Somehow, this always felt like magic to me. Loved running to the center and back before it collapsed on my head .. Good times :D
WishKid ยท 6 points ยท Posted at 17:57:09 on March 20, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
This was one of the most exciting things that most of us will never experience again. I've always wanted to show up at a big outdoor music festival with one. It would be great until someone got stabbed inside or something.
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 13:38:20 on June 25, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Ah man, that would totally happen too :/
[deleted] ยท 24 points ยท Posted at 09:24:33 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Why can't we do this as adults?
game004 ยท 32 points ยท Posted at 09:42:50 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
We're stronger now so it might last longer when you sit under it and we can bring whiskey.
[deleted] ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 20:12:04 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I was going to comment about Rich!
I went to watch your video and I was on the thumbnail that comes up on Alien Blue hahaha. It was a great show that day. But it gets suuuuuper hot and gross under that parachute.
Schlaap ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 19:50:04 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Seriously. I wish corporate retreats involved parachute, Heads Up 7-Up and tetherball.
Ours was a real parachute. I remember straps and stuff on it. This was back in the early 80s. Then again, I also thought my gym teacher's husband was a fighter pilot who donated the used parachute after he had to eject out his jet once sooo...
Dude, I had forgotten all about square pizza! It was so great.
emkay99 ยท 9 points ยท Posted at 11:08:36 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Okay, maybe I'm too old, but I have no idea what they're doing in this picture. Climbing ropes I understand, and dodgeball I understand, but what exactly is this about?
If you never played with the parachute in gym class, it's tough to explain the feeling of sitting inside the thing with all the other kids - you're all staring at each other in amazement at the room you just instantly created and that also happens to be magically suspended by nothing more than air pressure. It is pure joy for a kid who likes that kind of thing.
Basically everyone grabs a handle on the parachute, they lift it up above their head and then bring it down behind them and sit on the edge to make a seal when they're inside the parachute. The air stays in and it's all puffed up with everyone on the inside. It's kinda hard to explain to be honest. Maybe there's a YouTube video out there that shows/explains it better?
Honestly, I don't have much nostalgia for these things. Maybe I was too old when we did these in PE, but I always found it pretty boring because there wasn't much you could do with it.
When we did the parachute in PE, we never made the room thing. We had games like one where everybody would be standing holding a color, we would lift it up really high, then the teacher would call a color and if you were holding that color you had to run under the parachute and grab somebody else's spot before the parachute came down. If you were trapped under the chute or couldn't find an open spot, you were out.
There was one or two other games we played with it, too. But I can't remember the others right now.
We did something similar, but a little different. We'd lift it up, the teacher would call a color, kids with that color would run in to the center, all the other kids would bring it back down trapping those kids, they'd hold it for a bit and then raise it back up where then those kids in the middle would run back to a spot with their color. Last one back lost, but was not "out".
But serious question out of curiosity, how big was the parachute y'all used? Every time I see these pop up in nostalgia they're tiny compared to the one we played with and I think that's why I never enjoyed it. Ours was too big and limited the games we could play.
It was fun trying to get back before it came down. Sometimes if you were running back toward your friend, they could pull it down quicker to get you out. I use to be really quick so everybody would always try to get me out.
I'm not sure the exact size but they seemed fairly big. We had about 35 kids in our gym classes and they could all fit around it. I'd say like 1/3 a basketball court.
emkay99 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 16:04:42 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I was one of those kids who got out of PE as often as possible and preferred to volunteer to work in the school library. My knowledge of all of this stuff is pretty limited.
[deleted] ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 09:12:05 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
my neighbor was a gym teacher for elementary school, so me and his kids got to play with it allllll the time;]
rando99 ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 16:25:16 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I remember the P.E. teachers telling the class that if we talked, the chute would rapidly deflate. We were so dumb. We sat there dead silent while the teachers sat outside with full trollface.
Had my daughter's birthday at a gymnastics gym last Saturday. They pulled this thing out and as the parent, I got to help. One of many highlights of my day.
I LOVED the days when this came out in PE!! We also took turns running under it. We also would place a beach ball on top and played keep away. So fun!
