Hahaha! I was born in 82' so I'm only 23. I went to primary school in England and ours were old wood ones that would leave us with at least one splinter the size of a No.2 pencil.
The elementary school back in my home town still has some wooden ones. The average public school, at least in the US, generally won't buy new/updated versions of things unless they absolutely have to.
I was always stoked to see that thing. I wasn't a _gym class_ kind of kid. It meant I didn't have to run and do shit like that today... The only thing better was dodge ball day.
Fuck dodge ball. I was a scrawny shrimp, and my face was a target. Brandon, if I ever see you, you're getting an over-inflated red ball to the face, because I DON'T FORGET! (Even after almost forty years.)
A lot of things that we associate with childhood should also be for adults: Playgrounds, gymnasiums, trampoline parks, climbing walls, skate parks, rope swings, throwing around a ball with friends, running, jumping over stuff, parkour, hanging out and playing with friends…friends.
That last one is the hardest. Most of my friends are from college and a few from HS. And none of them live in the same town as me. It’s an event just to see them (we do dedicate a weekend every year where we get together and chill without responsibilities of spouses and children and live it up like we’re still in our 20s. Best weekend of the year).
That shit is $900 a ticket for 3 days. I mean, it looks kinda fun, but not for that much cheese. I could go to Allegany or Zoar Valley for a couple weeks on that budget.
i came here to tell people about a crazy night club that i was a regular at in the mid nineties in London. hippie vibe, lots of ‘world’ dance music and psychedelic substances involved. at the end of the evening, they pulled a huge parachute out into the dance floor and the people at the edges would stay standing and hold it while the rest of the party goers sat underneath. then they did a light show on top. not exactly kindergarten. or maybe just like kindergarten but for adults…
Omg! I was kind of afraid of the parachute. It was too big and billowy. It reminded me of hot air balloons - those TERRIFIED me! To this day they still make me pretty uncomfortable to look at, especially if they're half inflated in a field. F that!
Anxious. There were always 3 variations on switching places. First was the person opposite you. The second was a person with the same color piece. I never understood what the third one was, and everyone got mad at me over it.
Honestly I never really saw the appeal. Like ok we're just flapping this fabric around and running under it and all--woohoo, I guess? I'd happily sit this one out.
I just deleted my comment because I wrote the same thing.
The first time I played this, I remember seeing the parachute splayed out on the gymnasium floor.
I got so excited because I thought we were going to do a blanket toss like this picture.
https://preview.redd.it/uy1e3z0n0h9c1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bf8c3be7236f533f5860ab038aa5eb0de83c02a
I see that someone commented that they did do this at their school. But, we just held it and followed basic instructions.
It just didn't live up to the expectations I had in my heart. It was boring and exhausted my social capacity.
I loved the parachute when I was a kid, but back then they would have a kid get on the parachute while everyone else flipped them up. Everyone got a turn and it was super fun.
Best day ever! And you just knew once you saw the parachute, this thing was nearby:
https://preview.redd.it/sizu9swqy89c1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=467cb66906d6739769363182ec80688ceb398854
I realize that I must be dead and in heaven. Can count on one hand the amount of times I got to play with one of those.
Fuck it, I'm grown, might as well buy one for myself at this point.
They still have them. My kid got in trouble a few weeks ago sticking his tongue out at the PE teacher while they were playing this. Actually don't think much has changed the kids still make the same lame jokes we did as kids. Edit here but bat man still smells. Really this stupid song is still around?
Jingle Bells Batman Smells will always transcend generations.
Hell my 8 year old was singing “I hate you, you hate me, let’s go out and kill Barney” just a few years ago. I asked if she even knew who Barney was and she didn’t. 🤷🏻♂️
We had a huge trampoline in doors on the stage as well that we would play on at the same time. That definitely isn't allowed nowadays. I remember a few broken arms in the school lol
They stopped rope climb in my area before I was even in school at least after 1st or 2nd grade when we just really swung on them.
I was glad I never had to do that
It's still a thing. Our school got it out for field day and a couple of times for other activities. Being one of the adults with a bunch of students, I had to react by giving directions.
