25 Awesome Childhood Pastimes That Kids Don’t Do Anymore

Posted by , Updated on January 10, 2024

It seems like the best childhood pastimes are but a distant memory. Do you remember how you didn’t have to worry about anything except how best to entertain yourself? And to do that without an iPhone you had to be creative. Ride bikes, play war, build forts, anything was fair game. These days, however, thanks primarily to technology and different tastes, times have changed. These are 25 Awesome Childhood Pastimes That Kids Don’t Do Anymore.

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Featured Image: Shutterstock

25

Waiting for letters from your pen pal

penSource: quora, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stipula_fountain_pen.jpg

Now you just check your email

24

Making scribbles on Paint and then filling in the spaces with the bucket tool

paintSource: quora, Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/navarr/3007175021

These days people just use photoshop.

Note: there are free online paint programs for those of you who no longer own PC’s and are experiencing nostalgia

23

Arcades

arcadeSource: quora, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MOVIELAND_ARCADE_(4545907667).jpg

There are still a few around, but these days you just stay at home and play videogames

22

Blockbuster

blockbusterSource: quora, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blockbuster,_Birkenhead_(5).JPG

Now it’s Netflix or Amazon

21

Saturday Morning Cartoons

youtubeSource: quora, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/youtube-multimedia-media-tube-icon-344106/

Youtube got rid of this

20

Walking to someone’s house to see if they’re at home

phoneSource: quora, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cisco_phone.jpg

These days you just call them

19

Neighborhood wars

policeSource: quora, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/police-car-usa-american-cars-police-1349776/

If you tried having a fake war with “guns” and “swords” these days you’d probably get the cops called on you

 

18

Marbles

marblesSource: quora, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/marbles-blue-glass-kids-play-319938/

It was cool while it lasted

17

Rewinding movies when they’re over

tapeSource: quora, Image: http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Tapes-Movie-Retro-Film-Old-Camera-Cassette-Video-1221153

Thank goodness we don’t have to do this anymore

16

Waiting for your favorite song to come on the radio

radioSource: quora, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/radio-music-listening-entertainment-1666554/

Now you just use youtube, or spotify, or itunes, or…a million other websites.

15

Split screen video games

internetSource: quora, Image: http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Hacker-Security-Binary-Hack-Internet-Www-Code-1446193

Some of the new games only let you play against people on the internet.

 

14

Build tree houses

tree houseSource: quora, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arba_domo_en_la_parko_de_la_Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Langeais_02.jpg

These would probably be a liability these days

13

Collecting baseball cards

baseball cardsSource: quora, Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dpstyles/3885184486

Kids used to have binders full of them

12

Prank calling

caller idSource: quora, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/caller-id-caller-identification-cid-33523/

And then caller ID happened

11

Staying out all day without your parents being able to contact you

phoneSource: quora, Image: http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/17744

Now they just text you

10

Pogs

pogsSource: quora, Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pogslam.jpg

These were the coolest thing in town for a very short while

9

Playing manhunt at night and running through people’s yards

yardsSource: quora, Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisdlugosz/2609920304

Once again, you’ll probably get the cops called on you. Or get sued for trespassing…

8

Climbing trees

treeSource: quora, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gumbo_Limbo_Tree_DeSoto_National_Monument.JPG

It’s a long lost art form.

7

Writing notes in class

classSource: quora, Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AndrewHallClassroom.jpg

Cell phones ruined this. Now we just send texts.

6

Putting playing cards in the spokes of your bike

cardsSource: quora, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Masa_2013_02.jpg

Who uses bikes anymore?

Note: we’re being somewhat facetious here regarding the perception of generation z as being overly protected and more oriented towards “indoor” activities like video games

5

Watching music videos on MTV

mtvSource: quora, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MTV-Logo.svg

Now you just watch reality shows

4

Ding dong doorbell ditching

doorbellSource: quora, Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/neosnaps/2574417351

This was when you rang someone’s door and ran away. Unfortunately, it required going outside and running around which isn’t too popular these days.

3

Water fights

hydrantSource: quora, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/fire-hydrant-red-firefighting-wall-947324/

But not just any water fights, we’re talking about water fights that involve the fire hydrant

2

Building model planes/trains/cars

modelSource: quora, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/capri-model-kit-model-car-625532/

Now there’s software and 3D printers for that

 

1

Reading actual books

bookSource: quora, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/books-education-school-literature-683901/

And going to the library to get more! Yeah…that doesn’t happen too often anymore. E books anyone?