Seen loom bands yet? Of course you have, they’re the latest trend in Australia, though just dying down in America. Small rubber bands that kids weave into bracelets or necklaces. You can buy packs for $3 and that is enough for A LOT of weaving. I watched my niece and nephew sit quietly for 30 minutes last night teaching my wife how to make a ring. I particularly loved the labelling “As Seen on YouTube”, as if not just anyone can get on youtube. But this is the latest school yard trend. And I like it.
If you hang around school kids enough, i.e. you have kids, lots of young cousins, a shop near a school or are a teacher; you will see these trends come and go. My personal favourite has always been yo-yo’s. They tend to turn up every 5 to 10 years, usually sponsored by Coke, and for a few months streets and playgrounds are covered with kids walking the dog or going round the world. It was a fairly cheap way to waste time. I modified mine to make round the world a bit easier. Happy days.
There are plenty of trends that don’t come back, I don’t think I have seen tazos or pogs for a long time, nor have I ever seen pop-ups come back, I was the first person at my school to have one of those. Some more expensive trends I am happy not to see back, usually electronic and easily breakable. I like the cheaper ones, like loom bands, that keep the kids quiet and teach them skills for later days – weaving or french knitting in later life. I think quilting could be the next big thing if a bunch of grannies get together, hire some mad men and con their grandkids into coming around for advice.
These trends can be quite serious though, I know some schools have banned loom bands because the kids were selling them and there were commercial disputes. At little lunch! The ACCC needs to get involved in people’s lives earlier and earlier. Personally I am hoping for a return to playing with string. It is cheap, always available, and it is kind of pretty seeing someone make an Eiffel tower or a cat’s cradle… what’s more, it is good when a trend comes back, so the parents who used to play with them as a kid can show some old tricks, get the street cred up. Now if you excuse me, I need to find my hacky sack, we are due an 80’s revival again soon, aren’t we?
What was your favourite school yard trend?