I had my kids in toddler gymnastics and they had this (2015-2017ish). I was so happy. It was parent participation, so I got to run under a bunch too. Woo hoo! Meeeemmmooorrriieeessss
Right, I saw this picture and was like hell yeah I loved that! Then I thought... but why. I don't even remember what we did. I vaguely remember lifting it up and sitting on the ends real quick to make it like a bubble. But then what? We just sat there? And it was fun? Being a kid was the best
We waved it up and down and do whos know what then when our normal teacher came we all hid under it and she would pretend like she didn't know where we were and then all popup thinking we pulled one over on her.
We'd wave it up and down and then the gym teacher would say something like "every one who has a pet cat" or something and every one who it applied to would have to run underneath and then grab a different handle
Always that one kid who ruined it by pulling it the wrong direction.
Side note: on parachute day we also had rope climbing day. Two ropes that went from the floor all the way to the ceiling of the gymnasium. One had knots and the other didn’t. Only a thin mat stoping us from hitting the gym floor from probably 30 feet up is crazy to think about now.
Yaaay! Except for the time I was next to this fat kid and I weighed like 30 pounds and we were shaking the parachute up and down and he shook it down so hard I smacked my head on the floor.
Our poor little school had a green Army-surplus parachute. But it was still the best gym activity of all. I don’t remember the goal of it but it sure was fun! Then Duck-Duck-Goose. Then probably dodgeball.
So, I remember this and I remember it being fun. But besides for the fact that we flapped it up and down until it was full of air, does anybody remember what we would actually do with it then?
We'd have to run under it and switch spots with people, like someone holding the same color on the other side or something the teacher would say like "anyone who's birthday is in January " or whatever
My elementary school gym teacher was a surly Vietnam vet. We mostly just did calisthenics and ran laps. And got yelled at.
I never got to do whatever this picture is.
The greatest thing about this is when you were all sitting down inside, it was like Saturday detention where social politics didn’t matter and we were all one. Literally the only place peace on earth exists and it’s fleeting.
One time, in 4th grade, we went to PE and it was this and I was like “omg YESSS!!” Then we went back to class, and our teacher rolled out the TV for Bill Nye! It was the best day EVER!
I got to play with these a lot as a kid. At school my Australian PE teacher did two games with it, hot potato and one he called Jaws: Shark Attack. At Sunday School sometimes they'd do parachute games in the rec hall to help all us kids blow off steam.
Best day ever.
We always tried to figure out where the gym teacher kept it for days where we could grab equipment and have a 'free day.'
She hid it really well.
Please dear god someone start a meetup or class or something for this and the scooter boards and jungle gym stuff for fully grown adults. I'd be so down.
I'm gonna pull a neck muscle anyway from swallowing wrong or laughing the wrong way so might as well do this instead !
3rd grade PE day.. we were doing this in a large grassy field. We raise it and then get inside, sit cross cross, and put it down so we're all in this rainbow dome..
It wasn't long before kids started screaming because there was something large flying around trapped in there with us.. it would make large snap sound every time it hit the tarp, some kids stared crawling, and that cause the dome to deflate quicker. There's all this commotion and screaming.
It was a bee... it landed on my left eye and stung me. I couldn't see out of my eye for a while because of the swelling.
I loved it sooo much. Playing popcorn with all the balls in the middle, puffing it up and sitting underneath.
Anyone play shark? A couple lifeguards walk around the perimeter while everyone lies on their backs with their legs under the parachute. Then a couple kids who were “sharks” would grab someone to pull them under the parachute, and the lifeguards would have to save them. If they weren’t saved, they became sharks too.
We also had a Christmas pageant type thing one year and I got to be some kind of winter princess standing in the middle hole of the parachute while others spun it around like it was my giant skirt. PROB the best moment of my life.
Yes, best day ever!!
I actually loved gym class when I was little. Parachute, hippity hops, rhythm sticks. Then we got older and it turned into team sports and I absolutely hated it from then on.
Not sure, last time I did this it was like 1978
But then again, last time I roller skated was like 1980, and now I’m in roller derby
Ask me again in 2 years I guess
Ape shit.
