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TV-Turnoff Week 2006

It's TV-Turnoff Week across the nation, so join us in taking a vacation from television! Once the screen goes blank, though, what are you going to do? Here's a list of ideas--in no particular order--that we came up with, based on the toys, games, and amusements of "yesteryear," when every day was a no-TV day! (The mechanical TV was more-or-less perfected by the late 1920s; the electronic version, like TVs of today, wasn't finished till the mid- to late-1930s. So if you had lived before World War II, odds are very good that you would not have had a TV.)

• Blow bubbles. (Kids have been blowing bubbles at least since the 1600s--but just using leftover soapy water. The first prepackaged bubble solution, sold as a toy, dates to the 1940s.) You can also make your own bubble solution--here's how!
• Play charades. (Again, dates at least to the 1600s, and historically hugely popular.) Consider playing with specific themes--like famous women, endangered animals, or fairy tales. Get creative!
• Start a memory-book. Keep a notebook with pictures, funny sayings, pressed flowers or dried leaves, and more--whatever you think is interesting, funny, beautiful, or somehow pleasant!
• Take it outside! There are thousands of fun activities. Just a few ideas: roller skating (begun c. 1760), bicycling (c. 1865), walking--with or without the dog!, walking on stilts, jumping rope, and more.
• Play a game! When's the last time you played hide-and-seek, London bridge, hopscotch, tag, or another outside game? And don't forget board and card games! Maybe now's the time to learn a new game, too--there are hundreds out there. (See below for some reference books explaining how to play literally hundreds of games collected from American history.)
• Indulge your artistic side: make a painting or collage, play a musical instrument, sing and dance. Girls, boys, and adults, in times past, spent much of their time making and beautifying objects. Maybe you don't have the time, experience, or funds to start a really grand project, but why not crochet a potholder, learn a new song, write a poem, or go to a local play or concert?
  
• Spend some time with a pet. Fido will love the extra attention, and you'll be following in the footsteps of generations of people who've worked with and cared for animals as work or for fun. For instance, D.C. Beard, in 1882, offered boys a range of tips for selecting and training their very own dog, because, as he thought, "A boy without a dog is like an unfinished story." (And he really meant "boy"--training and romping with a dog was considered decidedly un-ladylike--a view that the Oberlin Heritage Center does not endorse!)
  
• Go fly a kite! It's spring, after all, and a good time for it. (Check out some of the books listed below for instructions on how to make a variety of kites, and games and competitions for kites.)
• Read a good book! Maybe you already know that, historically, many books and even whole genres of literature have been banned or considered unwholesome or "in bad taste"--in the 1860s, for instance, much of French, German, and Spanish literature was considered questionable, needing "judicious pruning" before being acceptable reading, especially for "modest" young ladies. (Today, we happen to think that you can probably read Cervantes, Voltaire, or Goethe without any real detriment to your morals or honor.)
• Take a (day) trip. Maybe you don't have the means, time, or inclination to go to a "fashionable watering-place," as was en vogue a century or two ago, but consider visiting a local attraction: a park, nature preserve, zoo, or--dare we say it?--history museum!