Last Updated on April 28, 2025 by Matt Staff
Growing up in the 60s and 70s was a whole different world compared to today. Kids had a kind of freedom that’s almost unheard of now. You’d leave the house in the morning, hop on your bike, and disappear until the sun went down. There were no cell phones, no tracking apps, and hardly any parents hovering nearby. You learned how to entertain yourself, get into trouble, and figure things out the hard way. That era was full of scraped knees, homemade fun, and a sense of independence that today’s kids can only imagine.
Back then, neighborhoods were playgrounds, and the only rule that really mattered was being home before the streetlights turned on. Whether you were lighting firecrackers, sneaking into movies, or pulling harmless pranks, no one was calling the authorities or posting it online. Life felt simpler and a whole lot wilder. Here are 20 things kids back then did regularly that would probably cause a meltdown today.
1. Playing Ding Dong Ditch
The real deviants set fire to a bag of dog surprise, laughing as they watched it smolder. Getting caught was half the thrill.
2. Lighting firecrackers at night
Fireworks weren’t reserved for holidays in the ’60s and ’70s. They were the ultimate prank material.
If you lit fireworks late at night in your town, chances are you lived in a small town. Check out these 20 signs you grew up in a small town in the 1970s.
3. Making prank phone calls
Prank calls were a whole evening’s entertainment. You’d call and hang up or deliver your best “Is your fridge running?” line.
4. Shooting BB guns in the backyard
Even in urban areas, kids were trusted to be safe with BB guns. Today, parents don’t have as much trust in their kids.
5. Sneaking into the movies
One kid bought a ticket, the rest snuck in. Ushers were either clueless or didn’t care.
6. Skitching
Skitching is when you hold on to a car bumper while you’re on a bike or skateboard for a free ride. Doing this was a thrill, but completely nuts.
7. Playing with mercury from broken thermometers
It rolled like magic in your hand. No one warned us it was toxic, they just told us not to eat it.
8. Shooting slingshots
Kids in the ’60s and ’70s were marksmen with slingshots. Street signs, windows, neighbors, and birds weren’t safe.
9. Hitchhiking
Yes, actually. Teens stuck their thumbs up and caught rides with strangers without a second thought.
10. Climbing the town water tower
This was the ultimate double dog dare. You weren’t cool until you’d been to the top.
11. Exploring abandoned buildings for fun.
Empty houses were factories full of mystery. Kids would explore them like they were in an adventure movie.
12. Playing lawn darts
They were just missiles with sharp tips, and we threw them at each other like it was no big deal.
13. Digging massive holes in the yard
The goal was to dig as deep as possible, and parents were somehow cool with massive craters in their lawn.
14. Exploring sewers
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If there was a way in to explore it, ’60s and ’70s kids were going in. Kids crawled through with flashlights, pretending they were in secret tunnels.
15. Playing king of the hill on rock piles
Only one could rule them all. It was normally an older brother throwing everyone down the rock pile, and getting bruised and battered was just part of the fun.
16. Taping pennies to railroad tracks
We know not to let kids around railroad tracks today. But in the ’70s, taping pennies down and letting them get flattened was a thing of the times. The danger made it way cooler.
17. Playing in construction sites
Those half-built homes or empty lots were basically your private jungle gym.
18. Making homemade go-karts with no brakes
Gravity was the only way to get it going, and crashing was the only way to get it to stop.
19. Playing with real tools
Hammers, saws, and whatever else kids could get their hands on were fair game. Dad was always too tired after work to complain anyway.
20. No sunscreen, ever
Sunburns were a summer given. If you peeled, you just compared with friends.
Hungry for even more retro rabbit holes? Wander the neon promenades in 18 Vintage Photos That Capture ’70s Mall Life, see if you relate to 20 Signs You Grew Up in a Small Town in the 1970s, or laugh along with 20 Pics and Memes That Capture the Electric Spirit of the 1970s.
