Monday, April 8, 2013

Spinning Button

When my brothers and I were little children we didn't have a huge variety of toys to play with and even fewer things to call our very own. I had my doll and its accessories and the boys each had a toy barn and a few animals.

The main toy box was filled with wooden blocks, empty pill bottles, a few odds and ends, and then our most prized toys; a Fisher Price ABC set, and pull along shoe shape sorter.


 
Books, games, and puzzles were an important addition to the things we enjoyed. And then there were also the simpler things such as; spinning buttons.
 
When ever we opened a bag of feed we used to save the string that had been used to sew the top shut. Mom would use a piece about three feet long and thread it through two holes of a large button and tie  the ends in a knot before handing it to us. Holding the ends we would spin it until it was wound tightly, then by moving our hands together and apart the button would spin making a delightful whirring sound. The bigger the button the better.
 
 
I was telling the children about it and they wanted to give it a try. We used yarn and the biggest button we could find. Sailor is doing the demonstration for us today.

A word of caution: Keep hair away from spinning button.

9 comments:

  1. Oh that brings back memories! Although we didn't use a feed sack string, just twine that Dad rescued from the trash bin at work. My how that button could spin.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  2. Oh yes! We used to spin buttons like that, in the Netherlands.

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  3. I remember doing this as a kid, the simple things were often the best.

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  4. I remember doing that as a child. Been a few years since I saw that done !

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  5. I had one of those Fisher-Price chalk board alphabet sets, too! I liked to play school and that was the best. GREAT video of Sailor spinning the button! I'd forgotten about that and haven't seen that done in forever. Too cute.

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  6. I think some people call the spinning button toy a "Chinese yo-yo", but I'm not certain. In any case, it's definitely fun!

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  7. I remember playing with a string and button like that. Another game we played with a large button was "hide-the-button". Someone would hide it and the others would have to try finding it. I also have fond memories of the Fisher Price School Desk. Now my children enjoy the same one I played with. Although I remember chalk didn't work very well on it.

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  8. We use to do this too. Sailor almost looks like a grown young man! So proud...you are I bet!

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  9. I recently read a very interesting news article. It mentioned that colorful alphabet magnet set that so many of us played with as children. Some researchers found that we still associate letters with the color from that very toy, even as adults, subconciously! Imagine my surprise when I quizzed my husband and sister. They both got almost all the letters matched up with the toy! Funny enough, my 16 year old son had a whole different set of colors he associated with each letter (and it matched up to his letter set he played with!) Try it out sometime. Ask someone, "What color is A? What color is B?" etc. and see if they answer the same as those magnets! It is amazing!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.