Tag Archives: toys

Rubber Band Jumprope

Performance Date: 4/28/2020
Language: Primary language is Taiwanese. Also speaks Mandarain, Cantonese, and English

Piece
We didn’t have much in the village I grew up in, so kids just made toys out of whatever they had. We would always save things to make toys out of. Like if one kid got enough rubber bands, we would make a jump rope and we’d all go to the field and play until it broke. Sometimes we had multiple ropes and we do competitions.Example of the folklore piece

Context
The informant was a participant in this piece of folklore as a child who learned the activity from other children in their neighborhood. Telling this story seemed to make the informant think of how resourceful children were in her village and in her time.
This story was shared when the informant was asked what they used to do as children by the informant’s grandchildren looking for something to do or play.

My Thoughts
I connected this to the craze that happened several years ago over band looms that allowed children to make necklaces, bracelets, rings, etc. using these colorful little rubber bands. This says a lot about our current circumstances as now children gain these play toys through commercialism where in my informant’s youth, children didn’t buy things but played with what they had.

Balero, Mexican toy

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 54
Residence: California
Performance Date: 2019
Primary Language: Spanish

 

 

Main Piece:

A balero is an authentic Mexican toy made of wood. One part is made in the shape of a barrel with a hole in the middle, which is then tied to a small wooden shaft. The point of the toy is to make the barrel turn so that the shaft is inserted into the barrel’s hole.

Context:

The informant is a 54-year-old man from Guadalajara, Mexico. Growing up he had very little money to spend on toys so he would make his own variation of the classic toy.

20190410_104024 The picture shows his own variation on the classic toy.