grade 5 had anything.