Did you play with a parachute in school?

[themarquis]

When I was in elementary school, about once or twice a year, they would bring out a giant, multicolored parachute and we would play "parachute games" for P.E.

I don't remember exactly what it consisted of, but there were a lot of games where you would run under the parachute or get tossed up into the air on it.

GF and I were making the bed earlier, and I happened to mention that the bedsheet was like playing parachute games with our kitty, who kept running underneath. She said that she, too, had a parachute in her tiny Catholic school on the other side of the country from where I grew up. I guess I thought it was just my school

So we got to wondering -- did all schools in the 80s get grants to buy giant parachutes or something ??? And what was the point of the parachute, anyway? You only got to play with it once in a while, it wasn't part of regular P.E., and it wasn't clear what exactly it was supposed to be teaching you ...

So did you play with a parachute in school???

 

[Sparx]

i was in elementary school in the 90s (i'm a senior in high school) and we played parachute games about once a month in kindergarten-third grade or so.

 

[cjb71870]

Yes we did, and it was on scheduled days of the week. I saw it recently in our newspaper showing a school doing it. They parachutes were BIG too, now when I think about it.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Many of them still do. We use one at church fairly often and I used them a lot when I worked in child care as a grad student.

 

[ilovedisney1]

Yes I remember that. Those were fun, we put some balls on top of the parachute and the balls would pop around.

 

[staley7580]

Yep.. Sure did. And they use it at the YMCA here for the little kids gym classes.

 

[cjb71870]

Yes, I remember the balls. That doesn't sound right.

 

[LuvBaloo]

Up here in BC, Canada we had the parachute in elementary school too! I remember everybody holding an edge and flapping it up and down then everybody holding it up, ducking underneath and sitting on the edge, so we were all sitting inside the big parachute bubble and then they'd do a few group songs and it was surprising how long it would stay as a bubble

 

[Diznygrl]

Yep, we had one too. It was a rare treat when we got to play with it. I remember flapping it up and down with rubber balls bouncing around on top. Then we played a game where we threw it up, sat underneath and went around the circle to see how high we could count before the middle of the parachute touched the floor.


Good times, good times.

 

[Jennasmomma]

I remember those. When my DD was in 6th grade they had a field day. There were different stations on the football field to do activities. One was that parachute. They put balls on it and seen how many you could get off in a certain amount of time.

 

[olena]

Boy, that brings me back. We did have a giant parachute, as you described. I think ours was from the military, since it was green. It was rare but we loved when we got to use it. There might have been a giant red one, too.

I grew up in Riverdale, GA, and my elementary school had one. That was in the early 80s.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Yep! Parachute, trampoline, climbing the rope (although I never could do it ) You know, the good ole days where they told you to walk it off if you got hurt!

 

[Macca1111]

So we got to wondering -- did all schools in the 80s get grants to buy giant parachutes or something ??? And what was the point of the parachute, anyway? You only got to play with it once in a while, it wasn't part of regular P.E., and it wasn't clear what exactly it was supposed to be teaching you ...

Apparently. I didn't realize it was so widespread either, but I appreciated your post (and the following ones) for the nostalgia. I wanna go play parachute.

 

[L107ANGEL]

I forgot all about those!!!! Yes, we loved the parachute

 

[powellrj]

They also had them in the 60's! I remember them too!

 

[Pin Wizard]

We had one where I went to kindergarten. That was looooooooooooooong before the '80s.

Made the switch to catholic school in first grade. They didn't have one.

In kindergarten, we also played with scarves. LOL! Held on to two corners of it and had it behind your back like a cape. Then moved your arms up and down while running for it to fly around. We were butterflies.

 

[MichelleVW]

That was my favorite part about gym class!! I loved the parachute and my kids said they did too!

 

[Rora]

We played with a giant, colorful parachute too! It was so much fun.

We played some ridiculous games.. I think we made most of them up and our teachers were too busy to actually care what we were doing.

We'd play cat and mouse (people (mice) would be under the parachute, running around.. the cats would outside the parachute and try to catch a mouse..)

Oh, elementary school.

 

[DancingBear]

They have one at my son's school right now. We went to an activity night that the PTA put on in the gym and they brought it out (along with hula hoops and jump ropes and stuff).

 

[lovetoscrap]

Yep, we loved the parachute!

It really does have educational merit. First of all the workout to your arms when it was flapped. I remember how hard it could be to hold on when it really got going. It exercised you arms pretty well!

It was great for teaching cooperation. Everyone had to work together to keep the balls moving, or to lift it up high and then get inside and hold it down for the "bubble". And following instructions-- if you didn't do what the teacher said then the game wouldn't work.

We would play a game where we were given numbers and the teacher would call a number and you had to run under and trade places with someone else. Those on the outside tried to trap the runners underneath. You had to run fast!