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School life: top 12 playground crazes

Many playground trends transcend time, while others come and go; however, the undisputed mark of a good craze was how long it took to be banned.

Many playground trends transcend time, while others come and go; however, the undisputed mark of a good craze was how long it took to be banned. In celebration of the playground craze, Oxford Open Learning have launched a timeline of these trends over five decades, here are twelve of the best. Marbles Marbles can be traced back to their competitive origins in the 1500s, but their modern-day place in the playground really took off during the 50s and 60s. For some children, value depended on the marble – with smaller ball bearings used to win more, and glass examples with coloured centres worth the most. Caption: Matt Gardner Celebrating Oxford Open Learning's launch of Amazing crazes: an insight into playgrounds past Picture: sean_hickin Credit: sean_hickin
Scoubidou Named after a 1958 song by Sacha Distel, Scoubidou is an oft-forgotten or at least much-overlooked plastic crafting material that crossed the Channel from France. The hollow PVC – at times (if not usually) in bright colours – was used to create key rings and friendship bracelets and is still popular today. Caption: Matt Gardner Picture: Saxarocks Credit: Saxarocks
Yo-yos Most crazes seem to fade and reappear on a cycle; yo-yos first really came to prominence on the playground in the 1960s. Reintroduced to captive audiences in the following years – and still popular today – the yo-yo now incorporates ball bearings and transaxles, allowing the yo-yo to 'sleep', making tricks such as 'rock the baby' possible. Caption: Matt Gardner Picture: Yannis Credit: Yannis
Conkers Is there anything as perfect as a school craze crafted from something found under a tree during the autumn? Vinegar, ovens and much more have been deviously employed to harden championship-quality conkers. Having owned the same conker for 3 years, the only advice that can honestly save your conker from destruction, is not to use it too often; simply pretend that you have. Picture: Dan Noyes Credit: Dan Noyes
Clackers Clackers first became popular in the late 1960s and early 70s, the aim being to get exactly the right up and down hand motion to get the balls to knock together. This toy was as lethal as it was loud and bruises were shown off with pride. Picture: marianne muegenburg cothern Credit: marianne muegenburg cothern
Bang snaps Combining twisted cigarette paper, gravel and silver fulminate high explosive, bang snaps – or "snappers", "snap its", "poppers" or "throwdowns" – were a simple, if not quite ineffective means of shocking others. Throwing them at the floor resulted in a slightly loud crack. Caption: Matt Gardner Picture: The AutoMotovated Cyclist Credit: The AutoMotovated Cyclist
Bryn who? Nottingham Forest in the late Eighties
Football stickers Panini, and later Merlin in the 90s, cashed in on the growing access to televised football. As many of us know, the foil "shiny" was the true currency of the playground among boys; its value was denoted in "normal" stickers, which varied from school to school (usually between two and five – ten, if it was special). Caption: Matt Gardner
Pogs Towering pogs – printed with the most 90s-style graphics you'll still see to this day – were scattered with a "slammer". Those that laid face up were yours to keep. Sets were dedicated to anything from Power Rangers to Jurassic Park. Later, Walkers Crisps brought out Tazos – essentially the same thing, but with notches around the edge – which could be built up into towers. Caption: Matt Gardner Picture: MTSOfan Credit: MTSOfan
The Tamagotchi toy will be relaunched by Japanese toymaker Bandai, 17 years after it was first released
Tamagotchi The mark of a good playground craze was how long it took to be banned; Tamagotchis barely lasted a month it seemed; becoming popular in 1997, after release in Japan in 1996. These small key ring sized gadgets allowed schoolchildren to manage the lives of a pet, from feeding and exercising them to cleaning up after them. The aim was to keep one alive for as long as possible; if you didn't manage to sneak it into school, it was up to parents to take care of them ... strangely, some actually did. Caption: Matt Gardner Picture: AP Credit: AP
Alien birth pods Cheap, plastic and filled with slime and an alien which – it was rumoured – could actually reproduce. Ehem. Some came in pairs, and other 'mother pods' had a baby alien inside. The slime would quickly dry out if the pod split open, as it often did. Short lived and completely weird. Picture: eBay listing Credit: eBay listing
Pokémon Pokémon's huge popularity on TVs, Game Boys and N64s was not just complemented, but galvanised by, the trading card phenomenon in playgrounds. Although, it was rare that anyone actually played the game, underhanded trading tactics were employed to gain a "shiny" off a newer player – trainers and rare energy cards anyone? Like Tamagotchis, confiscations were commonplace. Caption: Matt Gardner
Tech decks So you can't skateboard in school, what do you do? You buy tech decks – skateboards for your fingers. Quick fingers could master moves in minutes that would take months to learn on a full-sized board, so they took off quickly in classrooms across the UK – accessories and all. Caption: Matt Gardner Celebrating Oxford Open Learning's launch of Amazing crazes: an insight into playgrounds past Picture: Mauricio Gómez Correa Credit: Mauricio Gómez Correa