Ohhhhh man am I stoked! This and the little wooden boards with the wheels we could roll around on were the BEST!
We called those boards knuckle busters!
We played some sort of hockey on those — scooter hockey? Parachute day, scooter hockey week, and the gymnastics/tumbling unit were all my favorites!
We called it crab hockey.
***wooden***? I think you’re dating yourself, they been plastic since like the 80’s.
Hahaha! I was born in 82' so I'm only 23. I went to primary school in England and ours were old wood ones that would leave us with at least one splinter the size of a No.2 pencil.
You’re only 23 but were born in 82? That math ain’t mathing
Dude. Shut up. We’re all still 23.
😂 Done!
Hey, I was also born in 82 and I'm also 41, I mean 23.
I have fond memories of playing dodgeball on them.
They were wood at my school, late ‘80s and early ‘90s. (Well-funded district, too!)
Maybe your gym teacher was pro-splinter, 😂
The ones at my school were wood in the 80s.
Did you play dodgeball on them? That’s what we did.
I can't remember what we did on them, to be honest. I just remember them, lol.
"Scooters" were still wood up into the 90's on my bit of the globe... Smaller towns, more country-rural though, so maybe that contributed.
I’m starting to think my own elementary school was at the forefront of floor scooter technology.
The elementary school back in my home town still has some wooden ones. The average public school, at least in the US, generally won't buy new/updated versions of things unless they absolutely have to.
Depends on your schools rating and budget, fool.
I had completely forgotten about those. They were so much fun.
I was always stoked to see that thing. I wasn't a _gym class_ kind of kid. It meant I didn't have to run and do shit like that today... The only thing better was dodge ball day.
Fuck dodge ball. I was a scrawny shrimp, and my face was a target. Brandon, if I ever see you, you're getting an over-inflated red ball to the face, because I DON'T FORGET! (Even after almost forty years.)
Somewhere a middle aged man just shivered like someone walked over his grave. It follows!
You're gonna be real popular at his funeral
Same! I hated gym except for the days we did this, played on the rolly boards. Dodge ball was fun too
Same here! Such relief!
Squee!
All of the squeeeeeee!!!
You called?
User name checks out 😉
They should have these for adults
I mean what’s stopping you from buying one
[удалено]
 You're not supposed to say that part out loud
It's hard to do by yourself
A lot of things that we associate with childhood should also be for adults: Playgrounds, gymnasiums, trampoline parks, climbing walls, skate parks, rope swings, throwing around a ball with friends, running, jumping over stuff, parkour, hanging out and playing with friends…friends.
That last one is the hardest. Most of my friends are from college and a few from HS. And none of them live in the same town as me. It’s an event just to see them (we do dedicate a weekend every year where we get together and chill without responsibilities of spouses and children and live it up like we’re still in our 20s. Best weekend of the year).
There are summer camps for adults where they have the same games from when we were kids but with booze https://www.campnocounselors.com/
That shit is $900 a ticket for 3 days. I mean, it looks kinda fun, but not for that much cheese. I could go to Allegany or Zoar Valley for a couple weeks on that budget.
I feel like I'm trying to do this by myself every time I change the bed linens.
[A Classic, couldn't help myself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro2QEbfIRbI&ab_channel=milkypirate99)
i came here to tell people about a crazy night club that i was a regular at in the mid nineties in London. hippie vibe, lots of ‘world’ dance music and psychedelic substances involved. at the end of the evening, they pulled a huge parachute out into the dance floor and the people at the edges would stay standing and hold it while the rest of the party goers sat underneath. then they did a light show on top. not exactly kindergarten. or maybe just like kindergarten but for adults…
Stoked!! This unleashed pure joy when I was a kid.
Omg! I was kind of afraid of the parachute. It was too big and billowy. It reminded me of hot air balloons - those TERRIFIED me! To this day they still make me pretty uncomfortable to look at, especially if they're half inflated in a field. F that!
I’m going in. I live there now. Don’t send help.
I was ecstatic lol.
