A continuing record of the toys, homemade playthings, street games and schoolyard activities experienced by people born in China in the 1960s, understood in the material and social conditions of their childhood.
- How Did a Bamboo Rotor Fly from Between Two Palms?
- How Did a Button Hum Between Two Hands?
- How Did an Old Handkerchief Carry a Pebble Slowly Down?
- How Did a Square of Paper Catch the Wind?
- How Did a Beanbag Sewn from Scrap Cloth Gather a Crowd?
- A Schoolyard Game Built Around One Elastic Loop
- How Did Five Stones Move Through One Hand?
- The Feather Shuttlecock — A Coin and a Few Feathers
- Hopscotch: How a Few Lines on the Ground Became a Game
- How Did a Bamboo Dragonfly Fly from Two Palms?
- How Did a Bamboo Pole Become a Horse in the Courtyard?
- How Did a Bamboo Spinner Fly from Two Palms?
- How Did a Bamboo Stick Become a ‘Horse’?
- How Did a Bamboo Tube Become a Summer Water Squirter?
- How Did a Bamboo Tube Pop Out a Paper Pellet?
- How Did a Blade of Grass Whistle Between Two Thumbs?
- How Did a Bottle Cap Race Along a Chalk Track?
- How Did a Button and Thread Become a Humming Spinner?
- How Did a Cardboard Box and Rubber Bands Become a ‘Guitar’?
- Why Did a Cardboard Kaleidoscope Never Seem to Run Out of Patterns?
- How Did a Circle Turn Tag into ‘Tie Gaoyao’?
- How Did a Clay Bowl Turn a Hole into the Stakes?
- How Did a Clay Whistle Carry the Market into a Child’s Pocket?
- How Did a Coin Reveal Its Pattern Through Paper?
- How Did a Comb and Thin Paper Become a Humming Toy?
- How Did a Dandelion Seed Head Become a One-Breath Game?
- How Did a Desk Lamp Turn Hands into Animals on the Wall?
- How Did a Flat Stone Skip Across the Water?
- How Did a Folded Paper Frog Jump from a Fingertip?
- How Did a Forked Branch Become a Homemade Slingshot?
- How Did a Handful of Sticks Become a Game of Moving Nothing Else?
- How Did a Hemp Rope Divide the Playground into Two Teams?
- How Did a Line of Children Turn Behind the Mother Hen?
- How a Long Skipping Rope Gave a Group One Beat
- How Did One Long Rope Bring a Group into the Same Rhythm?
- How Did a Lump of Clay Make a Sharp Pop?
- How Did a Magnet Turn Cardboard Fish into a Contest?
- How Did a Paper Strip Become a Pretend Wristwatch?
- How Did a Rubber Band on a Wooden Strip Become an Aiming Game?
- How Did a Sheet of Exercise Paper Make a Sharp Pop?
- How Did a Sheet of Exercise Paper Make a Sharp Snap?
- How Did a Small Piece of Dough Become an Animal on the Kitchen Board?
- How Did a Spring Willow Twig Become a Whistle?
- How Did a Square Sheet of Paper Become an Inflatable Balloon?
- How Did a Wall Become a Winter Crowding Game?
- How Did a Willow Twig Become a Spring Whistle?
- How Did a Wind-Up Tin Frog Hop Across the Floor?
- How Did a Winter Wall Become a Squeezing Game?
- How Did Two Iron Runners Turn a Wooden Stool into an Ice Sled?
- How Did a Wooden Thread Spool Crawl Across a Table?
- How Did Half an Eggshell Become a Roly-Poly Toy?
- How Did an Empty Cigarette Packet Become a Slapping Card?
- How Did an Empty Thread Spool Become a Rubber-Band “Tank”?
- How an Empty Tin Turned Hide-and-Seek into a Rescue Game
- How Did an Empty Toothpaste Box Become a Bus?
- How Did an Exercise-Book Page Become a Little Fan?
- How Did an Exercise-Book Page Become a Paper Plane?
- How Did an Old Calendar Page Become a Paper Wallet?
- How Did an Old Eraser Become a Hand-Carved Stamp?
- How Did an Old Newspaper Become a Paper Megaphone?
- How Did Bamboo Strips and Newspaper Become a Kite?
- How Did Bottle Caps Become a Rattling Toy?
- How Did a Cigarette Card Become an Alleyway Game?
- How Did Cockleburs Become an Autumn Throwing Game?
