Tag Archives: children’s habitats

Streets and Roads in the neighborhood and around the corner

Elementary school reading textbooks in the 1950s were titled Streets and Roads.  Stories in the books were about a family and their neighborhood. Children named Dick and Jane were the main characters. The children’s story was about places and connections … Continue reading

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Strange days awesome beauty and nostalgia to cry for

I frequently walked a field road on the northern border of a Southern Illinois farm. Various common hardwood trees created a dense canopy of fall season colors. Strange weather patterns caused an early fall season biological phenomenon. We called the … Continue reading

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Radio afternoons with box tops and action heroes in 1950

Before TV, children’s fantasies played out on 50s radio afternoon programs. The themes mirrored the wild west films of the 30s and 40s. Advertising jingles promoted breakfast cereals via proof of purchase to order toys such as glow in the … Continue reading

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Children’s habitats are discovered and invented in a 50s small town

Before the development of the recreation movement, which did not start to accelerate until the late 50s, children adapted their environment for playful purposes. Cities did not allocate facilities for children’s programs. Cities did not budget and train staff to … Continue reading

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Sports we loved but never saw on TV

Children’s sports common in the Alton, Illinois area were unknown in many parts of the country. Games invented there spread to other parts of the country. The game players or their parents constructed the required equipment in the basement workshop … Continue reading

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Finding solitude in a corn field 1951

Cornfields dotted much of the Southern Illinois landscape in the 1950s.  During the growing season adjacent fields created the appearance of a small scale tropical forest. I had travelled the route East along Illinois HWY 143 and Route 66 through … Continue reading

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