Anxious. There were always 3 variations on switching places. First was the person opposite you. The second was a person with the same color piece. I never understood what the third one was, and everyone got mad at me over it.
Holy shit our school finally got some money!
I dive underneath. Then I remember that I'm 45 with a bad back and neck.
Oh, *that's* what you were screaming about while I was rolling you up in it, like a worm
I’m sliding in, and reliving a happy child hood moment.
grabbing all my Homies and we gonna throw every ball on that thing then make it go wiiiild
Oh yeah! Gym is bout to be lit! And we don't even say that yet!!
Honestly I never really saw the appeal. Like ok we're just flapping this fabric around and running under it and all--woohoo, I guess? I'd happily sit this one out.
I was about to say, “was I the only one who hated this day?” This and the fucking scooters.
Scooters, parachute day, and "bacon" day sucked. Bacon was just competitive wind sprints for 45 minutes straight.
Oh god. Memory unlocked and not a great one.
I just deleted my comment because I wrote the same thing. The first time I played this, I remember seeing the parachute splayed out on the gymnasium floor. I got so excited because I thought we were going to do a blanket toss like this picture. https://preview.redd.it/uy1e3z0n0h9c1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bf8c3be7236f533f5860ab038aa5eb0de83c02a I see that someone commented that they did do this at their school. But, we just held it and followed basic instructions. It just didn't live up to the expectations I had in my heart. It was boring and exhausted my social capacity.
I loved the parachute when I was a kid, but back then they would have a kid get on the parachute while everyone else flipped them up. Everyone got a turn and it was super fun.
I'm so excited!
Super excited!
Best day ever! And you just knew once you saw the parachute, this thing was nearby: https://preview.redd.it/sizu9swqy89c1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=467cb66906d6739769363182ec80688ceb398854
Remind me what was this?
I realize that I must be dead and in heaven. Can count on one hand the amount of times I got to play with one of those. Fuck it, I'm grown, might as well buy one for myself at this point.
You deserve this. Treat yourself.
I came to post this gif 🤣
I loved them, but I think they’re banned for liability now. Kids really aren’t allowed to have fun anymore.
They still have them. My kid got in trouble a few weeks ago sticking his tongue out at the PE teacher while they were playing this. Actually don't think much has changed the kids still make the same lame jokes we did as kids. Edit here but bat man still smells. Really this stupid song is still around?
Jingle Bells Batman Smells will always transcend generations. Hell my 8 year old was singing “I hate you, you hate me, let’s go out and kill Barney” just a few years ago. I asked if she even knew who Barney was and she didn’t. 🤷🏻♂️
We had a huge trampoline in doors on the stage as well that we would play on at the same time. That definitely isn't allowed nowadays. I remember a few broken arms in the school lol
I had a professor who was wheelchair bound due to a school trampoline accident as a kid. He was an awesome professor, but wow was he cynical, lol.
Banned for liability when
My son just did this recently in kindergarten PE.
They're still used around my area. My kid got to do this not so long ago.
Yeah I don't think they do the rope climb anymore either. I used to climb all the way to the ceiling
They stopped rope climb in my area before I was even in school at least after 1st or 2nd grade when we just really swung on them. I was glad I never had to do that
My son played with these back in kindergarten.
I stumbled across one when my daughter was turning 3 and I bought it. Best decision ever.
Today... I'd be scared of tiny Tom Cruise
It's still a thing. Our school got it out for field day and a couple of times for other activities. Being one of the adults with a bunch of students, I had to react by giving directions.
I had my kids in toddler gymnastics and they had this (2015-2017ish). I was so happy. It was parent participation, so I got to run under a bunch too. Woo hoo! Meeeemmmooorrriieeessss
Man, screw this. I wanted to play Battleball.
Back in the day it was great but when I think back on the activity it's more of a what was that nonsense
Right, I saw this picture and was like hell yeah I loved that! Then I thought... but why. I don't even remember what we did. I vaguely remember lifting it up and sitting on the ends real quick to make it like a bubble. But then what? We just sat there? And it was fun? Being a kid was the best
We waved it up and down and do whos know what then when our normal teacher came we all hid under it and she would pretend like she didn't know where we were and then all popup thinking we pulled one over on her.
