Museum of Me: June 2022

The June Museum of Me opening was delayed slightly until today, mainly because I forgot all about it! 

This month's exhibit isn't much of a "sit still and look at it" type. It's June and the perfect time for your Favorite Outdoor Game As a Kid. So get up off the bench, step this way, and see if you might remember this. (I realize that many of you may be way too young.)

Does this thing look familiar at all? Step over to the video monitor and see if this catchy commercial stirs any memories. 

I was born in 1957 and my sister was born three years later. When Kym asked about our favorite outdoor game, I had to think for a bit. My sister and I grew up in a rural area, on a dirt road with just one other house, so it was just us in the summer. We rode our bikes up and down the dirt road and wandered endlessly in the woods, but besides tea parties and solving made-up mysteries, there weren't a lot of games that you could play with just two people. 

But then I remembered the Jingle Jump. It had been advertised on TV, with that catchy song and irresistible lyrics, and we just had to have them. I remember pleading with my mother, and my begging must have worked because both my sister and I got Jingle Jumps. The yellow contraption strapped onto one of your shoes with the blue strap, and the goal was to swing the ball around in a circle, jumping over it with the other foot. That little box at the back of the foot held a couple of jingle bells, thus the clever name. 

I know it took me a long time to get this figured out, but my more coordinated sister quickly achieved the kind of rocking motion that it took to swing the ball, jingle, and jump successfully. Eventually, I did get it because I remember spending a lot of time on the cement front porch doing just what the commercial showed. I can't say I ever twisted while jumping, but of course, my sister and I mastered hopping and bouncing a ball while Jingle Jumping. Looking back, I suspect my mother may have taken the bells out of their little plastic box at some point so she could get a moment's peace. I know we were always yelling, "Come watch us!" so she could appreciate our superb mastery of Jingle Jumping. 

We did find our Jingle Jumps when we cleaned out my father's house several years ago, but alas, the plastic straps had broken and we couldn't try them out to if we retained any muscle memory of how to Jingle Jump. That might have been a good thing, but they sure did provide a lot of fun for just $1.00! 

Thank you for visiting the Museum of Me for one of my favorite outdoor games. The Museum of Me exhibits will be changed monthly on the second Friday of the month (as long as I don't forget), so please stop by again in July for the next carefully curated installation. (The gift shop is on the right on your way out!) If only we sold Jingle Jumps in the gift shop!