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 19:38:07 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I used to be a fat kid and when we would have run in circles with the parachute, I would always fall because my fat legs couldn't keep up and I'd get stomped on. I ended up with a couple of concussions as a child because of the parachute.
I always wanted to go in the middle so everybody could shoot me up by retracting the parachute outwards.
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 23:27:19 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
When that parachute came out, I was super excited!!
_Z_A_C_ ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 01:36:03 on March 20, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Anyone else get to put the smallest kid in class in the middle, ON TOP of it and throw them to the moon? Of course the air underneath slowed decent enough to prevent injury when hitting the gym floor. I bet kids in school can't do that any more.
Those cheap red rubber balls were awesome. I could those motherfuckers all the way across the playground. When it was finally retrieved it would be all warped. Made me feel like a superhero.
Sib_Sy ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 14:11:12 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Yeah that was damn good too. I think I liked it so much because we didn't play with it often and we played kickball every recess. But we didn't call it kickball we called it soccer baseball.
[deleted] ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 12:39:37 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Thats because you were probably a kid who was good at sports. I loved kickball, dodgeball, and floor hockey. Parachute day was awful and so boring.
I was always so let down when I saw these on the floor walking into the gym for PE. We had a huge, huge one too, which from what I understand, was not all that common. shrugs just not for me.
They made us do this as a kid, it was the #2 stupidest activity to make me do as a kid after square dancing. Every time they broke out the stupid parachute we all knew it was going to be a crappy PE.
GeebusNZ ยท 17 points ยท Posted at 08:37:52 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
My cat loves to play that when I'm trying to change the sheets on my bed.
KGBspy ยท 17 points ยท Posted at 15:43:04 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
We would call it popcorn when we'd add wiffleballs to the parachute and raise and lower the parachute.
kylelee33 ยท 4 points ยท Posted at 16:04:01 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Same here, except we used bean bags
mademesmile ยท 27 points ยท Posted at 08:24:52 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Somehow, this always felt like magic to me. Loved running to the center and back before it collapsed on my head .. Good times :D
WishKid ยท 6 points ยท Posted at 17:57:09 on March 20, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
This was one of the most exciting things that most of us will never experience again. I've always wanted to show up at a big outdoor music festival with one. It would be great until someone got stabbed inside or something.
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 13:38:20 on June 25, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Ah man, that would totally happen too :/
[deleted] ยท 24 points ยท Posted at 09:24:33 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Why can't we do this as adults?
game004 ยท 32 points ยท Posted at 09:42:50 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
We're stronger now so it might last longer when you sit under it and we can bring whiskey.
BigE42984 ยท 6 points ยท Posted at 17:30:09 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
BRB, buying a parachute
[deleted] ยท 10 points ยท Posted at 11:36:16 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
and also this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGFu_WMYAP4
ShovellingMonkey ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 02:31:47 on March 20, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
None of them got busted.
source- I lived in the dorm next door
[deleted] ยท 4 points ยท Posted at 11:34:13 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)*
Rich Aucoin does it at his performances. His shows are always really fun and interactive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvziNPpO2hU
[deleted] ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 20:12:04 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I was going to comment about Rich! I went to watch your video and I was on the thumbnail that comes up on Alien Blue hahaha. It was a great show that day. But it gets suuuuuper hot and gross under that parachute.
Schlaap ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 19:50:04 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Seriously. I wish corporate retreats involved parachute, Heads Up 7-Up and tetherball.
jimbodan ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 00:38:14 on March 20, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Heads Up 7-Up was the shit!
[deleted] ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 22:58:16 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
You can! Looks like they have a few different ones, possibly in different sizes.
Edit: The one I linked is a 6' one, so on the small end. The one I remember from school was probably 12'.
B3ndr15Gr8 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 03:29:21 on March 21, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Check out a Rich Aucoin show if you get a chance. Seriously, so much fun!!!
