Anyone remember using stilts? We used them on the school playground in the 40s.

[bobbieinok]

Would schools even be allowed to use them now?

Also much of the playground was gravel, even in Tulsa. Guess that would be a major no-no now.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

1. I hurt myself badly on a pair of stilts in 1978

I decided to try walking on gravel with them.

[zaj]

2. No no in the sense that it's a bad idea to learn stilts on gravel.

My son learned at tumbling gym summer camp. They called it a circus camp. It's a great experience.

[BittyJenkins]

3. Yes

We used them in the 50's at home and my kids used them in the 80's and 90's at home. My son even played his bag pipes for a wedding on stilts when he was in his twenties. ;- ) He had them duct taped to his legs.

They are tons of fun but not safe for schools...there is too big of a chance for a law suit.

[Brother Buzz]

4. Sure, and I made nifty pair for my son

Totally safe. The strap on stilts are the busted arm generators.

[Ms. Toad]

13. Yeah - you need taller posts to hold onto

and lose the straps.

[Brother Buzz]

15. Back when I was in grammar school, the 'big kids' (junior high) across the street....

were doing it, lashing the stilts to their calves with long strips of cloth. Pretty heady stuff watching them walk around inside the garage. That is, until they discovered walking on polished concrete was not unlike walking on ice. The cast was pretty cool, though.

[Ms. Toad]

16. Never managed one.

My one and only broken bone was a collar bone - when I was born.

[SamKnause]

5. Yes.

We didn't take them to school.

My Dad made them for us.

We walked all over the yard with them.

Up and down little hills.

We were especially careful when close to the clothesline.

Out of 4 kids, none of us were ever injured using our homemade stilts.

[Historic NY]

6. Sheet rock installers use them....

hey they could get a side job in a circus or playing Uncle Sam.

[Brother Buzz]

17. In California, drywall stilts are prohibited by Cal-OSHA

But they are still used by non union workers late at night when nobody else is around.

[LeftInTX]

7. Started school in 61

I think they were banned by then. Never saw then at school. Pogo sticks and roller skates weren't allowed either.

[GulfCoast66]

8. We had them but not in school

I also remember playing lawn darts, another genius game.

Never forget when my friend managed to get one thru the shingles, tar paper and well into the plywood of his roof.

His dad whooped his ass from the street to the house.

[L. Coyote]

9. Construction workers use them every day.

But my favorites are the people at the Oregon Country Fair on really tall stilts.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. You see stiltwalkers at Universal events.

[tenderfoot]

11. Anyone remember there's a lounge at DU?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1018

Get to know it.

[Ms. Toad]

12. Not at school,

but I grew up with stilts as part of the toy collection at home in the early 60s.

ETA: $98 bucks!!

Wow - I'm sure the pairs my dad built in the 60s were made from scrap lumber and didn't cost more than the nails used to put them together.

[bobbieinok]

14. Mistaken memory. Brother says playground grass and concrete. Stilts used only on grass.

[kimbutgar]

18. They use these little cups as stilts now

About 5 inch cups with strings attached. But they still get hurt.

[karynnj]

19. I do

We even bought some colored plastics ones for a daughter who wanted them in the early 1990s. Looked kind of like this. https://www.amazon.com/Hijax-Standard-Stilts-Active-America/dp/B000GULV0C/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1514860634&sr=8-14&keywords=plastic+stilts She used them in a vinyl floored basement.