Summer Memories of Play (part 1)

Museum staff shared some of their best childhood play memories including these, of favorite games invented in summer.

I remember my next-door neighbor had this great, big, flat driveway and the neighborhood kids would all play "Chalk City."  We each got to draw one house and one store that we "owned" and then would go around buying chalk pets, art, jewelry and clothes.  I owned the chalk ice cream store and would sell ice cream in all different colors.  By the end we were all covered in chalk – and so was our neighbor’s driveway!

– Julie, Volunteer & AmeriCorps Coordinator

As a kid, I spent the summers at a family home in Matunuck.  Whenever we had a big storm, we'd go out to the garage and play "Show."  My cousin Jack would climb the ladder to the attic and hold a spotlight on the rest of us as we dressed up in life preservers, flippers and goggles and danced around and sang. We kept planning the show, which we never actually got to put on because the sun would come out and we'd go to the beach!

– Mary, Early Childhood Programs Coordinator

We lived next to a hayfield and by the middle of summer, the hay was taller than the youngest kids.  We invented a game of hay hide and seek.  "It" would cover her eyes and count and everyone else would scatter out into the hayfield, all running as fast as they could, and belly flop down in the hay.  There was an absolutely magic moment when you were It.  You'd open your eyes and look out across the field and see only waving hay stalks.  All the other kids had simply vanished.

– Janice, Executive Director

I remember playing "Rock Shop" with my two older sisters at our summer beach in Jamestown.  We would take beach rocks and shells of various sizes, shapes, colors and determine prices based on how rare or special we thought each one was.  We would write the prices on them with chalk and arrange them on the boardwalk as the 'storefront.'  Then we took turns as the shop owner and the customer, pretending to be on vacation and shopping for just the right souvenir!  It's a game that has components of creative play, sorting, math and just plain old-fashioned summer fun.  It’s a great memory I have with my sisters and one I am happy to share with my own daughter.

– Cynthia, Experience Coordinator