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These things from our childhood - what on earth were they called?

61 replies

Circumferences · 03/07/2023 10:26

Ok
Do you remember getting a square of paper, folding it into 8ths(?) Folding it back into itself to make a device you can hold and flick it back and forth.
You'd ask your friend to choose a number from the top, then you'd flip the thing that amount of times, and you end up getting an instruction or something at the end.

I'm "teaching" (it's just an after school club as a volunteer don't worry nothing official) some children how to make these in the club, but can't find anything online to help out with ideas as I've no idea of the search term !!

OP posts:
shams05 · 03/07/2023 15:54

We live in the north west, child of the 80's

CaptainMyCaptain · 03/07/2023 15:55

Fortune tellers here too.

TellerTuesday · 03/07/2023 15:58

DD has recently had pre-made books of them from Smiggle and Flamingo Paperie and they're called chatterboxes on both of those.

We definitely didn't call them that but I can't remember what name we used.

DragonflyLady · 03/07/2023 16:42

Chatterboxes - I work in a school and am often asked to make them.

Diddykong · 03/07/2023 16:44

MurielThrockmorton · 03/07/2023 10:30

I can't remember calling them anything. I haven't seen one for years, DD never made them. Like French skipping seems to have disappeared too.

All skipping is banned in dd's school. Apparently they don't have enough staff to monitor it properly.

CaptainMyCaptain · 03/07/2023 16:50

Diddykong · 03/07/2023 16:44

All skipping is banned in dd's school. Apparently they don't have enough staff to monitor it properly.

That's awful. No wonder children are becoming obese. I am a retired teacher and we had a box of ropes to take out at playtime. Two people on duty and I'm not aware of any dreadful injuries. You just had to stop them playing 'horsey' (rope round neck) or twirling the wooden ends round.

DanceMumTaxi · 03/07/2023 16:53

We called them a flick-flack 🤷🏻‍♀️

sosolongago · 03/07/2023 16:54

In the NW of England in the 1960s we called them 'snap dragons'.

Highlyflavouredgravy · 03/07/2023 16:57

marcopront · 03/07/2023 15:04

How?

Kids make them them themselves.
A times table question on the outside and answers inside. Challenge each other.

EasyLifer · 03/07/2023 17:01

Fortune tellers! We used to make them in school in the 70s with the names of the popular boys inside and the result was who you would marry.

Ted27 · 03/07/2023 17:06

I'm 58

We called them chatterboxes in my dim and distant childhood!

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