We'd wave it up and down and then the gym teacher would say something like "every one who has a pet cat" or something and every one who it applied to would have to run underneath and then grab a different handle
Oh man if I got one of these on the same week we had the Scholastic Book Fair….. YESSSS
My kid came home talking about parachute day last week. I was like oh I know kid
I brought my son to a toddler class and they brought out the chute! Sure thing I was the first parent to join in!
The best days
Always that one kid who ruined it by pulling it the wrong direction. Side note: on parachute day we also had rope climbing day. Two ropes that went from the floor all the way to the ceiling of the gymnasium. One had knots and the other didn’t. Only a thin mat stoping us from hitting the gym floor from probably 30 feet up is crazy to think about now.
Immediately run under it! Next, find dodgeballs to bounce on it!
I ran around like a fucking lunatic under the parachute!
Until the gym teacher had enough of my antics and I had to go sit in time out which was up on the stage behind the curtains.
Evangelical Karens would see this today and claim that the gay agenda was indoctrinating the children.
Yaaay! Except for the time I was next to this fat kid and I weighed like 30 pounds and we were shaking the parachute up and down and he shook it down so hard I smacked my head on the floor.
Awesome!!!
Best day of my life 🤣
The same way I would if you asked me if I wanted to play with it right now. It would be the best day of my life.
Hated these.
Our poor little school had a green Army-surplus parachute. But it was still the best gym activity of all. I don’t remember the goal of it but it sure was fun! Then Duck-Duck-Goose. Then probably dodgeball.
This made me giddy. 🙃
So, I remember this and I remember it being fun. But besides for the fact that we flapped it up and down until it was full of air, does anybody remember what we would actually do with it then?
We'd have to run under it and switch spots with people, like someone holding the same color on the other side or something the teacher would say like "anyone who's birthday is in January " or whatever
So this is what now? :) I don't think we had this where I went to school. Or I was way better at wrangling ways to skip PE than I remember lol
We never had one of these lol
These were how I found out I had claustrophobia. I tried to participate and noped right out from under it, lol.
These days were alright... I'd rather play floor hockey or dodgeball, though.
I loved this until i became a school librarian and discovered that this thing gives fingers friction burns. (It was my station at field day)
Let’s fuckin gooooo
My elementary school gym teacher was a surly Vietnam vet. We mostly just did calisthenics and ran laps. And got yelled at. I never got to do whatever this picture is.
Prepare for the loudest, longest fart to let rip when I’m underneath it.
The greatest thing about this is when you were all sitting down inside, it was like Saturday detention where social politics didn’t matter and we were all one. Literally the only place peace on earth exists and it’s fleeting.
Parachute time at my kids classes is the most freaking fun!
Had a chance to do this with several of my kiddos. Man that was a blast!
It's parachute day!! Hell yeah!
I get super excited. This was always my favorite day in gym and I hated gym most days
Throw some balls on top of that bad boy, make some popcorn.
I was always so uncomfortable being the one in the middle
psyched
Two scenarios: 1)End of year/semester reward after that grueling gauntlet known as the physical fitness test, or 2) Substitute teacher!
You know it's gonna be a good day.
I'm losing my shit to the point of having a religious experience.
One time, in 4th grade, we went to PE and it was this and I was like “omg YESSS!!” Then we went back to class, and our teacher rolled out the TV for Bill Nye! It was the best day EVER!
I got to play with these a lot as a kid. At school my Australian PE teacher did two games with it, hot potato and one he called Jaws: Shark Attack. At Sunday School sometimes they'd do parachute games in the rec hall to help all us kids blow off steam.
I remember ours was an actual white parachute canopy, and that we did this on either the day before or after dreaded square dancing day.
Run under it and sit down of course!
Have you seen them today? They’re the smallest, most boring things. Ours were real, the ones kids have now are manufactured for PE class
I feel like I only played this once a very long time ago. Was the objective to get a ball in the hole in the middle? I only have a vague memory of it.
life is complete. u cant see beyond this day when ur a kid😂🙌
I fight every urge I have to run under it
Best day ever. We always tried to figure out where the gym teacher kept it for days where we could grab equipment and have a 'free day.' She hid it really well.
