which they kept all their most valued little possessions. Usually a small wooden or tin box, preferably one of those black tin moneyboxes with a key so that it could be safely locked up. You would inspect its contents as often as you could, just to make sure that everything was still there, and possibly add another unique piece to your treasure trove of collectables: an old bus ticket, a favourite coloured marble, your membership card for The Biggles Club, a small picture of Doris Day from a discarded newspaper, a cigarette picture card of Stanley Matthews, a small unknown key, and perhaps some old Halfpenny or Farthing coins. Worthless junk they might be, but these were often the prized possessions of a young child.
This 1958 magazine advert for Croid glue captures a 1950s family scene with each member of the family enjoying a hobby. Typically, dad is dressed in shirt and tie and smoking a pipe, but at least he has rolled his sleeves up to appear casual.
Model making was very popular and children usually didn’t need any encouragement to make things out of whatever materials were to hand. Depending on how well off your parents were, you could mould something with plasticine for next to nothing, or you could buy the latest Airfix model or Meccano construction kit. Mind you, Airfix and Meccano were usually only of interest to the boys, aswere toy soldiers and messing around with chemistry sets. Girls were much more inclined to mimic their mum’s activities, and mums were usually keen to teach them skills like sewing, knitting, embroidery and baking cakes. These were all jobs that were considered to be essential for girls to learn for when they grew up and became homemakers, but they were also very popular hobbies, and girls were very keen students.
This crystal radio kit advert from 1950 is aimed at young boys, but the kit is not cheap at 15/- (15 shillings), equivalent to about £ 19 at today’s values based on the retail price index.
This magazine advert from 1950 offers the Subbuteo table soccer game, with miniature players in the colours of any football league club, at a price of 10/7 (ten shillings and seven pence), equivalent to about £ 14 at today’s values based on the retail price index.
Children were very good at finding things to do for free, like scrap-booking, tracing and drawing pictures. A few sheets of old newspaper could be made into all sorts of shapes and objects, and pretty soon you would becomesomething of an origami expert. It wasn’t unusual for a child to sit alone at a table and play games for long periods at a time. A jigsaw puzzle, bagatelle, perhaps a card game like Patience, or even a couple of small magnets could keep a child busy for ages. Young ones occupied themselves by playing at being grown-ups, using such things as toy tea sets and miniature toolboxes. Of course, there was always plenty of time for girls to play with their dolls and the doll’s house that was probably made by dad. Not forgetting all the dressing-up games, complete with make-up and mum’s frock and high heels.
All the boys wanted to have a Hornby Dublo electric train set, but to most it was just a dream and you had to make do with the more primitive and less expensive wind-up toy train. Girls weren’t allowed near electric train sets; these were definitely within the boys’ domain. Then again, even boys sometimes struggled to get control of their Hornby train set if dad was around!
There were many indoor hobbies and pastimes that were equally popular with both boys and girls. Lots of children had pen pals that they would regularly write to. Newspapers, magazines and comics would often have pen pal columns listing children that were looking for pen pals living in certain areas. You could have a pen pal that lived in another city or county, or even in another country! As with stamp collecting, this was a great way to learn geography as well as gaining knowledge of how people lived in other places.
There were
This 1958 magazine advert for Croid glue captures a 1950s family scene with each member of the family enjoying a hobby. Typically, dad is dressed in shirt and tie and smoking a pipe, but at least he has rolled his sleeves up to appear casual.
Model making was very popular and children usually didn’t need any encouragement to make things out of whatever materials were to hand. Depending on how well off your parents were, you could mould something with plasticine for next to nothing, or you could buy the latest Airfix model or Meccano construction kit. Mind you, Airfix and Meccano were usually only of interest to the boys, aswere toy soldiers and messing around with chemistry sets. Girls were much more inclined to mimic their mum’s activities, and mums were usually keen to teach them skills like sewing, knitting, embroidery and baking cakes. These were all jobs that were considered to be essential for girls to learn for when they grew up and became homemakers, but they were also very popular hobbies, and girls were very keen students.
This crystal radio kit advert from 1950 is aimed at young boys, but the kit is not cheap at 15/- (15 shillings), equivalent to about £ 19 at today’s values based on the retail price index.
This magazine advert from 1950 offers the Subbuteo table soccer game, with miniature players in the colours of any football league club, at a price of 10/7 (ten shillings and seven pence), equivalent to about £ 14 at today’s values based on the retail price index.
Children were very good at finding things to do for free, like scrap-booking, tracing and drawing pictures. A few sheets of old newspaper could be made into all sorts of shapes and objects, and pretty soon you would becomesomething of an origami expert. It wasn’t unusual for a child to sit alone at a table and play games for long periods at a time. A jigsaw puzzle, bagatelle, perhaps a card game like Patience, or even a couple of small magnets could keep a child busy for ages. Young ones occupied themselves by playing at being grown-ups, using such things as toy tea sets and miniature toolboxes. Of course, there was always plenty of time for girls to play with their dolls and the doll’s house that was probably made by dad. Not forgetting all the dressing-up games, complete with make-up and mum’s frock and high heels.
All the boys wanted to have a Hornby Dublo electric train set, but to most it was just a dream and you had to make do with the more primitive and less expensive wind-up toy train. Girls weren’t allowed near electric train sets; these were definitely within the boys’ domain. Then again, even boys sometimes struggled to get control of their Hornby train set if dad was around!
There were many indoor hobbies and pastimes that were equally popular with both boys and girls. Lots of children had pen pals that they would regularly write to. Newspapers, magazines and comics would often have pen pal columns listing children that were looking for pen pals living in certain areas. You could have a pen pal that lived in another city or county, or even in another country! As with stamp collecting, this was a great way to learn geography as well as gaining knowledge of how people lived in other places.
There were
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