Potholders

Monday, June 13, 2022

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!

13 comments:

  1. LOL - I do remember the Jingle Jump. I, too, begged my parents for one and finally got one. But I think I lost interest pretty quickly and never played with it much.

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  2. That's a bit before my time, but I got a good laugh out of the commercial! I seem to remember having a similar contraption at one point, but there were no jingle bells involved -- it was a just a loop that you put on like an anklet that had the ball and string connected. I guess someone who was equally fed up with the sound of the jingle bells came up with a quieter version!

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  3. I always wanted a Jingle Jump, but I never got that particular version. I did have a similar contraption -- I think it was called (if you can believe this) a "Footsie!!!" It had a loop that went around your ankle and a ball on a tether. You did the same thing -- rocked it around in a circle so you could "jump" it. I LOVED that thing! I used to wear the ball out . . . Fun memories, Bonny! :-)

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  4. I never heard of the Jingle Jump! But that video... crazy! (and I am not quite sure I would have been able to coordinate my feet to do that...yikes! lol)

    Great exhibit, Bonny!

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  5. I do not recall that game at all! In fact my favorite outdoor game was jumprope I guess. We didn't have 'stuff' outside to play with.

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  6. I always wanted a Jingle Jump, but never got one and didn't really miss it. I lived on the edge of town, my cousins lived near us and there were lots of kids in our neighborhood. We spent most of our time on long bike rides, out to farms to watch the cows, chickens, or pigs. We loved to ride through woods and country side and make up stories of adventures we were on. It was so beautiful and we even knew of a few spots to cool off with a swim. We played in nearby woods or in our backyards and looking back on it, it seems as if we were totally unsupervised. But, in those days, everyone knew who we belonged to and if we caused any trouble our parents would know about it by the time we got home.

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    1. I know times have changed but your childhood sounds particularly idyllic! You certainly didn't miss Jingle Jump with bike rides, swimming, and cousins and other kids for company.

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  7. Unlike most (or all?) of you and your readers, this was after my time, I think! I have never heard of it, but it would have been right down my alley. I loved to jump rope. Thanks for sharing such a special memory with me, Bonny. Childhood memories are very special to me since they were made in a state of relative innocence. Happy Monday from the depths of the heat wave! It is miserable here. Should be 100 again today with overnight lows of 80. Yikes! Hope the grid holds up.

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  8. I don't remember having one of these myself, but my kids had something similar (without the annoying jingle)! Kate & I popped into a toy/game shop in Denver and actually saw them -- Skip-it or Skip Ball -- something like that.

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  9. Like many other commenters, I had something similar but it didn't have bells on it. I think it was advertised on Romper Room? And it was yellow and green, I believe. Lots of fun memories sparked by this post, thank you!

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  10. I have NO memories of anything like this - and how fun that you and your sister were able to share the activity - and not have to share your Jingle Jumps!

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  11. I do not remember that at all. My parents had a cottage at a lake so we were their all summer once school let out and spent most days at the lake swimming and hanging out on the beach with all the kids.

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    1. Swimming at the lake and hanging out with other kids sounds like a lot more fun than a Jingle Jump! :-)

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