A Craze is a Craze!

Isn't it funny how a 'craze' begins? And how it turns full circle as time goes by?

I remember when I was teaching, one day somebody would arrive at school with marbles, or a skipping rope, or a spinning top, or a length of elastic and the next day every child would be skipping or huddling in marble games (or picking them up off the floor before a teacher stood on them), or standing with elastic wound round their ankles while others hopped and jumped over it.

And then, as suddenly as it began, it was on to the next craze! Goodbye marbles, hello Mammals!

I clearly remember the Mammal card craze as it involved us mums too! The cards were sold in packs of five from Toy Shops and Newsagents, and there was an album that went with them. I cannot remember how much the cards cost, or the album for that matter, but it wasn't a lot. Of course, after you bought a few packs and it was all very exciting, you ended up with a lot of duplicates. And the obvious place to swap them was school! Break saw groups of intent card-swapping children all searching for the same card, while the teachers on duty made sure that the older children didn't cheat the younger ones by taking ten cards for a 'rare find'.

One of the Toy Shops in our local shopping centre had a 'Swap Box' where you could take your duplicates and look for the ones that were needed to complete the collection. The children would gather on a Saturday morning and then it was the turn of the mums from Monday to Friday! We would regularly meet in the shop, with our lists of up-dated numbers, hoping to find a few and cross those numbers off the list! Cries of  'Yes I have forty-seven, do you have ninety-three?' punctuated the general chat every now and then. It was a social event! We sat on the floor and chatted and swapped and of course bought a few packs of cards as well! My sister was visiting at the height of the craze and she was involved in buying and swapping too!