[deleted] ยท 11 points ยท Posted at 14:50:41 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
This and dodge ball were my two favorite PE periods.
chaoskitty ยท 8 points ยท Posted at 18:00:07 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
You mean Pain Ball? :-\ I was one of the chubby, slow moving, easily distracted perfect targets.
dbcanuck ยท 9 points ยท Posted at 18:25:30 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
You were my favorite....target.
rae1988 ยท 6 points ยท Posted at 07:53:40 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Omg, that wasn't a real parachute?!!? I've been told lies all these years
chaoskitty ยท 4 points ยท Posted at 18:02:39 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Ours was a real parachute. I remember straps and stuff on it. This was back in the early 80s. Then again, I also thought my gym teacher's husband was a fighter pilot who donated the used parachute after he had to eject out his jet once sooo...
freelittyta ยท 5 points ยท Posted at 16:17:13 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
God. This was the second best time in the world. I got so carried away in the excitement of parachute day one time, that I bit a girl's foot.
chaoskitty ยท 4 points ยท Posted at 18:00:41 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
What was the first best?
dbcanuck ยท 5 points ยท Posted at 18:26:08 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
He bit her hand.
dragon_lady80 ยท 17 points ยท Posted at 04:46:04 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Except I was a fat kid, so my arms were always sore as he'll for the rest of the day.
mannfan9292 ยท 13 points ยท Posted at 14:53:04 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Me too! Whoa... parachute was exercise in disguise. That's sneaky.
BDK235 ยท 5 points ยท Posted at 14:26:19 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I just did this with my kids during "daddy and me" day at their preschool. Brought back a ton of awesome memories!
chaoskitty ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 17:57:27 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
This was my favorite thing in school besides square pizza. Now it's one of my favorite things on Reddit when this discussion comes up regularly.
WiredSky ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 22:03:47 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Dude, I had forgotten all about square pizza! It was so great.
emkay99 ยท 9 points ยท Posted at 11:08:36 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Okay, maybe I'm too old, but I have no idea what they're doing in this picture. Climbing ropes I understand, and dodgeball I understand, but what exactly is this about?
Ilikefrogs ยท 25 points ยท Posted at 15:19:20 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
If you never played with the parachute in gym class, it's tough to explain the feeling of sitting inside the thing with all the other kids - you're all staring at each other in amazement at the room you just instantly created and that also happens to be magically suspended by nothing more than air pressure. It is pure joy for a kid who likes that kind of thing.
mynumberistwentynine ยท 7 points ยท Posted at 15:45:55 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Basically everyone grabs a handle on the parachute, they lift it up above their head and then bring it down behind them and sit on the edge to make a seal when they're inside the parachute. The air stays in and it's all puffed up with everyone on the inside. It's kinda hard to explain to be honest. Maybe there's a YouTube video out there that shows/explains it better?
Honestly, I don't have much nostalgia for these things. Maybe I was too old when we did these in PE, but I always found it pretty boring because there wasn't much you could do with it.
BH_Quicksilver ยท 7 points ยท Posted at 20:00:51 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
When we did the parachute in PE, we never made the room thing. We had games like one where everybody would be standing holding a color, we would lift it up really high, then the teacher would call a color and if you were holding that color you had to run under the parachute and grab somebody else's spot before the parachute came down. If you were trapped under the chute or couldn't find an open spot, you were out.
There was one or two other games we played with it, too. But I can't remember the others right now.
mynumberistwentynine ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 20:43:05 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
We did something similar, but a little different. We'd lift it up, the teacher would call a color, kids with that color would run in to the center, all the other kids would bring it back down trapping those kids, they'd hold it for a bit and then raise it back up where then those kids in the middle would run back to a spot with their color. Last one back lost, but was not "out".
But serious question out of curiosity, how big was the parachute y'all used? Every time I see these pop up in nostalgia they're tiny compared to the one we played with and I think that's why I never enjoyed it. Ours was too big and limited the games we could play.
BH_Quicksilver ยท 7 points ยท Posted at 22:07:08 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
It was fun trying to get back before it came down. Sometimes if you were running back toward your friend, they could pull it down quicker to get you out. I use to be really quick so everybody would always try to get me out.