- How Did Empty Matchboxes Become a Tiny Drawer Cabinet?
- How Did One Sheet of Paper Become a Long Classroom Garland?
- How Did Scrap Paper Become a Game of Slapping Triangles?
- How Did Four Knucklebones Become a Catching Game?
- How Did Four Old Bearings Become a Wooden Cart?
- How Did Four Paper Slips Create a Hidden-Role Game?
- How Did Glass Marbles Gather a Family Around Chinese Checkers?
- How Did Ice-Lolly Sticks Become a Tiny House?
- How Did Interlocked Legs Make a Moving ‘Flower Basket’?
- How Did Leapfrog Turn a Schoolyard into a Vaulting Course?
- How Did Leaves and Twigs Become a Pretend Meal?
- How Did Maize Husks Become a Handmade Doll?
- How Did Matchbox Labels Become a Small Collection?
- How Did a Handful of Matchsticks Become a Breath-Holding Game?
- Why Was There Always One Chair Fewer Than the Children?
- How Did an Old Newspaper Become a Paper Hat?
- How Did an Old Pack of Cards Become a Wobbling House?
- How Did One Leg Support a Whole Hopping Contest?
- How Did One Cotton Loop Keep Changing Between Two Pairs of Hands?
- How Did Pairs in a Circle Turn Tag into Tie Shaobing?
- How Did Paper Clothes Dress a Cardboard Doll?
- How Did a Few Pebbles Become a Blocking Game on the Ground?
- How Did Scrap Paper Become a Noughts-and-Crosses Board?
- How Did Scrap Wire Become a Push-Along Bicycle?
- How Seven Paper Pieces Became a Whole World
- How Did Soap Scraps and a Hollow Straw Make Bubbles?
- How Did a Little Soapy Water Fill a Courtyard with Rainbow Bubbles?
- How Did a Bowl of Soapy Water Fill a Courtyard with Bubbles?
- How Did Pieces of Sorghum Stalk Become Pretend Glasses?
- How Did Squared Paper Become a Game of Claiming Boxes?
- How Did a Few Stones Become a Tiger-and-Sheep Game?
- How Did One Loop of String Keep Changing Between Two Pairs of Hands?
- How Did Sunlight Turn Shadows into a Chasing Game?
- How Did Two Leaf Stems Become a Pulling Contest?
- How Did Two Pairs of Hands Turn a Rhyme into a Game?
- How Did Two Paper Strips Become a Stretching Paper Spring?
- How Did Two Tin Cans Become Low Stilts?
- How Did a Used Sheet of Paper Become a Popping Toy?
- How Did Waste Paper Become Football on a School Desk?
- How Did Wet Earth Become a Tiny Kitchen?
- How Did Wire Rings Turn a Courtyard into a Tossing Game?
- Paper Airplanes and Childhood Creation
- How Did Paper Boats Become a Race After the Rain?
- A Paper Fortune Teller Between Four Fingers
- Paper Pinwheels from Old Calendar Paper: A Toy Brought to Life by Wind
- Playing Glass Marbles — A Pocket-Sized Childhood Competition
- Rolling the Iron Hoop — A Ring and a Hook Were Enough for an Afternoon
- Winning with a Slap: Picture Cards on the Ground
- How Did Two Short Sticks Make a Diabolo Hum?
- Whipping a Top: The Skill Was Keeping It Spinning
- How Was a Pointed Stick Struck into the Air?
- A Loop of String Between Two Pairs of Hands
- How Did Two Tin Cans Carry a Voice Across the Yard?
- Why Was a Box of Plastic Bricks Counted Again and Again?
- How Did a Whip Keep a Wooden Top Spinning?
- Why Did a Clockwork Tin Train Keep Circling the Same Track?
- Why Was a Folded Paper Square Slapped onto the Ground?
- Why Was a Pellet Drum Twisted Between the Palms?
- Why Was a Small Rubber Ball Bounced Against a Wall?
- Why Was a Small Box of Plasticine Used Again and Again?
- Why Was a Sweet Wrapper Worth Pressing Inside a Book?
- Why Did a Yo-Yo Have to Be Wound Carefully Before Every Throw?
- Why Was Animal Chess More Than Bigger Animals Beating Smaller Ones?
- Why Was Removing One Ring Not Enough to Solve the Nine Linked Rings?
- Why Did Two-Player Army Chess Often Need a Third Referee?