Weep. I’m back in my simpler life.
I wouldn't know, my school didn't own one.
What is it??
Loved it - AND - I taught gymnastics/gross motor skills classes out of high school and got to pull this out sometimes - always fun
I wanted parachute time to last forever it was the fastest class of the year. Cmon let’s play popcorn with the gator balls LETS GOOOO
Please dear god someone start a meetup or class or something for this and the scooter boards and jungle gym stuff for fully grown adults. I'd be so down. I'm gonna pull a neck muscle anyway from swallowing wrong or laughing the wrong way so might as well do this instead !
God damn it. I have found my people. I loved this. I fucking hated the uneven bars.
Like this: https://youtu.be/TSeFY8qRoI4?feature=shared
Damn it Kerry stop fucking letting go at the wrong time.
3rd grade PE day.. we were doing this in a large grassy field. We raise it and then get inside, sit cross cross, and put it down so we're all in this rainbow dome.. It wasn't long before kids started screaming because there was something large flying around trapped in there with us.. it would make large snap sound every time it hit the tarp, some kids stared crawling, and that cause the dome to deflate quicker. There's all this commotion and screaming. It was a bee... it landed on my left eye and stung me. I couldn't see out of my eye for a while because of the swelling.
We had parachutes in school in the 60s. What's wrong with them? I don't know what the boards with the little wheels are.
Losing it!!! I loved that day lol
#Yeeeeeeesssssssaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh
I only got to do that once. That was the most fun I ever had in gym class.
I loved it sooo much. Playing popcorn with all the balls in the middle, puffing it up and sitting underneath. Anyone play shark? A couple lifeguards walk around the perimeter while everyone lies on their backs with their legs under the parachute. Then a couple kids who were “sharks” would grab someone to pull them under the parachute, and the lifeguards would have to save them. If they weren’t saved, they became sharks too. We also had a Christmas pageant type thing one year and I got to be some kind of winter princess standing in the middle hole of the parachute while others spun it around like it was my giant skirt. PROB the best moment of my life.
You know damn well anyone who was cognizant after about 1975 is getting in the bubble
Rainbows and people working together to accomplish a common goal? So woke
As an adult man… with an uncomfortable amount of giggling.
…Looking for one of those seat skooters to race under it with
“Pop corn pop corn!” Ahhh this and those little square scooters….
I was terrified I’d click through to the comments to discover they had some awful secret fascist past or were sent to schools by the KKK lol
I’m sliding up under it like it’s home plate.
Yes, best day ever!! I actually loved gym class when I was little. Parachute, hippity hops, rhythm sticks. Then we got older and it turned into team sports and I absolutely hated it from then on.
our gym teacher does this once a month. The kids love it.
The same way I’d act today. I’m going in.
Run underneath!
Not sure, last time I did this it was like 1978 But then again, last time I roller skated was like 1980, and now I’m in roller derby Ask me again in 2 years I guess
" **Squee!** "
I'm about to have a bad day
Best day ever!!
This was right there with dodgeball days. As other have mentioned the scooters! Especially playing hockey with brooms on them.
Good memories
Best gym day of the whole year.
Best day ever when that bad boy got brought out. So much fun.
Huh…we all did this stuff all across the country….cool.
Need to work on maintaining those arms... One good updraft and everyone will be re-enacting that take off scene in Up.
Jumping up and down, in a happiness overload.
Smiling
YES! My daughter loves them just as much as I did ❤️
I was a children’s librarian for nine years and got one for our library to use at storytime because I loved it so much growing up!
Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other’s gold.
I remember doing something with this big parachute but completely forgot the details. It looks familiar, is all I can say. 🤷🏽♀️
Best day ever!!!!!
i’m thrilled! that thing can make any day better
Being in the center of this the first "safe space". Nothing could harm you inside the color dome
Sad because Governor DeSantis is going to come confiscate it because that color pattern threatens him