I'm not sure the exact size but they seemed fairly big. We had about 35 kids in our gym classes and they could all fit around it. I'd say like 1/3 a basketball court.
emkay99 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 16:04:42 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I was one of those kids who got out of PE as often as possible and preferred to volunteer to work in the school library. My knowledge of all of this stuff is pretty limited.
[deleted] ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 09:12:05 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
my neighbor was a gym teacher for elementary school, so me and his kids got to play with it allllll the time;]
rando99 ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 16:25:16 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Kid on the far left couldn't handle it.
Doctor_Kitten ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 18:04:40 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I remember the P.E. teachers telling the class that if we talked, the chute would rapidly deflate. We were so dumb. We sat there dead silent while the teachers sat outside with full trollface.
Patron_Saint ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 14:24:05 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I never got to go in the middle. years of that shit and I never got to play cat and mouse. ever.
I'm still crazy bitter about that.
trav17 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 14:47:54 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I always thought my gym teacher was a paratrooper when she was younger. All schools have these? Fuck. Everything I thought was real....
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 15:11:26 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I remember having a parachute in my kindergarten class, but I have no idea what the actual game was.
IntrinsicSurgeon ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 16:14:35 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I loved it, but I have no idea what the point of it was.
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 15:25:11 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Top 3 days of the school year
GravyTrain6 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 16:14:31 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Had my daughter's birthday at a gymnastics gym last Saturday. They pulled this thing out and as the parent, I got to help. One of many highlights of my day.
ShitzFez ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 17:07:19 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
These feels... :'c I miss those innocent years...
jhangel77 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 18:49:34 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I LOVED the days when this came out in PE!! We also took turns running under it. We also would place a beach ball on top and played keep away. So fun!
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 19:38:07 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I used to be a fat kid and when we would have run in circles with the parachute, I would always fall because my fat legs couldn't keep up and I'd get stomped on. I ended up with a couple of concussions as a child because of the parachute.
shockingnews213 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 20:27:42 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I always wanted to go in the middle so everybody could shoot me up by retracting the parachute outwards.
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 23:27:19 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
When that parachute came out, I was super excited!!
_Z_A_C_ ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 01:36:03 on March 20, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Anyone else get to put the smallest kid in class in the middle, ON TOP of it and throw them to the moon? Of course the air underneath slowed decent enough to prevent injury when hitting the gym floor. I bet kids in school can't do that any more.
maxreverb ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 04:05:01 on March 20, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
wait....they don't do this anymore?
jimbodan ยท -6 points ยท Posted at 07:28:22 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
This was always my least favorite activity in P.E
Sib_Sy ยท 6 points ยท Posted at 07:52:47 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
You sir, suck. This was the shit.
jimbodan ยท 6 points ยท Posted at 09:59:41 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Meh, I'd rather be playing kickball.
Ilikefrogs ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 15:23:11 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Those cheap red rubber balls were awesome. I could those motherfuckers all the way across the playground. When it was finally retrieved it would be all warped. Made me feel like a superhero.
Sib_Sy ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 14:11:12 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Yeah that was damn good too. I think I liked it so much because we didn't play with it often and we played kickball every recess. But we didn't call it kickball we called it soccer baseball.
[deleted] ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 12:39:37 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Thats because you were probably a kid who was good at sports. I loved kickball, dodgeball, and floor hockey. Parachute day was awful and so boring.
mynumberistwentynine ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 15:49:43 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
I was always so let down when I saw these on the floor walking into the gym for PE. We had a huge, huge one too, which from what I understand, was not all that common. shrugs just not for me.
tacoguy1234 ยท -1 points ยท Posted at 12:07:26 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
i hated this thing
PickpocketJones ยท -5 points ยท Posted at 13:49:21 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
They made us do this as a kid, it was the #2 stupidest activity to make me do as a kid after square dancing. Every time they broke out the stupid parachute we all knew it was going to be a crappy PE.
bill_pullman ยท -2 points ยท Posted at 10:52:19 on March 19, 2014 ยท (Permalink)
Physical Education