8 ways kids entertained themselves in the 70s that cost nothing but imagination

Do you ever catch yourself wondering how we managed to have so much fun without smartphones, endless TV channels, or the internet?

Back in the 70s, the secret ingredient wasn’t gadgets or subscriptions—it was imagination. We made entire worlds out of a handful of rocks, a piece of chalk, or just a backyard with a little room to roam.

Looking back, I’m amazed at how endlessly inventive we were. Honestly, I sometimes think today’s kids, with all their screens, are missing out on that special kind of creativity.

When you had nothing but time, friends, and a little resourcefulness, magic happened.

Let me walk you through some of the classic ways we entertained ourselves—completely free of charge.

1. Turning sticks and stones into whole worlds

A stick wasn’t just a stick—it was a sword, a fishing pole, a magic wand, or sometimes all three in the same afternoon. Stones could be soldiers, pets, marbles, or even treasure if you had the right story to go with them.

I vividly remember my friends and I using pebbles as “cows” and the cracks in the sidewalk as “fences.” We’d spend hours herding them across our “farmland.” To an adult, it might have looked ridiculous, but to us, it was deadly serious.

Psychologists call this “symbolic play”—using one object to represent another—and it turns out it’s vital for building problem-solving skills and creativity. We didn’t know that back then, of course. We were just kids filling an afternoon with adventures.

Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” That sums up those days perfectly: a twig could turn into the key to a kingdom, and no one needed instructions.

2. Chalk games on the pavement

If you lived near a sidewalk or had a bit of driveway space, chalk was your ticket to endless fun. Hopscotch was the obvious classic, but that was just the beginning.

We drew “streets” for toy cars, created obstacle courses, or invented completely new games that made sense only to us.

There was one summer when we became obsessed with “chalk baseball.” We drew out a full diamond and used chalk marks to track where our “runners” went, even though no one was actually running.

Looking back, it was a mixture of board game and sport, and it kept us occupied for weeks.

The beauty was that it washed away in the rain, which just meant we got to start fresh. That reset was half the fun. Today, you’d call it “iterating” or “design thinking.” We just called it play.

3. Making up neighborhood-wide adventures

Games like “capture the flag,” “kick the can,” and “sardines” (reverse hide-and-seek) were staples. You didn’t need equipment—just a group of kids and enough space to roam.

These weren’t just games—they were social laboratories. We had to negotiate rules, settle disputes, and learn to play fair without adults refereeing.

I can still hear the arguments about whether someone was “out” or if they had reached base safely. The resolution process, messy as it was, taught us more about fairness and compromise than any classroom lesson.

As Brené Brown has noted, “Connection is why we’re here.” These games gave us that connection long before texting and social media did. We felt part of something bigger, and that sense of belonging was priceless.

4. Cardboard boxes as castles, cars, and spaceships

One of the best toys of the 70s wasn’t sold in toy shops—it came from the appliance store. A refrigerator box could become a rocket ship, a fort, or even a haunted house if you had enough kids to act out the parts.

I remember one rainy afternoon when my friends and I decorated a big box with crayons and scraps of fabric and called it a “time machine.”

Each of us took turns “traveling” to different eras—pretending to be knights, explorers, or astronauts. We even made sound effects by banging on the sides of the box.

Psychologists today would point out that this kind of “open-ended play” fosters resilience and flexibility. We didn’t need research to tell us that—we could feel it. A box wasn’t just cardboard. It was possibility.

5. Storytelling and make-believe

Before bedtime routines were crowded out by tablets, we made up stories—sometimes sitting around in groups, each adding a line, other times acting out whole plays in the backyard.

One of my clearest memories is of putting on “shows” in our garage. My sister would make tickets out of notebook paper, and we’d perform elaborate dramas for the neighborhood kids.

Half the audience walked out before the end, but that didn’t stop us from doing it again the next week.

Research supports this kind of make-believe play as crucial to development. In The House of Make-Believe, Dorothy and Jerome Singer explored how imaginative, pretend play in childhood correlates with stronger symbolic thinking, creativity, and cognitive flexibility.

Looking back, those silly stories probably laid the foundation for a lot of our adult problem-solving and communication skills.

6. Inventing sports with homemade rules

Not every kid had fancy equipment. But that didn’t stop us. A half-inflated ball, a broomstick, or even a tin can was enough to spark a new “sport.”

We played endless variations of baseball, soccer, and football with whatever scraps we had. Sometimes we didn’t even agree on the rules until halfway through the game. But that was part of the fun—making it up as we went.

I remember street baseball games where we used an old tennis ball, garden gloves for bases, and argued endlessly about whether a cracked window was an automatic “out.” Those debates were half the fun.

As Winston Churchill once noted, “Play the game for more than you can afford to lose… and you will learn the game.”

For us, the “game” wasn’t just about winning. It was about collaboration, compromise, and learning to laugh when things didn’t go as planned.

7. Exploring nature like it was a treasure hunt

We didn’t need apps to tell us how many steps we’d taken. We were out there chasing fireflies, turning over rocks to find beetles, or pretending to be explorers charting new lands.

There was a creek near my house that became our “Amazon River.” We built makeshift “boats” out of sticks and leaves, convinced we were embarking on grand expeditions. Every frog, turtle, or dragonfly became part of our adventure.

That sense of wonder—turning ordinary things into extraordinary discoveries—is something I still see in my grandkids when we go to the park. They may not have the same freedom to roam entire neighborhoods, but their eyes still light up when they find a shiny rock or a curious insect.

Research today backs this up: unstructured outdoor play is linked with stronger imaginative play, better cognitive flexibility, and lower stress levels in children.

8. Music, clapping games, and homemade instruments

Who remembers “Pat-a-cake” or clapping rhymes like “Miss Mary Mack”? We could spend hours on those, laughing every time someone fumbled.

If we got hold of rubber bands, empty tins, or even combs and wax paper, suddenly we had a “band.” No Spotify playlists—just us trying to keep a beat.

I remember sitting on the porch with a friend, strumming rubber bands over a shoebox while she tapped rhythm on coffee cans. To us, it was a concert. To the adults nearby, it was probably noise.

Bill Gates once said, “Innovation is moving at a scarily fast pace.” True, but sometimes the simplest innovations—like turning a coffee can into a drum—were the ones that brought us the most joy.

A few lessons for today

So what can parents and grandparents take from this? I won’t pretend to have it all figured out, but I think there’s value in creating space for imagination, even in today’s screen-heavy world.

Let kids get bored sometimes. Let them wrestle with a stick and decide whether it’s a sword or a fishing pole.

Encourage them to go outside, to make noise, to invent. Those unstructured moments teach resilience, creativity, and self-reliance in a way pre-programmed activities can’t.

As Warren Buffett once said, “The best investment you can make is in yourself.” Helping kids flex their imaginative muscles may be one of the greatest investments we make in their future.

A final thought

When I look back, it strikes me how little we needed to feel fulfilled. No endless scrolling. No high-tech distractions. Just imagination, friends, and whatever we had lying around.

The question I leave you with is this: how might today’s kids (and maybe even us adults) benefit from sprinkling some of that same creativity into our lives?

After all, the greatest entertainment has always been free—it’s the power of imagination.